Which video editing tool should I try? Premiere, Finalcut, something else?

[SillyPosition]

Some background:

1. I have almost no knowledge in video editing, my most experience would be taking a bunch of videos into imovie or so, cropping/clipping/transitions/text

2. Im familiar with Adobe, using Lightroom as my photo editing tool

3. Im a mac user, so final cut is an option

4. Its not a super sophisticated editing I "need" probably, these are family clips all gathered together from a trip into a single video memory that I want to create, so what Im looking for is the usual crop/clip/transitions, and some basic color color editing same as the develop tools in Lightroom (Basic, Tone curve, shadoes/highlights/saturation..)

I tried davinci once, but it was extremely overwheming, and was hard to understand how color grading works there, so I was hoping for easier tool to get into, hence why its not in the topic

Another issue I (potentially) have is that I have various sources, my camera (sony a7c with no picture profile as I dont understand too much how to use LUTs and all that..so, I just used regular settings with proper exposure), my action camera (Insta360 Ace Pro) and some iphone videos, some even shot horizontally

 

[Red13]

Mr Thread, why don't you use the free iMovie that comes with your Mac. That is what I used to do, it was simple and easy to use. I used it because I would get lost in the Final Cuts of the world.

 

[davidedric]

Maybe Adobe Premier Elements? It did what I needed with similar sounding requirements.

One off purchase, no subscription, at a reasonable price.

 

[bmoag]

All video editing tools have a learning curve. For the totally naive even the "simplest" can seem overwhelming, if only to learn the vocabulary.

Elements and other "simple" editing tools are no different in terms of a learning curve. Its normal to forget the rules of programs you don't use frequently. If Elements works for the OP all is good.

The OP can download a free trial of Premiere Elements. By the time she understands how to use it the 30 day trial period will likely be over.

iMovie is kind of limited and slow in my experience but suffices for the simplest tasks. Its free too. The learning curve is not zero either for anything more than splicing. iMovie does what it does but as I recall it didn't do what I wanted.

I occasionally edit video, doing the simple things the OP lists and a few others. I use DaVinci because its free and there are oodles of videos to get back up to speed on the basics. Color grading is no more difficult in DaV than anything else, if you even have a reason to use it. DaV is the rare exception to the rule that free things are worth what you paid for them.

 

[NAwlins Contrarian]

Some background:

1. I have almost no knowledge in video editing, my most experience would be taking a bunch of videos into imovie or so, cropping/clipping/transitions/text

2. Im familiar with Adobe, using Lightroom as my photo editing tool

3. Im a mac user, so final cut is an option

4. Its not a super sophisticated editing I "need" probably, these are family clips all gathered together from a trip into a single video memory that I want to create, so what Im looking for is the usual crop/clip/transitions, and some basic color color editing same as the develop tools in Lightroom (Basic, Tone curve, shadoes/highlights/saturation..)

I tried davinci once, but it was extremely overwheming, and was hard to understand how color grading works there, so I was hoping for easier tool to get into, hence why its not in the topic

Another issue I (potentially) have is that I have various sources, my camera (sony a7c with no picture profile as I dont understand too much how to use LUTs and all that..so, I just used regular settings with proper exposure), my action camera (Insta360 Ace Pro) and some iphone videos, some even shot horizontally

You may get more and/or better answers in the Digital Video Talk forum.

 

[SillyPosition]

main reason would be that i probably want to start with something that might be easy to get into, but still not that limited and offers more advanced features once/if I want them

 

[SillyPosition]

Yeah DaVinci is free, and has a very good reputation, I was maybe hoping to find something easier for use, even at the cost of some money, but thats a good point

 

[Night Pixel]

You can get it here: https://www.capcut.com/tools/desktop-video-editor

CapCut has a simple interface. It offers basic editing tools, filters, transitions, and text overlays. It’s great for quick edits and social media content. Low learning curve.



There are tons of tutorials on how to use CapCut: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=capcut+tutoprial

If 23 minutes is too long:







--
"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know." - Diane Arbus

 

[graybalanced]

The Final Cuts, Premieres, and DaVinci Resolves of the world are built for industrial professional use to professional standards and their specialized equipment and requirements. That is why they are so unwieldy. If you want to use one of those, you will never really understand it by trial and error because some parts of those programs are so rooted in specific professional requirements.

You pretty much have to study professional and traditional video editing to understand why things are laid out and labeled the way they are in those apps. When you become fluent in a professional video production environment Final Cut/Premiere Pro/Resolve make total sense and make jobs quick and easy.

The more you just want to get good videos out without a lot of training, the more you want to stick with something like iMovie where you can just pour in all the clips from all your cameras and sort them out in there, then export. iMovie is not bad at all, it’s pretty good for simple/personal projects and posting on the web. It might still be true that to get the most out of it would take a little more understanding of how video editing works, but that knowledge is a lot less necessary with iMovie than it is with the pro video apps.

 

[SillyPosition]

The Final Cuts, Premieres, and DaVinci Resolves of the world are built for industrial professional use to professional standards and their specialized equipment and requirements. That is why they are so unwieldy. If you want to use one of those, you will never really understand it by trial and error because some parts of those programs are so rooted in specific professional requirements.

You pretty much have to study professional and traditional video editing to understand why things are laid out and labeled the way they are in those apps. When you become fluent in a professional video production environment Final Cut/Premiere Pro/Resolve make total sense and make jobs quick and easy.

The more you just want to get good videos out without a lot of training, the more you want to stick with something like iMovie where you can just pour in all the clips from all your cameras and sort them out in there, then export. iMovie is not bad at all, it’s pretty good for simple/personal projects and posting on the web. It might still be true that to get the most out of it would take a little more understanding of how video editing works, but that knowledge is a lot less necessary with iMovie than it is with the pro video apps.

Thanks.

I have one project I made in the past using resolve 17.

I tried following recommendations and trying capcut, it seems rather intuitive and easy to get around with, even without any full length tutorials.

I then took some of my 8k footage from my action camera, and wanted to follow a moving object and crop to 4k by doing that, and I couldnt find it in capcut, so I guessed I should maybe go back and try resolve.

But apparently only resolve 19 studio (paid) with the new AI capabilities supports that? Is that so?

On the other hand I *really* liked that color adjustments in CapCut are similar to photos in terminology, following exposure/brightness/black/whites... and not all that circles around gamma/gain/lift that Im less familiar with.

 

[Night Pixel]

The Final Cuts, Premieres, and DaVinci Resolves of the world are built for industrial professional use to professional standards and their specialized equipment and requirements. That is why they are so unwieldy. If you want to use one of those, you will never really understand it by trial and error because some parts of those programs are so rooted in specific professional requirements.

You pretty much have to study professional and traditional video editing to understand why things are laid out and labeled the way they are in those apps. When you become fluent in a professional video production environment Final Cut/Premiere Pro/Resolve make total sense and make jobs quick and easy.

The more you just want to get good videos out without a lot of training, the more you want to stick with something like iMovie where you can just pour in all the clips from all your cameras and sort them out in there, then export. iMovie is not bad at all, it’s pretty good for simple/personal projects and posting on the web. It might still be true that to get the most out of it would take a little more understanding of how video editing works, but that knowledge is a lot less necessary with iMovie than it is with the pro video apps.

Thanks.

I have one project I made in the past using resolve 17.

I tried following recommendations and trying capcut, it seems rather intuitive and easy to get around with, even without any full length tutorials.

I then took some of my 8k footage from my action camera, and wanted to follow a moving object and crop to 4k by doing that, and I couldnt find it in capcut, so I guessed I should maybe go back and try resolve.

But apparently only resolve 19 studio (paid) with the new AI capabilities supports that? Is that so?

On the other hand I *really* liked that color adjustments in CapCut are similar to photos in terminology, following exposure/brightness/black/whites... and not all that circles around gamma/gain/lift that Im less familiar with.

Check out: Camera Tracking: A Comprehensive Guide to Extracting Camera Motion

Apparentlly Camera Tracking is now a paid feature, sorry I was unaware;

I’m fed up with this app.. this changed has angered many long time users. Seems no longer a good option as most stuff used to be free, no more.

People who tried Resolve were not happy withe the tracking but maybe more experienced video editors can point you in the right direction. Too bad this simple feature is no longer in the free version of CapCut.

--
"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know." - Diane Arbus

 

[SillyPosition]

Apparentlly Camera Tracking is now a paid feature, sorry I was unaware;

I’m fed up with this app.. this changed has angered many long time users. Seems no longer a good option as most stuff used to be free, no more.

People who tried Resolve were not happy withe the tracking but maybe more experienced video editors can point you in the right direction. Too bad this simple feature is no longer in the free version of CapCut.

Thanks

After trying a little capcut, resolv, imovie, I feel like while there is some learning curve, for the minimal stuff its all relatively the same,

So I feel like my decision is now should be led mostly based on the features Im after

One of them is tracking.

It does sounds like Resolv 19 Studio has it, altough seems like people complain about the complexity of using it, given the high price tag it makes hard time choosing it.

While subscription based is expensive in the long run, it is probably cheaper if I only pay for it for a month or two until I finish my project.

And re capcut pro - while I understand people frustration about the situation, if for me its easier to use and faster to get things done and being pleased with the results, I might be fine with paying, but where is this even hiding in their website? It just seems like they advertise the online and free desktop edition everywhere, but how do I actually get the pro edition?

 

[Night Pixel]

Apparentlly Camera Tracking is now a paid feature, sorry I was unaware;

I’m fed up with this app.. this changed has angered many long time users. Seems no longer a good option as most stuff used to be free, no more.

People who tried Resolve were not happy withe the tracking but maybe more experienced video editors can point you in the right direction. Too bad this simple feature is no longer in the free version of CapCut.

Thanks

After trying a little capcut, resolv, imovie, I feel like while there is some learning curve, for the minimal stuff its all relatively the same,

So I feel like my decision is now should be led mostly based on the features Im after

One of them is tracking.

It does sounds like Resolv 19 Studio has it, altough seems like people complain about the complexity of using it, given the high price tag it makes hard time choosing it.

While subscription based is expensive in the long run, it is probably cheaper if I only pay for it for a month or two until I finish my project.

And re capcut pro - while I understand people frustration about the situation, if for me its easier to use and faster to get things done and being pleased with the results, I might be fine with paying, but where is this even hiding in their website? It just seems like they advertise the online and free desktop edition everywhere, but how do I actually get the pro edition?

What a strange company. You need a tutorial to upgrade to Pro!









--
"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know." - Diane Arbus

 

[SillyPosition]

Apparentlly Camera Tracking is now a paid feature, sorry I was unaware;

I’m fed up with this app.. this changed has angered many long time users. Seems no longer a good option as most stuff used to be free, no more.

People who tried Resolve were not happy withe the tracking but maybe more experienced video editors can point you in the right direction. Too bad this simple feature is no longer in the free version of CapCut.

Thanks

After trying a little capcut, resolv, imovie, I feel like while there is some learning curve, for the minimal stuff its all relatively the same,

So I feel like my decision is now should be led mostly based on the features Im after

One of them is tracking.

It does sounds like Resolv 19 Studio has it, altough seems like people complain about the complexity of using it, given the high price tag it makes hard time choosing it.

While subscription based is expensive in the long run, it is probably cheaper if I only pay for it for a month or two until I finish my project.

And re capcut pro - while I understand people frustration about the situation, if for me its easier to use and faster to get things done and being pleased with the results, I might be fine with paying, but where is this even hiding in their website? It just seems like they advertise the online and free desktop edition everywhere, but how do I actually get the pro edition?

What a strange company. You need a tutorial to upgrade to Pro!

Yeah, very strange and even more stranger than that - I dont have that button at all!

I would have seen it earlier if I had it, and figured this out , but its just missing!

All those weird quirks, makes me not wanna try it at all...

 

[mangurian]

Photoshop has good video capability.

 

[ATP62]

Tracking in Resolve i good... very good . Probably the best there is out there. It's called Magic Mask , and you find it in the Studio version. You find it in Fusion and the Color Page.

It has become up to 3 time faster in Fusion in 19 vs 18 , and faster in Color 19 vs 18.

From 2:40 in this video

 

[Vlad K]

Resolve has a lot of free educational videos and books with complementary projects: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/training
I completed some, very easy and straightforward.
Made my switch from Premiere Pro a piece of cake, and I am not going to look back.