As some may remember I've enjoyed shooting video with my Flip HD and then editing the footage in Apple's iMovie 09. Apple is genius at sucking in people incrementally. Usually, each product or software program, at first, has enough razzle dazzle to keep the user excited. But then, After a period the lower end software leaves something to be desired. So with mucho dinero you can upgrade to take your projects to the next level.
This is the way it has been with Apple's professional movie editing software called Final Cut. The two Final Cut Products are Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro I think is nearly a grand, but the Final Cut Express is $200 bucks. My understanding is the difference between the two is not much, in terms of editing movies. Final Cut Pro is what Hollywood uses and provides heavy duty encoding technology to prevent theft. I could be wrong, I'm not Columbo or a pro.
Several weeks ago I purchased Final Cut Express 4 to take it up a notch. I loaded the program and stared at the screen without a clue how to proceed. The leap from iMovie 09 to Final Cut is not simple. So I bought the Apple Pro Series training material and have been doing lessons almost daily ever since. The program is awesome and the training is cool to.
The going is slow, but I'm hoping to take some good footage while driving across the country and then of course score some sailing footage when I get out to San Francisco Bay. Then try and put something together in Final Cut Express. But the learning of the new software is going slower than I had anticipated. But could be my new calling.
Capt Chris
