Final Cut Pro X vs Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017: Which is the Best Video Editor For Your Needs?

Beyond any doubt, these NLEs are two of the most popular and widely adopted editing platforms by professional video editors and enthusiasts alike around the world these days. But, which one of those particularly is most suitable for your personal needs and preferences?

To help you sort things out and find the right answer for yourself, Australian-based filmmaker Justin Brown of Primal Video shares some of his personal top favorite features regarding each of those NLEs. Don’t expect to get the whole picture right away, though, but if you pay close attention to the points Justin highlights, I’m sure it will be much easier for you to pick the better option for yourself. Or, maybe you’ll end up using both. Let’s find out.

One of the biggest strengths of Final Cut X is the way it handles 4K video files. You can seamlessly edit and play back 4K files in their native resolution on a wide range of the latest MacBook Pros, mainly due to the background rendering the NLE offers. If you are one of those creative professionals who also travel a lot, odds are you’re already aware of the fact the Final Cut X is optimized in a way that saves a decent amount of the battery power of your laptop, whereas other GPU-intensive software platforms like Premiere Pro drain it significantly faster.

Another advantage of Final Cut X according to Justin Brown is the ability to edit and custom motion titles inside the platform with ease thus eliminating the necessity to use separate third-party applications or other graphics editors. Of course, you can get titles like these in Premiere Pro CC, but to be able to utterly customize those you will need to send them to After Effects using the Adobe Dynamic Link integration. The Magnetic Timeline is also an extremely powerful asset that you can find only in Final Cut Pro X. In a nutshell, the feature allows you to swap places of different clips on your timeline as it automatically closes gaps and moves the associated pieces stuck to your story clips.

The way you can preview the imported media in Final Cut Pro X is another huge advantage over other editing platforms according to Justin, as it gives you the ability to select and import only those files that you’ll actually end up using. Just as important are the render times that Final Cut Pro X provides as well. For instance, you can even upload your edit directly to YouTube or other social platforms without having to render the entire edit beforehand whatsoever as the process happens in the background while you’re editing.

Premiere Pro CC 2017, on the other hand, is cross-platform compatible as it’s available on both Windows and MacOS platforms and features Team Projects and other integrated assets which are a big advantage when it comes to collaboration and working on bigger projects. The Adobe’s premium video editor also offers advanced color grading panel, that can hardly compete with the modest functionality Final Cut Pro X provides in that regard. Once you wrapped up your edit, there are also countless export settings that you can utilize right off the bat. From low-resolution videos to full digital cinema files, Premiere Pro CC 2017 has got you covered.

The seamless integration of Premiere Pro CC with other Adobe creative applications is also extremely powerful and useful feature that Final Cut Pro X lacks. When it comes to editing, Premiere Pro CC also offers neat file management system which makes it much easier for you and your collaborators to work with bigger projects and load tons of media and other project assets.

All in all, those are only a small part of the strengths both platforms provide, so it really depends on what are the specific project requirements you need to deal with in order to choose the most suitable platform for your workflow. But if you use one of those more over the other, it’ll be interesting to share with us your insight which one of both NLEs is your personal favorite.

[source: Justin Brown – Primal Video]

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