should i get final cut studio, or final cut pro x

[thesleepylemur]

Hello, I am looking for a professional video editing system. I would hope to one day make a living with video production, and was wondering if i should get final cut studio 2009, or get the new final cut pro x. I was wondering which is better for professional editing, and looking for the program that is more powerful.

 

[Kaveman]

I've been following this issue closely.

If you have no legacy projects then you should buy final cut pro x.

Its Apple path into the future.
While it may not have some of the features the old version currently has it will quickly reach parity.
This means if you learn everything it does now, you will just be adding to your knowledge as they add features. That a great learning advantage.

I had final cut express and didn't upgrade as final cut studio was just inaccessible without hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of training. X looks very accessible.

I'm saving up for X right now, having just purchased Motion to get my feet wet;-)

 

[karazelle]

I concur with Kaveman based on this part of your statement:

I would hope to one day make a living with video production

While Final Cut Studio 3 has more features than X currently has, its also a very pro for pros product. Final Cut Pro X will get more features soon and Apple seem to indicate by their FAQ that it should at least match the features that FCS3 had by this or the next version. Also, depending on how Apple does it, you might either get a free upgrade to the next version or probably get it cheap. FCS3 was always sold as upgrade deals.

That said, you can also download a 30 day unlimited trial of Adobe Premiere Pro. Final Cut, Adobe Premiere and Avid are the 3 kings of pro video editing afaik.

Also, it seems Apple have withdrawn FCS3 from the market, though you might find a place that still has it. I don't know if they would cut down the price on it still though, cynically they might be expecting a shortage and keep or jack the price. You'd have to check. Remember that it cost about $800 but included Final Cut Pro, Sound studio (now apparently built into FCS), Motion, DVD Studio Pro (which future remains unclear, but some features are built into FCSX), Color (the color correction in FCSX at the moment gets mixed reviews) and Compressor and literally gigs upon gigs of demo material.

The new FCSX costs substantially less and includes some (but not as much) free samples and additional content as an optional Apple Update after installation.

I should add that while FCSX has been redone to mixed reviews, the same does not seem to apply to Motion 5 or Compressor 3.5, both of which seem to keep the functionality of their previous versions up to par and Motion seems even to be praised as a good improvement. Also, their price point on App Store are insane for this products, in a good way