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Final Cut Pro X is the best!
July 13, 2018

Final Cut Pro X is the best!

James Bishop | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Final Cut Pro X

I utilize Final Cut Pro X to create everything from Facebook videos all the way to local TV spots. I manage the radio programming for the Union Gospel Mission and after mastering the vocal files in Adobe Audition, I manage editing and finishing the files in FCPX. UGM (Union Gospel Mission) produces a lot of video content and Final Cut Pro X helps streamline that process. I've used other software for video editing and FCPX is the most intuitive, feature-packed software for semi-pro editors looking to make the editing process quicker and easier.
  • With Final Cut Pro, the UI is very simple, even with all the features that it packs. This shaves off hours of editing time compared to other software that I've used. Not to mention that the layout and display of the features are impressively intuitive.
  • Final Cut Pro's magnetic timeline is something that you'll have to get used to if you're not familiar with it. It took me several months. Once I did, I realized how much I appreciated not having to "right-click" and "ripple delete" every few minutes. Layers still apply, but again, they are magnetically attached to the main layer and if it moves, so do the dependent files above and below.
  • The built-in audio editor and mastering tools are great. I've found them comparable to Adobe Audition for most needs. Again, FCPX has packed 99% of what you'll need all within one simple editing software - it saves so much time!!!
  • There are some small glitches that I experience every once in a while. For example, when expanding audio from video and changing the duration of that audio independently, if there is a transition applied to the video above, the audio when pulled exactly under the center of that transition will jump back to its original length, even though the cursor is far past that point. In order to overcome this, I have to pull the audio way past the center point of the transition, often farther than I want to. This can cause me to need to fuss with the audio so I don't clip needed sounds/vocals.
  • The syncing function for audio/video is great if you have just a single clip, but the program freaks out if I try to do more than a single a/v sync. It would be nice if this worked so that multiple clips for a single interview or session could all become a single "synced" file.
  • Another downfall of Final Cut Pro X is the file size of the libraries. FCPX has a file structure as follows: Library > Event > Project. Libraries are the house for many events and events hold individual video/audio projects. A typical library size is easily 50GB for a small project and up to over 500GB for a fall video campaign. This is with NOT copying the originals to a Final Cut location, but only referencing them from their original location.
  • The video projects I've worked on has been a part of an ongoing campaign for the last 4+ years and as part of that campaign has helped raise over 10 million dollars in that time.
  • The highest engagement on social media is by far video. Having a platform to quickly create appealing content is essential when the task list is always getting longer, never shorter.
  • I have brought in several inexperienced people to help do initial content cutting as a phase 1 of editing. Because of the intuitive setup of FCPX, I was able to train in just a few days, and in turn, saved many hours of labor with the help of the new volunteers. This software is easy to learn and easy to use, and saving time means more stuff done.
I started video editing in 2005 on Adobe Premiere Pro. I used that software for 6 years, regularly every week. I found it to be extensive in the features and tools, but also confusing and cumbersome when it came to doing new things. It had a high learning curve and the editing process was not well thought out to be streamlined like FCPX is. Premiere Pro has definitely improved the UI but I would still put my bet on FCPX for ease-of-use and workflow.

I've briefly used iMovie and it was a frustrating experience. Anyone who wants to do any regular editing should make the investment and buy Final Cut Pro. The added functionality is night and day different from iMovie and the learning curve is very low.
I would say that the only application where FCPX might lack is for full, feature-length films. The color correction tool is a "lite" version and cannot handle editing 10-bit (or more) or RAW files color correcting. I use Colore Finale Pro to supplement this. The best use of this product is with shorter, even documentary-style videos that don't need deep, detailed color grading or extensive customization of the footage or project.