Apple's New Final Cut Studio 2 w/ image stablizer

[The Publisher]

Apple has anounced their latest version of Final Cut Studio.

Some might be aware Apple purchased the rights to a program called Shake which has features in it that allowed editors to smooth out a shaky camera shot as well as having powerful color correction features.

Apple stopped development of Shake once they purchased it which fueled speculation that Shake's powerful features were going to be incorporated into Final Cut Pro. That speculation proved to be true with the release of Final Cut Studio 2.

Final Cut Pro 6 introduces ProRes 422, Apple’s new post-production format offering uncompressed HD quality at SD file sizes. "Use ProRes 422 when collaborating over an Xsan storage network or working on a portable computer in the field; when working with non-native camera formats; or to preserve maximum quality for composites and demanding color grading work" says Apple.

The Smoothcam feature ported over from Shake allows editors to take a shaky clip, such as a macro shot of that tiny Imperator shrimp and remove the shake of the underwater housing. If you have slight shaky housing movement taken during a camera pan shot, such as sweeping the camera slowly left to right, it will even smooth that out while preserving the pan movement.

[Zero]

Jeez i thought Photoshop was hard. There goes any thought of buying a video cam.

Matt

[seasnake]

I have used similar software but to tell you the truth I didn't find it did much. It will be interesting to see this version in action. I think it is for very minor camera shake, if I'm not mistaken.

[DrBill]

I have been an avid PC user for 25 years now and a Premiere user for 6 years. For the first time in my life, I am not only praising Apple for their recent decisions, but seriously considering a Mac as my next video editing platform. Apple has made some very good decisions that have finally countered many of my concerns. Microsoft has made... er... another mess with Vista!

[Purpleturtle]

I find that most new-comers to underwater videography would benefit more by learning to hold the camera steady using good buoyancy skills. I've used many cameras, housings, editing packages and add-ons.....but do we all need HD with antishake? Maybe the pros do....I'll stick with premiere and a single chip camera....oh and hold my camera steady manually.

[freediver]

Sorry to burst the bubbles of the macophiles but a PC is just as powerful for video editing as a MAC.

Anyone who thinks they will become a better shooter/editor because they use a MAC are living in a dream world. You have limited options on a MAC and I have seen as good if not better results produced on a PC running PPro, Vegas 7, Edius, Avid Express, etc.

If you own a MAC that's one thing, but to say a PC is inferior to a MAC is a subjective statement. I have worked on both platforms and feel that for the money, SONY's Vegas 7 running on Windows XP Pro in many ways, surpasses what FCP can do.

Even SONY's consumer Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Edition blows away Final Cut Express - and at almost 1/3 the cost - and handles HDV as well.

SONY's apps are known for outright stability on the most modest of hardware specs - I have even read about MAC users running Parallels just so they can run a copy of Vegas on their Macbooks.

SONY gives you the opportunity to download a fully functional 30 day trial of Vegas Studio Platinum here and their Pro NLE Vegas 7 here to see what their products can do.

I highly recommend it for any PC users out there.

[seasnake]

No argument from me on that one. I am typing this on my G5 as we speak, use a Mac everyday for photo editing, video editing and illustration, and to me Mac (and Adobe, might as well throw them in there . . . lol) is the result of excellent marketing and a lot of hype. If I had a hammer on my desk I probably wouldn't have a mac anymore. P Now, at my other office, I use a Pentium 4, Windows based ... and many times I've considered hurling that out the window too. But at least the PC does everything just as well, in some cases better, without all the hype. My G5 has two dual core processors, but photoshop still runs better and faster on the PC. Plus the PC has more options, more third party support, less expensive, etc., etc. Don't even get me started on the ignorant, unwieldy, Mt. Everest learning curve on Adobe software!! There are so many better options out there, but "if you aren't using photoshop, you must not be a pro". I'm not saying the Mac isn't wonderful, and photoshop and FCP are amazing, powerful software packages there is no doubt! Very powerful and robust ... It's just that unsubstantiated religious zealotism that gets to me ...

On the upside ... I heard yesterday someone is updating the OS for the Amiga! Can I get a *woot, woot*!? Now there was a video editing platform!

[Sarah]

I think it is PC's that limit one's options as to software, whereas the Intel chip based Mac's opens one's options as they can run Windows based programs natively without needing an emulator.

[Stevect]

Sorry to burst the bubbles of the macophiles but a PC is just as powerful for video editing as a MAC.

Anyone who thinks they will become a better shooter/editor because they use a MAC are living in a dream world. You have limited options on a MAC and I have seen as good if not better results produced on a PC running PPro, Vegas 7, Edius, Avid Express, etc.

If you own a MAC that's one thing, but to say a PC is inferior to a MAC is a subjective statement. I have worked on both platforms and feel that for the money, SONY's Vegas 7 running on Windows XP Pro in many ways, surpasses what FCP can do.

Even SONY's consumer Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Edition blows away Final Cut Express - and at almost 1/3 the cost - and handles HDV as well.

SONY's apps are known for outright stability on the most modest of hardware specs - I have even read about MAC users running Parallels just so they can run a copy of Vegas on their Macbooks.

SONY gives you the opportunity to download a fully functional 30 day trial of Vegas Studio Platinum here and their Pro NLE Vegas 7 here to see what their products can do.

I highly recommend it for any PC users out there.

I have worked on a PC platform for quite a few years. I have been a PC user for many years. I have worked in the IT industry for 20 years and am a MCSE and have used a lot of PC editing software for my video. I took a look at Finaly Cut Studio and went straight out and got myself an iMac 20 and it's the best thing that I have ever done.

I still use the PC for little bits but my Mac with FCS is the tool for me.

Steve

[seasnake]

I think it is PC's that limit one's options as to software, whereas the Intel chip based Mac's opens one's options as they can run Windows based programs natively without needing an emulator.

If you are running Windows programs why do you need a Mac?

I am using Mac versions of Adobe CS2 stuff with the intel processors on my G5, and it's my understanding that it hasn't been optimized for the intel processors? So that is why it runs a little clunky. I heard that CS3 will be optimized, but I haven't tried it.

And remember the Commodore 64?! Ahhh, the mere utterance of the name floods me with warm feelings of nostalgia ... Those were the days ...