IS THIS THE END FOR FINAL CUT?

Apple has just launched  Final Cut X. This should have been cause for much interest in the professional world but it's quite the opposite. I've been editing at Seven on Final Cut for the last couple of months and had got to quite like it. It's really the same as Premiere Pro with a few minor differences.

I had planned to write a comparison about the differences but now I think that's a bit redundant. I'll be interested to see FCP X but from what I've seen/read so far it's more interesting to see where Apple are placing it in the market.

The harsher critics are calling it iMovie HD and that is what it looks like. It will sell for only $299 which puts it firmly in the consumer market price wise. There are no packages with DVDs anymore. It'll be an iPad like app download. It'll compete against Premiere Elements. I'm guessing they're partying at Adobe tonight as they realise the professional market is now theirs for the taking.

The less harsh critics point out that the new FCP can do more than the old FCP. Yes it can. So can Premiere Elements  but I won't buy that for my Pro work. FCP X is simpler. Yes it is. So is Elements but I won't buy that because I need complexity for my professional world.

If you look hard in Elements all the things you need can be had. It's just harder to have everything at hand. Pro has everything laid out for you to use productively. So too did FCP 7. There was a reason for the price differences beyond just the "Pro" label. For the same reasons pros buy Photoshop not Photoshop Elements.

Even if it can deliver the goods what production house is going to have high paying clients sit in a suite that looks like the software on their home computer? It's the old argument about cameras. I can shoot professionally on my HV40 but the client is not going to be impressed. They still want to see the full big rig. Dumb but true. Size matters and now it matters in software.

Looks like Apple have chosen to bail out of the pro market to me... time will tell.