Final Cut Pro vs. Vegas, vs. Premiere Pro

[fuccisphotos]

<p>So I went to apple and they told me the blockyness problem I was having was that iMovie was unavoidably compressing my files from my 5DmkII output, they suggested switching to Final Cut Pro. In asking a few of the videographer's I've worked with, none of them have mentioned working with FCP. They are either working with Vegas or Premier. FCP is considerably cheaper at $299. Sony Vegas Pro is $599.95. And Premiere Pro is $799. Vegas and Premiere have to have something that FCP doesn't. I'm just wondering for me as a wedding photographer, who is only using this to do the occasional video editing, does it make sense to spend the extra $300-400 bucks. I don't want to buy FCP and then realize, d'oh actually in a month or two of using that I realize I want/need Vegas or Premiere. So for those who have used them, what do you think of them and the differences between them? Also what's the learning curve like? I'll be coming from iMovie, and I know CS4 Photoshop well. Any suggestions are much appreciated!</p>

[MichaelChang]

<p>Vail, there are various versions of Sony Vegas. Have a look at the feature comparison and you might discover a less expensive version might do the job:<br>

<a href="http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiope/compare">http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiope/compare</a></p>

<p>You can also download trial versions. </p>

<p>I use Sony Vegas and find it intuitive and very easy to use. There are also quite a few tutorial/user sites where you can get help. YouTube is also a great resource. </p>

[garethspics]

<p>It might be worth checking out the "Lite" verions of Premiere and Vegas, namely Premiere Elements and Vegas Movie Studio. They are incredibly cheap and probably do more than you need.</p>

<p> </p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>I have I believe the Sony/Vegas Movie Studio at home and even though it's the $100 prosumer version, it does more than I've ever used. I used Premiere in the past and found it better -- less automation, more traditoinal in the way it handled in and out points, its. I haven't kept up with video editing software recently but at one point I thought Final Cut Pro was the No. 2 system after Avid, with Premiere and Sony/Vegas the next tier down. If in doubt, Avid is the gold standard, but the full version is not cheap.</p>

[fuccisphotos]

<p>I talked to adobe, and they were able to give me an amazing upgrade from my old MAC CS4 design suite to the CS5.5 production suite, it upgraded my photoshop to CS5 and I will get after effects and adobe premium all for $520+tax. It was 20% off the normal upgrade right now with a promotion. I was THRILLED! People had said that Final Cut Pro X isn't as good as Final Cut Pro 7, that X is more of a prosumer product now. I didn't want to deal with lots of transcoding, so I think premiere will be a great option for me. Looking forward to working with it. Thanks guys!</p>

[bill_tuthill]

Sony Vegas Platinum 9 does not even read the audio tracks off my camera-originated MOV files! It seems to be a known problem that Vegas does not read QuickTime correctly. How lame is that? Did this get fixed in Platinum 10 or 11?

 

I have heard that Adobe Premiere is more codec friendly.

[vancouver_wedding_portrait]

<p>I'm a owner of Final Cut Studio, Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 production premium, Vegas Pro 10 and Movie Edit 17 Pro (all with purchases for my studio for 2d/3d Stereoscopic HD video Media Production) I don't like to buy the software unless I very need them. When you say Final Cut Pro you must mean the latest Final Cut Pro X version as Apple has discontinued Final Cut Studio which is very disappointing as I have bought the software beginning of the year.<br>

Each software does different work flow and again base your need? I need to put HD into blu ray and only way for me is using Encore from Adobe and DVD pro from Final Cut Studio does not support Blu ray. You can spend a lot of money before you know it! Right Software, Right Hardware and the time to learn all the softwares!<br>

People is calling Final Cut Pro X is an upgrade to Imovie and you should have no problem learning the software but I don't see the software to burn Blu-ray with Final Cut Pro X, I can be wrong! As a photographer myself I have shoot video over 25 years and editing has not been new to me, the changing of digital media has increased better video quality and bigger files! Look like you are a Mac user like I'm, if you don't want to switch to PC try out Final Cut Pro X or the Adobe Suite 5.5. Again I like using Adobe suite which has all the programs working together for my need, HD authoring tools to burn Blu Ray.</p>

<p>Wayne Lam Creative Media Director<br>

Vancouver Wedding Photographer + Videographer<br>

<a href="http://FantasyWeddingPhotography.com" target="_blank">Photography</a><br>

<a href="http" target="_blank">Video</a></p>

[Stock-Photos]

<p><a href="00Yrbw">http://www.photo.net/video-forum/00Yrbw</a></p>

[model mayhem gallery]

<p>I upgraded from Sony Vegas to Adobe Premere Pro because 1 Vegas doesn't have a 64-bit version and Premere looks just like Final Cut Pro anyway. I prefer Adobe Premere because of all the addon, Encore, Photoshop, After Effects, Soundbooth, etc. Final Cut pro or Vegas can not stand against adobe Master Suite Collection of tools. Oh and Yes, Bluray is manadatory in order to maintain HD, why has Mac missed the boat on BluRay technologies?</p>

[Mark Keefer]

<p>M.P.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>why has Mac missed the boat on BluRay technologies?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Baby steps, spoon feed us the tech, tiny upgrades to make money reselling us the same stuff with each tiny improvement. Blue-ray is a future money making opportunity just not yet released.</p>

[geoff_edwards]

<p>Hi<br>

I have Vegas Pro 10 64bit edition. Running on a Windows 7 Dell workstation. It was an upgrade from the entry level Sony Movie Studio HD production suite. It cost me less than 200 GBP for both programs. Pro 10 will burn to Bluray disks. Given the cost of the upgrade I think that Vegas is the better option. The Home Production suite is fine but I want to run Plural Eyes software so as to produce auto syncing over multilple video tracks.</p>