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Final Cut Pro User Group Supermeet – LiveBlog (Updated: Final Cut Pro X Officially Unveiled)

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[UPDATE: Final Cut Pro X is now available in the Mac App Store here.]

This will be a live blog feed – with the newest updates at the bottom.  (Hit the ‘Refresh’ button for updates.)

There is a crowd growing outside of the conference room of the Final Cut Pro User Group Supermeet right now.  We’re all waiting to take our seats to see what everyone at NAB 2011 has been talking about for the past couple of days . . . the unveiling of the next generation of Final Cut Pro.  (Let’s just say that better be what happens or their will be complete anarchy here.) [Read more…]

 

Canon EOS Movie Plug-in-E1 for Final Cut Pro Updated

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Canon 1D Mark IV

Ahead of NAB 2011, Canon has announced an update to the EOS Movie Plug-in-E1 for Final Cut Pro.  If you aren’t familiar with the plug-in, it aids with importing .mov files from Canon DSLRs. It transcodes the files to Apple ProRes 422 much quicker and easier than using MPEG Streamclip, which is what we used before the plug-in originally came out.  The plug-in works with files from the Canon 1D Mark IV, 5D Mark II, 7D and 60D.

One of the previously frustrating features of the plug-in is that you have to maintain the folder structure of the CF card on which the files were captured – even if you move the files to your hard drive before you import the footage.  The updated version will make this process easier and allow users to import files from any folder “without needing to mirror the folder structure on the camera itself.”

Although many FCP users have developed a consistent workflow to accommodate this file structure when importing Canon EOS movie files, it will be a welcomed change to take this superfluous step out of the workflow.

Version 1.2 of the EOS Movie Plug-in-E1 for Final Cut Pro will be available to download for free on April 25, 2011.  Watch the front page for the link as soon as it is available.

Apple to Unveil New Final Cut Pro on April 12

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It is pretty much all but confirmed that Apple will be unveiling the new “jaw dropping” version of Final Cut Pro at next week’s Final Cut Pro User Group SuperMeet in Vegas.

Apple itself has historically had little presence at the SuperMeets; however, this year, the presentation schedule has been wiped clear just a few days before the event.  The prior-scheduled presentations looked to be a pretty big deal in and of themselves – with Avid and Canon (among others) bringing in special speakers to cater to the crowd.  According to all reports, this schedule clearing was done at the behest of Apple. [Read more…]

Final Cut Pro Update Due Spring 2011, Hailed as a “Jaw-Dropper”

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When the 5D Mark II busted onto the scene in 2008, the footage from the camera amazed the masses.  However, working with the footage in post-production wasn’t the friendliest of tasks.  If you wanted to properly edit the footage in Final Cut Pro, you first had to transcode the files using MPEG Streamclip or some other method in order to get a file format that was workable in FCP.  Canon later sped up the process by making the Plugin-E1 available for importing 5D, 1D, and 7D footage into FCP – it worked quite well; however, it’s still a time-consuming process.

Then, Adobe introduced Premiere Pro CS5, which allowed us to simply drop files in the timeline and start editing – a big boon for HDSLR editors.  It’s a 64-bit program that makes very efficient use of system resources.  My 2.5-year-old Windows machine is able to playback color corrected video with effects and no need to render first.

Many NLE users see Apple’s Final Cut Pro as lagging behind.  Fear not though.  The next Final Cut Pro version is coming and, according to Larry Jordan (producer, director, editor and Apple-Certified trainer), it’s a “jaw-dropper.”

Jordan says he was invited to Apple, along with the “Who’s Who of leaders in the post-production community,” to check out the new version of Final Cut Pro.

Elsewhere, TechCrunch has word of the same preview event and has heard quotes from those who have seen the software program running, calling it “the biggest overhaul to Final Cut Pro since the original version was created over 10 years ago.”

As someone relatively new to the video scene, I’m very anxious to see what Apple has in store for us with this Final Cut Pro update.  I mainly work with HDSLR video, simply because that’s what I started with and that’s what I still use on a regular basis.  I’ve used Media Composer 5, Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express over the past year; however, when I chose to buy a NLE as my go-to editing program last year, I went with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 because of how well it works with HDSLR footage.

While I like FCP’s interface, it’s just too slow no matter what machine I’m using it on (MacBook Pro, iMac or Mac Pro).  I’m hoping to see the FCP update step up and match or exceed Adobe’s capabilities with Premiere Pro CS5.

I recognize that there are many other improvements desired by those working on much larger projects than my short ones. However, I would venture to say that the 5D Mark II and its lineage of HDSLRs have been solely responsible for numerous purchases of Premiere Pro CS5.  Here’s to hoping Apple jumps on the bandwagon and makes the latest FCP just as attractive for those of us shooting with HDSLRs . . . ’cause I’m Jonesin for a good reason to pick up a new Core i7 MacBook Pro.

[via Larry Jordan & TechCrunch]

PluralEyes Review

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This is for all of you guys out there trying your hand at working with DSLR video.

If you’ve tried working with multiple video and audio tracks in a non-linear editor, then you know what a challenge that it can be to sync up the audio wave forms among different tracks.  It’s not necessarily hard to do manually, but it can be tedious and time consuming when you start piling on cameras and audio-recording sources.

Enter Singular Software’s PluralEyes.

Read the full review over at Tech Tilt: PluralEyes Review: Magic Sauce for Syncing Multi-Cam and Multi-Source Audio

Canon EOS MOVIE Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro

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Canon 1D Mark IV

The Canon EOS MOVIE Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro is a plug-in currently in development that is intended to allow footage from EOS DSLRs to be edited more quickly and easily in Final Cut Pro.  The plug-in will be introduced in a free Beta release in March 2010.

Key features of the plug-in includes the enabling of the “log and transfer” of footage from the 5D Mark II, 7D and 1D Mark IV.  Moreover, the plug-in converts Canon EOS DSLR footage to Apple’s ProRes 4:2:2 at twice the speed of what you get out of the box with Final Cut Pro.  Adding timecode, reel names and metadata to footage will also be a faster and smoother task.

Stay tuned for updates on the availability of the EOS Movie Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro.