Advantages of Final Cut Express over iMovie?

J

jbaugh

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I'm new to digital movie making. I've owned my Canon Optura 40 for about three months. I've been using iMovie 4 to edit my movies. I feel reasonably proficient with this product. Now I'm wondering what the advantages might be to moving up to Final Cut Express. Does FCE have significantly better functionality to justify the cost and learning curve? The cost is not the major concern. I'm more concerned about the complexity of FCE compared to iMovie and the resultant learning curve that will be required.

I'm not completely satisfied with the transitions and titling capabilities of iMovie. Would I be happier with FCE? I am primarily making 30- 50 minute movies of lectures and presentations using a single fixed focus digital camcorder on a tripod. I have to make frequent edits to insert graphic paste overs and full screen text to complement the presenter's audio. I would like the finished product to be reasonably well polished and have at least a semi-professional quality. Most of the material will be burned to DVDs using iDVD. Any advice will be appreciated.
John
 
If you want all the features and functionality of a pro authoring house, get Final Cut. If you want the run-of-the-mill, good-enough-for-home-movies then just go with iMovie; which, by the way, comes with your computer when you buy it (at least my iMac did).

iMovie transitions aren't very flexible at all. I've been doing my wedding video using it and it leaves quite a lot to be desired.

Definitely go with Final Cut for more features, especially if price is no object. :cool:
 
I bought FCE with my G5 at the discounted rate. Now i see iLife 05 (with iMovie HD) is out, and FCE HD is out, i don't think i'll be getting the new FCE just yet. I recently had to make a very quick conversion from a MiniDV camera onto a VCD. I didn't even bother with FCE, i went straight to imove and then exported back to DV for toast to make a VCD.

FCE is great, it gives us home users some of the power in the pro tools, without all the cost. But it is definitely a learning curve. a big one. If you do a lot of video, maybe you'll love it. Im afraid i just don't do enough right now to warrant it...
 
Pengu said:
But it is definitely a learning curve. a big one. If you do a lot of video, maybe you'll love it. Im afraid i just don't do enough right now to warrant it...
Click to expand...

I'm thinking I might fall into the same category as you do. I'm not such I do enough video work to justify a lot of time spent learning how to use new software right now.
John
 
Im gonna upgrade to ilife 05, and then when i actually get a video camera (up until now, i've been doing stuff for other people) i'll maybe get the most recent version of FCE HD and make use of it..
 
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