Final Cut Pro in 2024– Is It Time to Switch?

With apps like Davinci Resolve becoming more popular and Premiere gaining advanced “AI” features from other Adobe programs, where does Final Cut Pro fit in today’s editing landscape?

⏱️Chapter Markers:
0:00 - The Final Cut Pro-blem
1:29 - The Big 3 Editing Apps
2:06 - Why I Prefer Final Cut Pro
4:26 - Who Should NOT Use Final Cut?
5:26 - How Apple Almost Killed Final Cut
10:01 - Final Cut vs. Resolve
11:55 - Editing App Pricing & Accessibility
15:32 - Conclusion

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Episode 416: Final Cut Pro in 2024 - Is It Time To Switch?

[joshadams]

I spent 120 hours last year editing a video course with FCP and couldn’t have been happier with it.

[RyanKorea]

I use Final Cut, Resolve and Capcut. I pretty much cycle through them with every new video just to mix things up for fun. I really love Final Cut's magnetic timeline for cutting. Resolve is by far the most powerful and blows the others away with its capabilities but I often don't need most of them. Capcut is a good middle-ground because it has a magnetic timeline that can be turned on or off. It also has way better built-in effects than any other editing app and runs even better than Final Cut. The main issue I have with Final Cut is how they still have no way of adding proper captions in 2024.

[california_ray]

I bid Adobe farewell years ago, and let's just say, our reunion is not on the calendar.

[JaylonDBZ]

As somebody who's bought all 3 softwares, I am really saddened by the missed potential of Final Cut Pro. Take Pixelmator Pro for example, it's a Photoshop alternative that I use instead of Photoshop (despite having), because it's so much cleaner, has a better UI, and is extremely easy to understand. A lot of users describe Pixelmator Pro as a Photoshop made by Apple, because it really does feel like it, and it's a SOLID replacement for most features that people would need from Photoshop.

Now, Final Cut Pro compared to Davinci or Premiere Pro is completely lackluster. Not even bringing After Effects or Motion into the conversation. The amount of features and customization in Premiere Pro completely dwarfs Final Cut entirely. Don't like the way the interface looks? Just mix it around and you can make Premiere look and feel the way you like it. The simplicity of doing things like smoothing keyframes, working with texts and animations, and creating presets is so much more intuitive. And to be honest, the only thing Final Cut can really hide behind is it's scrubbing timeline, and maybe having the fastest playback. But Adobe and Davinci can probably change that with one update if they really wanted to and add a scrubbing timeline themselves.

I really wish Final Cut was the clean and feature packed alternative to Davinci and Adobe that Pixelmator Pro is to Photoshop, but it just isn't. And the plugins that it would take to catch final cut pro up to just the BASE package of Davinci will cost you probably twice as much as the one time payment for the app. I really do hope Apple steps their game up sometime soon.

[JeffreyTadlockPhotography]

I am still using Final Cut Pro for all my YouTube videos. Partially because I know how to make it do what I want it to do and it just stays out of my way. I don't need anything super fancy to get done what I do. The basics that are easy to use get me by.

[JamesMusicCo]

12:05 Also worth mentioning the Apple Pro Apps Bundle for Education is $199. It includes Final Cut, Logic, MainStage, Compressor, and Motion. Very worth it and Apple is very flexible for what it defines for “education”.

[NDRONES]

Fcp IS still the boss of editing for the solo producer, easiest most open (non stealing of your data) best value for money

[Romafedorov]

I switched from FCP to DR a couple of months ago, and honestly, from time to time, I miss editing in FCP, especially because of the magnetic timeline. But, I don't think I'll ever go back, as I find Resolve to be superior in so many different areas.

[maxone]

I agree that FCP was a bit grubby on the M silicone at the start, but after a few updates, it is rock solid again, and it is so fast and efficient.

[JET]

Great video as usual. I switched to Resolve about two years ago. FCP is definitely easier but I wanted the flexibility of using the same software on my Mac and PC. Great video and happy 4th to all!

[EricDoggett]

I've been using Resolve for a few years. I'd like to give FCP a try again, but the fact that they have no audio mixer just baffles me. It's a lot easier to use automation and faders in resolve to control volume vs adding keyframes with a mouse all over the video. I never understood why they went with that approach!

[xilrowemedia]

Just switch over from Vegas pro, used for 20 years. It is very very stable, no issues so far. Happy I jumped over to a Mac, not an easy decision. Vegas is however, much more flexible with ingesting files. For crying out loud, I dragged a dvd disc file right onto the Vegas timeline.

[AerialEmber]

As a note on Adobe's subscription practices: they are being sued by the federal government for being deceptive.

[oasisrevivalministrypta]

There is a button to turn magnetic on and off, we use it all the time. Hit 'p' while editing and your mouse becomes a positioning tool and magnetic is off while in position mode. Hit 'a' again when you're done positioning and you're back into magnetic mode.

[PatrickStirling]

great rundown. In general I think a lot of the Resolve and FCP community are right there with you with users finding the best tool that works for them and their ambitions. big fans of all the FCP-focused channels while I play in Resolve Land :p

[FourPeaksFilms]

I enjoy editing in FinalCut Pro a lot, but am stuck 10 hours a day in Premiere due to professional work. But when I edit in FCPX, it's wonderful.

[michaelforrest]

For me it’s the combination of Final Cut Pro and Motion that really shines - I can create titles and generators in Motion and put them into my timeline, edit and tweak or replace with no intermediate rendering step.

[gregory]

Oh yes! I’m always trying to convince people to come back to FCP, and you make the case well. I only started playing with resolve but their interface is beautiful. I wish from your lips to the editing world at large, everyone would leave Premiere and come to these two apps. ❤

[missv]

This was soooo informative and refreshing to see someone still talking good about Final Cut Pro. I have both but I’m still Final Cut Pro user mainly because of my investment of plugins, I’m not sure if Davinci has plugins but I sure don’t want to go down the lane of buying new ones.

Much respect to you mentioning about Davinci training courses.

Great video

[viriconiustheengineer]

FCP: Magnetic timeline is great. Multicam editing is good.
Favourite/used/role selection is good.
Premier pro: keeping clips in channels makes audio dub easier (group for interview dialogue, fader for music, fader for effects). And the killer atm is the transcript AI - both for select/cut/paste editing and creating captions. Not perfect, but still a timesaver.
Premier fails cf FCP in the pre-editing phase of highlighting favourite and marking when they’re used.
Big missing feature I’d like in FCP is an archive option that keeps Favourite+used clips with handles and deletes all the unwanted bits for more compact archiving.