Final Cut Pro X.. Is It Worth The Money?

I’ve been a fan of Final Cut Pro since the early days for my video editing and post-production works. To tell you guys the truth, I love Final Cut Pro to the bits that they may offer me.. Limitless! I love them as much as love their audio sequencer software, Logic Pro & Logic Audio over Steinberg Cubase Studio.. And when Apple announced that they gonna launch the new version of Final Cut Pro, version 10 (X) 64-bit, it excites me like babies. Seriously, Final Cut Pro has been on the ‘back-stage’ with me for my video editing and post-production works and they have keep me ease in taming all of the video sequence I’ve had on my desk since the 90′s. I used to work on Adobe Premiere Pro and I love it as well, but the ease-of-use and tons and tons and tons of free plugins created by users on FCP makes me loves them more!

So, after reading a few numbers of reviews over the internet (including Apple website), I’ve brave my self to get a copy of this USD$299.99 (RM890.95 – Ringgit Malaysia) programs to be install on my MacBook Pro. It can be said that most of the reviews I’ve read and most of the reviewer videos are 90% bad, I said to my self, that there’s no harm in trying and spend a lil’ sums of money for this newly born baby, Final Cut Pro X..

My first impression for FCP X was, “I don’t know what was on Apple’s developers mind.. Are they on drugs?” The very last version of FCP was version 7, but then they decided to jump-off dramatically to version 10! Where’s version 8 & 9? – Nobody knows..

Many professional users of earlier versions of Final Cut Pro were critical of FCP X shortly after its release, giving the app more 1-star reviews than 5-star reviews at the Mac App Store on June 22. Among other missing features, disgruntled users cited lack of edit decision list (EDL), XML and Open Media Framework Interchange (OMF) support, inability to import projects created in previous releases of Final Cut Pro, the inability to have more than one editing sequence in a project, removal of the multicam editing tool and the inability to use 3rd party IO hardware for capture and output (all features present in the previous Final Cut Pro version). In response to critics, Apple has stated that they only plan to incorporate multicam support in future releases of the software. Unlike its competition from Avid and Adobe, FCP also doesn´t offer support for native raw editing, as required for high-end digital cinema cameras as the Red One, 3D editing and Blu-ray. As a response, those competitors are trying to win back the market share by offering return discounts to convince professionals that if they plan to upgrade systems, that they should convert to systems that still have the professional features lost in the new version of Final Cut Pro X.. Sad but true huh?

Anyway, since I’ve already have FCP X installed on my MacBook Pro, I give it a shot in editing my 2 years old daughter birthday bash video that I shoot merely on my Nikon D90 and the results are not that bad. For me personally, Final Cut Pro X was just supposedly an upgrade of iMovie, a bundled software that comes with your OS X. And definitely, iMovie was just another Windows Movie Maker for Apple Macintosh platform.. But, FCP X was iMovie on steroids. So, was it worth your money..? Some part yes especially for it’s 64-bit apps and the ease of use. But was it build for professionals standard? No, I don’t think so..