Apple Final Cut Pro vs Adobe Premiere Pro: Pros & Cons
Every video editor has their preference, and the debate between Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro has never been hotter. With both applications in circulation in professional filmmaking and the film industry, it’s difficult to choose between the two. Even professional reviewers can’t really decide which one is better. So, with two different interfaces and similar functions, it’s easier to say that you’ll work with both. But, if you do that, you need to be able to know which projects will be compatible with each program. For example, some projects will be ideal for Adobe Premiere Pro, as you might need to integrate them with other applications, like Photoshop, After Effects and other Adobe products.
So, it’s best to pick your favourite editing suite, and understand why, and to help you do that, we’ve compiled a list of pros and cons of both Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro. That way, you’ll be able to choose the right editing suite that suits your editing style.
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Apple Final Cut Pro – The Pros
Let’s start with Final Cut Pro. First off, the interface is very user-friendly, even amateurs will be able to navigate the software. It’s very similar to iMovie, the free application you can get with your Mac, iPad, iPhone or online. It provides seamless video editing with its magnetic timeline, so it makes video editing more efficient, by letting users colour code their videos, tag them, and if necessary, edit each clip without affecting the rest of the video.
It also comes with a VR function, so you can create VR videos, with its 360-degree viewer. It makes a great tool for those who want to create immersive videos, and it makes it easy for editors to add graphics, text, and blurs, at every angle of the video.
Moreover, the software tags assets, so it’ll be easier for editors to grab the video, graphic or title they need, without digging around in their files. So, they’ll have more time to focus on the edit itself.
Final Cut Pro also comes with a multitude of extra features, like motion graphics templates, video filters, video transitions, video effects and 2D and 3D animated titles. Not only that, third-party tools and templates can expand the library of these tools, to create more personalised videos and films.
Another benefit to using Final Cut Pro is that the sound editing is built into the program as well. So, editors won’t need to switch to a separate application, to work on the details of their audio. They can easily fix any part of the audio, within the software. So, they can remove background noises and optimise sound levels without using a different program to do so.
Finally, one of the best things about Final Cut Pro is the rendering of the final video edit. While many other software and programs will take hours, sometimes days to render a video, Final Cut Pro utilises the processing power of the multi-core, and multi-thread machine power of a Mac to render the video at a much faster rate. So, what could take days will only take a few hours.
Apple Final Cut Pro – The Cons
While we can sing Final Cut Pro’s praises all day long, there are a few issues with it that may change your mind about how efficient and well-rounded it is. For example, despite its capabilities of rendering a video, its formats aren’t very compatible with other applications and software. With so many extra tools and resources that go into film and video making, it’s essential that a video edit can integrate with them.
However, Final Cut Pro videos don’t do well in that department, and many times editors will need to rely on file converters to help make the video easier to use and deal with, and because of that, the video may lose quality.
Furthermore, Final Cut Pro uses a lot of storage. Compared with other video editing software, Final Cut Pro uses double the storage that they’d use. So, you may as well delete every other software, application, document and file on your computer and portable hard drive, because the project that Final Cut Pro creates will take up space.
Adobe Premiere Pro – The Pros
Like Apple Final Cut Pro, you can pretty much do anything in Premiere Pro, in video editing. It supports VR editing, you can organise your files and folders, so they’re easy to reach, and they have multitudes of different video effects, transitions, titles, filters, and motion graphic animations. However, there are a few additional features Premiere Pro has that Final Cut Pro doesn’t.
Rather than integrating your video into other third-party programs and software, where you can enhance your video edit, if they are subscribed to Adobe’s Creative Cloud Suites, the editing process itself can be integrated into their other applications. What this means is, while the video editor is working on the video edit itself, an animator can add animation to already edited clips, on another app, like After Effects.
Not only that, but the software also allows you to edit several projects at once, so you can easily dip in and out of all the projects you’re working on at the same time. It also means that you can insert one project into another, without having to repeat the same edit for every video you do, if you’re creating something like a TV series, or a web series, or if you’re creating a video series for the likes of YouTube and social media.
Lastly, Premiere Pro also works with multiple formats, including the formats that Final Cut Pro produces. This way, your video’s final edit will be compatible with many other programs and products. You can even export the video more than once, and in different formats, so you don’t lose quality if you need a different format from the original work.
Adobe Premiere Pro – The Cons
Unlike Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro is subscription-based. That means, while Final Cut Pro is a one-off payment of $299, you need to either subscribe to Adobe’s full Creative Cloud Suites or the app alone, to use it. The subscription can range anywhere from $19.99 to around $50.
Moreover, the interface can be intimidating to use, especially for novices and amateurs. It’s easy to get lost in the many functions Premiere Pro can offer and will be very difficult to navigate if you don’t have the patience or the time to learn.
As with many professional editing software, it can take a lot of CPU and GPU power to operate the software, let alone edit a feature film. So, you’ll need a very powerful computer, if you’re going to edit high-quality videos.
Final Thoughts
If you’re starting out in video editing, then working with Apple Final Cut Pro will be the ideal thing for you. It’s simple, the interface is easy to understand and all you really need to worry about is in editing your footage to fit your style or your client’s style. However, if you’re already a professional, and in need of something that caters to nearly every aspect of film and video production, you’ll need Adobe Premiere Pro. It’s not only a powerful piece of software, but with its integrated workflow, you’ll be able to access other Adobe apps and use their specific tools to enhance your video edit.
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