Should I buy Final Cut Pro X if I...

... and $300 to spare. Absolutely.

What about them? Should you buy them? I have no idea. Do you want them? Do they do something you want to do?

http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/motion/

http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/compressor/

Tom? Being difficult? C'mon, man. Tom is one of THE MOST HELPFUL people on these forums, if not THE MOST.

The fact is that you're going to have to make up your own mind at some point. Do some basic research and determine yourself whether or not you need to purchase anything. Determine what you need to do, then choose the tools you'll need to get the job done.

-DH

Given your initial post I'd say you'll be completely happy with FCPX. There may be some bugs considering it's a new software but otherwise this program should exactly match your needs.

If you do not have really complex projects with hours of footage and if you don't have customers demanding a specific output format.

As for Compressor, that could be useful, too, as it allows you to widely convert your material.

Motion is a neat tool for some eye candy. But chances are you'll already find plenty of that in FCPX itself. My thought would be to wait 'til you hit a wall and really need it and THEN download it. Same could be said for Compressor, really.

>Helpful? sounds conceited to me.

We cannot help how you chose to interpret words on a screen.

>I thought perhaps opinions of people that understand my prerequisites could help me make an informed decision.

That's part of what I mean by "basic research." If you do a little research just on this forum alone, you'll find thousands of opinions.

>1) like iMovie but want more functionality?

FCP X is much like iMovie, but with more features.

>2) own one camera?

So? You don't have to own any cameras to use a non-linear editing application.

>3) am not a professional?

Neither is FCP X (yet).

>4) must use a program such as media converter to make my files compatible?

Maybe. You haven't told us what video codecs you plan to import.

>5) want something easy?

"Easy" is an extremely relative term. I think the old Final Cut Pro was easy and I think iMovie stinks. Go figure. But you've already proven you want 'easy' by not doing much reading on the topic yourself.

>6) want something stable?

Doesn't everyone? It will largely depend on your system and which video codecs you'll be working with, where they are stored and several other factors.

>7) want to edit home movies?

You have two choices from Apple: iMovie and FCP X. But you knew that already.

>8) maybe do some light pro stuff - behind the scenes documentary type footage?

You have two choices from Apple: iMovie and FCP X. But you knew that already.

I hope I passed the sarcasm test.

-DH

NO, don't buy it yet.........................wait

Your videos will not be BETTER because of it. You may be able to develop a faster workflow but your videos will not be better

What will make your videos better are writing, directing, acting and script. Having imovie now and buying FCP X will not launch you into some other realm in the universe at this point. In fact, you could cut the same video on imovie and FCP X and no one will notice the difference

What's the rush? Wait until the next upgrade, the next news from APPLE - until APPLE has a game plan and direction with this software.

Is not having FCP X going to stop your universe, no

Wait, I'm not against the software but I am hesitant on its direction and I need to see more direction and statements and the initial upgrade from APPLE before I buy it

I am with Tom, in his one word answer...absolutely.

I went ahead and bought compressor and motion and found it to be a good purchase. For some odd reason FCPX has export options that are lesser than iMovie 11. What they have work for me, but in only a few minutes in Compressor I was able to set up some exporting options that will work right in FCPX.

Motion...I am leaving that for another week or so, but it seems those who know say $50 is a great price for a useful program. But I just bought it on faith and can't really comment on its ins and outs.

And I really suggest a tutorial program to help you get started. Some are starting to appear, not sure if Tom will put some out for FCPX. I bought his tutorial for FCExpress and found it gave me a good grounding.

"Your videos will not be BETTER because of it."

I am curious if I can expect better output from FCPX than iMovie 11. When I export from iMovie, I get a terrible shimmering effect in the darks of my videos, particularly blacks. It's totally distracting and drives me crazy. At this point, I am honestly willing to spend $300 for videos that, when done editing into a film, look as nice as they did in the camera. It drives me crazy that much. I wish so badly I could do a quick trial to test it out but I guess I can't.

Hi,

I'm new to Mac, I got a Mac Desktop For Christmas (Mac Mini 2011 2.3GHz) and I love it! So glad I switched! As for Final Cut Pro X I downloaded a Trial from Here and So far I love it. I know this is an old post but I thought I'd post a link to a trial and my thoughts. I really like FInal Cut and I think it's worth the upgrade if you want more "Pro" features than what iMovie '11 has to offer. I used iMovie once and hten Installed the trial for Final Cut Pro to see what It was like so I couldn't really say the differences between the two. But from What you want for editing software Final Cut seems like it would be a very good investent for you.

Hope this helps you somehow.

Rory

I think this is the first time I've ever heard a MacMini referred to as a "desktop" computer.

😉