Adobe Premiere

We’ve been Final Cut power users since v1.0, circa 1999.

However, like many post-production shops, the shoddy release of the underpowered FCP X left us heartbroken, and it was time to say goodbye.

We still have a number of projects in various stages of completion in FCP 7, but when the chance came to work on a brand new edit with an extended delivery timeline, we jumped at it. Our initial impressions with Premiere are good ones, and in many ways it feels like FCP v8.

First off, it’s FAST.  It’s a modern, 64-bit program, which can efficiently access all the RAM and multiple computer cores you throw at it.  That, in tandem with the Mercury Playback Engine, means that we can do things like use Magic Bullet Looks on a clip and it plays back — in real time.  Another much-appreciated feature is the inclusion of FCP 7 keyboard shortcuts. Yes, FCP 7 keyboard shortcuts. This feature alone allowed us to start working IMMEDIATELY, which was awesome.  And if you happen to have an NVIDIA graphics card, you can easily play back multiple streams of 4K video, layered with effects.  Lastly, and this is huge, there is no transcoding in Premiere Pro of DSLR clips.

Don’t touch that dial.