Video editing is an in-demand skill in this day and age and there are many benefits to learning video editing.
Final Cut Pro is Apple’s very popular video editing software that is used by a lot of different professional video editors for editing their videos. Final Cut Pro has been around for quite some time now, and many people have different opinions on it.
It is definitely a premium video editing software, and there is no doubt about that, but it also offers quite a lot of features that you might be somewhat surprised by. In this review, I will discuss many different things regarding the software.
You will get an in-depth review of the different aspects of Final Cut Pro, and only after it will I give my final thoughts and verdict about it and whether you should try this software and for whom it is designed for. So without wasting any more time, let’s get started.
Also read: How to choose the right Video Editing App
Contents
Final Cut Pro Specs
Let’s start off this review by discussing some of the specs that are available on Final Cut Pro.
Video Tracks – You can use an unlimited number of video tracks on Final Cut Pro, and that is usually a great feature that any video editing software, particularly a computing software, has.
Because there are almost all times when you will have more videos than audio files, and you wouldn’t want to assemble all of them on one timeline. So, the ability to have an unlimited number of tracks is a good option.
Motion Tracking – You have the option to track a person’s face or an object on Final Cut Pro, and this allows for a number of different effects that you can do from tracking; I will discuss more about this later in the article.
360 Degree VR Editing – VR is considered to be the next big thing, which I don’t think it is, but a lot of creators and companies are making VR-related content, and through FCP, you will be able to edit your VR videos.
Availability of Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is only available on macOS devices. Forget about Windows; you can’t even use FCP even on iPhone and iPad, it is an exclusive macOS-only software, and this definitely would not be appreciated by some people.
I get why Apple didn’t make it available for Windows because that goes against Apple’s business model, i.e. to make everything available in the Apple ecosystem so that they can bring in more customers.
But the latest iPads have the M1 chips available on them, which are the fastest chips Apple has ever released, and with the functionality of Apple Pencil, it just seems a waste of opportunity to not have it available on the iPad.
And a lot of people have complained about this certain fact, maybe they will make some sense and start making it available on the next generation of iPad, but for now, FCP is only available on macOS.
Final Cut Pro Price & Free Trial
Final Cut Pro comes at a pretty expensive price tag of $300 Dollars. It is a one-time payment, and all the updates would be downloaded automatically without any extra charges, but still, it is a big price, and Apple knows that too.
This is why they are offering a 90-day free trial for Final Cut Pro, and only after the trial gets over that, you would have to pay if you want to continue using its services.
This is genuinely a good idea because not a lot of people would want to shell out $300 Dollars for a video editing software that they don’t like or understand how to use.
To avail this free trial, you would have to go on their site and fill in your bank details, after which you would be able to download the software and use it for free.
New updates of Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is currently running on version 10.6, and this new version has brought in new features that you might like. So let’s discuss a few of them.
Support for iPhone 13 Cinematic Mode – Last year’s iPhone had released a feature called the ‘cinematic mode’ that enabled users to take cinematic-like videos from their iPhones, and now you can edit those videos on Final Cut Pro to make them look even more cinematic.
Duplicate Clip Detection – Duplicate clips detection allows the software to learn if you have more than one type of the same clip in the library and gives you the option of whether you want to keep it or remove it.
Multicam editing – You now have the option of integrating multiple different angles of the same shot that you had taken and choose which angle you want to use and which one you don’t want.
Pros and Cons of Final Cut Pro
Let’s discuss some of the Pros and Cons of Final Cut Pro
| Pros | Cons |
| Magnetic timelines make it easy to edit Lots of different editing tools to offer Multicam video editing Quick performance 360 Degree VR editing | Available only on macOS devices Expensive price Not traditional video editing UI |
As you can see that the Pros of Final Cut Pro do outnumber the cons of it, but that doesn’t mean that it is a software that is perfect by all means.
These cons are somewhat serious, especially the availability of only on macOS devices, and people have been asking for more available options for the FCP as it is a very popular and powerful software.
And Apple should learn from these complaints are make it available on different platforms, if not at least on the iPad.
Specific functionalities of Final Cut Pro
Let’s discuss some of the different features that you get on Final Cut Pro
User Interface
The entire user interface of Final Cut Pro is quite similar to what you might see if you are a user of iMovie, but just an enhanced version of the entire UI. The UI is pretty simple and easy to understand, but at the same time, you have some non-conventional design choices as well.
For example, the magnetic timeline that is available on both iMovie and Final Cut Pro as well, it is not the same type of timeline that you would see on traditional non-linear video editing softwares, and some people might have issues with it.
But the overall look and feel of this particular software feel a lot more like the ‘pro’ version of what you get on iMovie, and that is a great thing on its own as both the softwares are available only on macOS devices.
Audio Editing
Audio editing is also one of the things many people overlook when they are getting to start using a new video editing software, and thankfully Final Cut Pro offers a good amount of audio settings to make the sounds crystal clear.
You have the option of more than 1300 royalty-free music and sound effects to choose from for your videos, and that is always a great added advantage feature to have for your videos. Along with this, you can easily adjust various aspects of the audio.
You can even fine-tune the audio to have the sound that is representing a 5.1-channel sound, which makes it a good option if you are making a film or a short film, for that matter.
There are many other options available on Final Cut Pro for editing your audio.
Face and Object Tracking
Motion tracking is also now available with the new update on Final Cut Pro, and this is a feature that a lot of people have been asking about since it is available on other popular video editing softwares like Adobe Premiere Pro and even Cyberlink’s PowerDirector.
The motion tracking effect works equally well on Final Cut Pro as well. For those of you who don’t know, motion tracking allows users to track an image or an object on the software.
And through the tracking, you can easily put a title or a subject to go along with the person/object in the video. It is a great piece of software advantage that was earlier available on the Apple Motion app.
The feature works pretty nicely, and it is not very difficult to use this feature on Final Cut Pro as well.
Effects
As with all video editing softwares, there are plenty of different effects available on Final Cut Pro as well for users to choose from and put it on their audio and video settings to get the best possible version of the overall video.
There are about 109 audio effects that are available for audio editing and over 149 video effects that are available for video editing. You also have access to multiple different transition effects to choose from, and you can simply search for those effects as well.
One of the best transition effects that a lot of people talk about is the ‘Flow’ transition effect, which smoothly cuts between your shots to have a seamless flow between the takes without making it look very abrupt and odd.
Apple silicon support
Apple recently unveiled its ever-powerful M1 & M2 chips for macOS devices that have the best benchmarks compared to any other chip in the market right now, and all that power would be a waste if you are not able to use it.
Well, with the new update of Final Cut Pro, you can actually use the power of these powerful chips as Final Cut Pro has started to support Apple silicon chips, making it one of the most powerful video editing softwares for you.
The entire software is supposed to run even more faster than it used to in the older Intel chips macOS devices, and that is a great thing because those devices did take a lot of time to render out videos of any size.
Multicam editing
Multicam video editing is also one of the more popular video editing features that you might find useful, especially if you are editing a movie. You can sync up to 64 different angles for your shots, and that is a lot of shots.
The entire setup is pretty simple and easy to use, you just have to go to ‘new Multicam clip’ and drag the different videos that you want to sync up for your video, and the rest of the job will be done by the software itself.
If you don’t trust Final Cut Pro to do the job, then you can manually sync the clips as per your own setting, and that is also the way that a lot of video editors do prefer for editing multiple clips of the same scene.
Performance of the software
The entire software is quite powerful to use given that it can now support the Apple silicon chipsets, but even the macOS devices without the M1 and M2 chips, the software seems to run pretty smoothly and render out videos without any difficulty.
Multiple different industries have tested out the render test for Final Cut Pro, and the results have been nothing but in favour of Final Cut Pro for its great rendering test and the overall smooth functioning of the software.
This is a good thing because if you pay $300 dollars for a software, you expect it very well to work the best that it can do, but there are other video editing softwares, such as Cyberlink’s PowerDirector, that perform even faster render speeds than Final Cut Pro.
Colour correction and Management
Colour correction and Management is also an important detail that you should look out for in a video editing software, and that is exactly what you get on Final Cut Pro as well. You have great settings for your colour correction, and you can adjust the video to your liking.
The UI of the colour management is also pretty slick and cool looking while at the same time providing you with the functionalities that you require for using this setting for your videos.
You can even let the software do all the hard work for you by choosing the different sets of colour wheels for your videos, and they all turn out pretty well for your video; this is a great feature for those who are new to colour editing and management.
Cinematic Mode
There is a new cinematic mode that is available on Final Cut Pro that lets you change the focus of the video, and this works only with the video files that you shoot with your iPhone in the cinematic mode.
Although the overall idea behind changing the depth of field and focus in the post seems to be a high-end function, but Final Cut Pro has been reported by a lot of different consumers for how difficult it is to actually use this feature.
The software lags a lot of time while starting this effect, and it takes quite a lot of time to work your way through to get to the actual editing of the focal change and depth of field, and even then, some people faced issues with the entire subject.
Disadvantages of Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro, just like all the video editing softwares that are available right now in the market, certainly has some flaws to it as well because there is no such thing as the perfect video editing software.
Some of the major disadvantages of Final Cut Pro is that it is available only on macOS devices and not for Windows or even on iPads, this is a pretty annoying aspect of Final Cut Pro, and Apple definitely needs to consider this point.
Another point is its price, it is a little too expensive for being at $300 dollars, and there are many other alternatives to Final Cut Pro that are available for almost half the price of what it costs and offer similar video editing experience, such as CyberLink’s PowerDirector.
FAQs
Let’s now discuss some of the frequently asked questions regarding Final Cut Pro.
Is Final Cut Pro worth getting?
Final Cut Pro is Apple’s premium video editing software, and it is the software that many people do use for editing their videos. That being said, it also costs $300 Dollars to use this software, and for a lot of people, that’s a substantial amount of money.
If you are able to afford this software, then you should definitely go for it, but there are also better alternatives available for Final Cut Pro that you can choose if you find Final Cut Pro to be a little out of your budget.
For starters, you do have iMovie, which is free of cost but at the same time offers a pretty nice video editing software that lets you edit your videos with some pretty advanced features on it as well!
Is Final Cut Pro good for beginners?
I wouldn’t suggest using Final Cut Pro if you are just starting out in the world of video editing. Final Cut Pro does offer a pretty good user interface for editing your videos but at the same time, there are a lot of features and effects available on it.
The list of features and effects is great and all but they can be very overwhelming for any beginner and chances are that person wouldn’t even use those features for a long time before learning how to run the entire software.
Plus, there is the cost of this software as well. If you are a beginner and want to edit videos on your macOS devices using only Apple devices, then I would suggest you try out iMovie; it is free of cost and offers a lot of features for beginners.
Is Final Cut Pro better than iMovie?
Final Cut Pro is definitely better than iMovie, and there are many different editing features and effects available on Final Cut Pro that you don’t get on iMovie and the overall performance of Final Cut Pro is also pretty remarkable compared to iMovie.
That being said, iMovie is also not a bad video editing software, in fact, I would actually recommend you try out iMovie first before jumping on Final Cut Pro simply because iMovie is a fairly powerful video editing software on its own.
You get a lot done on iMovie as well, and if your work demands it and you have the money to spend, then only switch over to Final Cut Pro. Otherwise, you are good using iMovie as your video editing software.
Do professionals still use Final Cut Pro?
A lot of professionals definitely are still using Final Cut Pro to edit their videos, whether it be for their YouTube channel or to release their Hollywood films, professionals all around the world are using Final Cut Pro to edit their videos.
The reason behind it is pretty simple, it is because the software is pretty good for editing your videos, and many people can afford to use this software as their video editing softwares, and if you are a professional video editor with $300 Dollars to spare, then you should try it out too.
It’s got tons of features and effects available on it; along with it, the entire software is also quite powerful at rendering videos and provide great videos for your work or individual projects, as per your liking.
Final verdict and Review
So, what is my final verdict on Final Cut Pro? Well, the software is world-class, and there is no denying it in that part. You can simply do a whole lot when you use this software for editing your videos, and many professionals around the world do use it as well.
But, there are also a number of different video editing softwares present right now in the market, and they all offer pretty great features and effects with them, and they cost half of what Final Cut Pro costs.
In the end, it actually depends on what you want for your video editing software; if you have already made up your mind about using this software, then I definitely can’t change your mind, but I would lean towards using some other alternatives for editing my videos.
Conclusion
Well, there you have it. An in-depth review of Final Cut Pro. The overall software is pretty great, and you can certainly do a lot for editing your videos, but I just feel like there are other, more cheaper alternatives available that common people can choose.
You don’t even have to look too far ahead as well; simply see the free video editing software provided by Apple, iMovie. There is a whole lot that you can do on that video editing software as well, and you wouldn’t miss editing on Final Cut Pro.
But, as always, these have been my thoughts on Final Cut Pro; what about you? Do you agree with my thoughts and review on Final Cut Pro? Or do you think that it is a genuinely great video editing software that justifies its price?
Whatever your thoughts are, do let us know about it in the comments down below!
