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Post Production

Area Aerial

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I’m trying to decide which softwares I’m going to attempt mastering in order to have the ability to apply high end post production.

I’m going to need to be able to edit photos as well as videos. Have been looking at Photoshop, Final Cut, Adobe Premiere, etc.

Can y’all give some advice about what you use and maybe some suggestions.

I’m thinking the Adobe Suite (Photoshop and Premiere) may be the best way to go but at 70$ per month subscription model I want to make sure I cover my bases before I commit.

Thanks everyone!
 
I’m trying to decide which softwares I’m going to attempt mastering in order to have the ability to apply high end post production.

I’m going to need to be able to edit photos as well as videos. Have been looking at Photoshop, Final Cut, Adobe Premiere, etc.

Can y’all give some advice about what you use and maybe some suggestions.

I’m thinking the Adobe Suite (Photoshop and Premiere) may be the best way to go but at 70$ per month subscription model I want to make sure I cover my bases before I commit.

Thanks everyone!
Do DaVinci Resolve ($299 for life or Free version) and Adobe photography plan (Lightroomhotoshop) ($10 per month)

Premier Pro is antiquated at this point. I wouldn’t recommend it if it was free let alone $70 per month. May still be good for people who already know it well but I can’t in good conscience recommend it to anybody just starting off.

Resolve is superior in every way and the free version may be all you ever need.

I like Final Cut Pro and that’s what I used before switching to Resolve and it’s a good one to start on to learn the ropes of post production. It has a nice clean layout and is easier to teach yourself because it’s more intuitive than the other two. However, keep in mind that Final Cut has its limits and you could grow out of it in a few years if you stick with it. There could be something to said about biting the bullet and learning the more powerful program like Resolve to start out and that way you won’t have to start over again. Final Cut Pro is also just and editor. You still need Apple Motion and Apple Compressor before you can compare the functionality to Resolve and even less so of the full Adobe Suite.
 
Last edited:
Do DaVinci Resolve ($299 for life or Free version) and Adobe photography plan (Lightroomhotoshop) ($10 per month)

Premier Pro is antiquated at this point. I wouldn’t recommend it if it was free let alone $70 per month. May still be good for people who already know it well but I can’t in good conscience recommend it to anybody just starting off.

Resolve is superior in every way and the free version may be all you ever need.

I like Final Cut Pro and that’s what I used before switching to Resolve and it’s a good one to start on to learn the ropes of post production. It has a nice clean layout and is easier to teach yourself because it’s more intuitive than the other two. However, keep in mind that Final Cut has its limits and you could grow out of it in a few years if you stick with it. There could be something to said about biting the bullet and learning the more powerful program like Resolve to start out and that way you won’t have to start over again. Final Cut Pro is also just and editor. You still need Apple Motion and Apple Compressor before you can compare the functionality with Resolve of the full Adobe Suite

Thank you much for the feedback!
 
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I have not used it yet but DaVinci resolve seems to have way more than I will ever need in the free version.
Plus, $299 for life really is not a bad deal either.
 
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I am Apple “everything” so no surprise that I started with iMovie (pre drone days) and moved up to Final Cut Pro x. I’m still in it’s 30 day free trial at present, but will definitely be sticking with it. Apple have a great deal at present with it in a “student” bundle with Logic and three other apps for AU$299.00. One time price with lifetime updates. I’ve tried to tackle Davinci Resolve 16 & 17 free versions, but given up more than once. It’s just too **** complex & despite the myriad of YouTube tutorials it was taking me too long to get much return. My patience kept running out trying to learn Davinci, where I could have my videos finished in FCP. I also use Lightroom for stills editing as well sometimes.
 
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I’m trying to decide which softwares I’m going to attempt mastering in order to have the ability to apply high end post production.

I’m going to need to be able to edit photos as well as videos. Have been looking at Photoshop, Final Cut, Adobe Premiere, etc.

Can y’all give some advice about what you use and maybe some suggestions.

I’m thinking the Adobe Suite (Photoshop and Premiere) may be the best way to go but at 70$ per month subscription model I want to make sure I cover my bases before I commit.

Thanks everyone!
I would suggest that you personally call Adobe! Tell them you only want Photoshop, Lightroom, and Premiere, and not the entire Creative Suite (CC). They have offered me a deal and renewed it after a year, for $29.99 a month my credit card. So for me it's 12 months at $29.99 or $360.00 a year. They originally offered a 40% discount, and I have been able to beg them to let me renew at the same cost. I am happy to be able to afford this and it is my primary hobby and a gift I give to myself. Once they refuse this honor, I will probably resort to the learning curve of Da Vinci Resolve. Nothing can replace Photoshop for me and I use Lightroom LrC for all of my timelapse.
 
I would recommend Resolve Davinci but if you are not yet very familiar with slightly more complex video editing processes ... I recommend you try Sony's Vegas ... tremendously intuitive and with a lot of "common sense" ... You will be surprised ...
It also has a trial version.
Another parallel option for your photographs (Adobe would be ideal if it weren't so expensive ...) would be ON1 .. It has a free 15-day trial.
ON1 – Photo Editing Software for Mac and PC
Or the alternative "free" version to Photoshop: Gimp ..
Greetings and Fly safe.
 
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I would suggest that you personally call Adobe! Tell them you only want Photoshop, Lightroom, and Premiere, and not the entire Creative Suite (CC). They have offered me a deal and renewed it after a year, for $29.99 a month my credit card. So for me it's 12 months at $29.99 or $360.00 a year. They originally offered a 40% discount, and I have been able to beg them to let me renew at the same cost. I am happy to be able to afford this and it is my primary hobby and a gift I give to myself. Once they refuse this honor, I will probably resort to the learning curve of Da Vinci Resolve. Nothing can replace Photoshop for me and I use Lightroom LrC for all of my timelapse.
Instead of paying the monthly ransom to Adobe, just look for an older version that you can buy outright and never have to pay anymore, if you want to go Photoshop/Premier way, but don't pay that terrible monthly rental. PS6 will do all you need for photo editing and the older Premier around when it was PS 6, if that is what you want, will suffice for your editing needs. Otherwise go with the other suggestions like Da Vinci that is being suggested.

Don't forget, that would be $360 just for one year, if you were to get it at the suggested monthly rental spoken of. I'm sure you can look around and buy an old copy from someone for far less than that for both PS6 and Premier Pro of the same era.
 
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I would recommend Resolve Davinci but if you are not yet very familiar with slightly more complex video editing processes ... I recommend you try Sony's Vegas ... tremendously intuitive and with a lot of "common sense" ... You will be surprised ...
It also has a trial version.
Another parallel option for your photographs (Adobe would be ideal if it weren't so expensive ...) would be ON1 .. It has a free 15-day trial.
ON1 – Photo Editing Software for Mac and PC
Or the alternative "free" version to Photoshop: Gimp ..
Greetings and Fly safe.
On1 is excellent plus they are soon expected to release their new video editing offering that they say will have no steep learning curve like other traditional editing software and they are saying it is targeted toward drone flyers. So keep that in mind. I have Photoshop and On1 and the Topaz Labs suite and have had for years and they are all great. I stopped at CS6 for Photoshop so never have paid a penny rent in these past years because you could own CS6, it was the last version you could purchase outright before they went the ransom route.
 
Do DaVinci Resolve ($299 for life or Free version) and Adobe photography plan (Lightroomhotoshop) ($10 per month)

Premier Pro is antiquated at this point. I wouldn’t recommend it if it was free let alone $70 per month. May still be good for people who already know it well but I can’t in good conscience recommend it to anybody just starting off.

Resolve is superior in every way and the free version may be all you ever need.

I like Final Cut Pro and that’s what I used before switching to Resolve and it’s a good one to start on to learn the ropes of post production. It has a nice clean layout and is easier to teach yourself because it’s more intuitive than the other two. However, keep in mind that Final Cut has its limits and you could grow out of it in a few years if you stick with it. There could be something to said about biting the bullet and learning the more powerful program like Resolve to start out and that way you won’t have to start over again. Final Cut Pro is also just and editor. You still need Apple Motion and Apple Compressor before you can compare the functionality to Resolve and even less so of the full Adobe Suite.
I agree with almost all of this. I have the Adobe CC (and I’m not paying $70/m, more on that below) but nearly always use Resolve these days, despite Premiere Pro‘s icon glaring at me every morning, because it seems more capable (though a bit more of a learning curve; any moderately intelligent person can figure it out, though. I mean, I did). There are other options for photo editing (I like Luminar, and Topaz Studio has gotten good reviews - they’re one time purchases, though Luminar has some issues for some folks and the company doesn’t really seem committed to keeping it updated, instead moving to new software you have to buy). For me, when I need to do a quick, easy edit, I use Luminar, and for more complex work I’ll crank up Ps/Lr. But for $10/m for the Adobe Ps/Lr package, it’s a good deal.

I do disagree on FCPX. I did the 3-month trial when they offered it earlier this year, thinking I’d just buy it outright if I liked it. Figured I have a Mac and it must be the best for a Mac since it’s Apple’s product. I had gotten pretty adept at Premiere Pro and Resolve, but I gave it my best shot for a couple of months. I found it to be severely limited, and after a couple of months didn’t bother with it any more. After that, in discussing with a friend who owns a commercial video company that does a lot of work in Hollywood and also produces a lot of commercials you’ve seen on TV (if you watch commercial TV), he told me: “Final Cut used to be a top-rate product, but Apple tried to migrate iMovie users to it and merge the products, and now few serious editors use it. It’s basically a glorified iMovie.” He said his company uses Avid and Premiere Pro, but he’s considering switching to Resolve in the near future (he has sunk costs; this is a guy with numerous $300,000 editor panels he’d have to replace), and he said many of the big production houses already have (Davinci is not new to the game but until relatively recently was mostly used for color grading rather than editing).

Anyway, just my opinion. The best call on video is Resolve (but don’t bother reading the 3000 page user’s guide. Even at that many pages, it’s confusing and terribly written. Just find some good YouTube tutorials).

As far as Adobe CC, call Adobe. They will offer you a deal. They will almost always give new users a 1-year offer of $30/m for the whole suite, about half price. You may not need it - as Mr. 8883 pointed out, Ps/Lr for $10/m plus Resolve for free is a great deal. The $30/m deal is a “first-year only” thing, officially, but every year I call to cancel everything except the photo package and Acrobat and they offer to continue it. I occasionally use Audition, After Effects, and Illustrator, so it’s worth it for me to pay an extra $5/m to have them available. And if they cut me off next time renewal is up, I’ll just go back to the $10/m photo package.

Finally, depending on how complex the work you’re going to be doing, the Adobe Elements software is excellent for the price. Though I’d still go with Resolve over Premiere Elements if you’re willing to put the time into learning it. It is infinitely cheaper.

Yes, I know I talk too much.
 
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I agree with almost all of this. I have the Adobe CC (and I’m not paying $70/m, more on that below) but nearly always use Resolve these days, despite Premiere Pro‘s icon glaring at me every morning, because it seems more capable (though a bit more of a learning curve; any moderately intelligent person can figure it out, though. I mean, I did). There are other options for photo editing (I like Luminar, and Topaz Studio has gotten good reviews - they’re one time purchases, though Luminar has some issues for some folks and the company doesn’t really seem committed to keeping it updated, instead moving to new software you have to buy). For me, when I need to do a quick, easy edit, I use Luminar, and for more complex work I’ll crank up Ps/Lr. But for $10/m for the Adobe Ps/Lr package, it’s a good deal.

I do disagree on FCPX. I did the 3-month trial when they offered it earlier this year, thinking I’d just buy it outright if I liked it. Figured I have a Mac and it must be the best for a Mac since it’s Apple’s product. I had gotten pretty adept at Premiere Pro and Resolve, but I gave it my best shot for a couple of months. I found it to be severely limited, and after a couple of months didn’t bother with it any more. After that, in discussing with a friend who owns a commercial video company that does a lot of work in Hollywood and also produces a lot of commercials you’ve seen on TV (if you watch commercial TV), he told me: “Final Cut used to be a top-rate product, but Apple tried to migrate iMovie users to it and merge the products, and now few serious editors use it. It’s basically a glorified iMovie.” He said his company uses Avid and Premiere Pro, but he’s considering switching to Resolve in the near future (he has sunk costs; this is a guy with numerous $300,000 editor panels he’d have to replace), and he said many of the big production houses already have (Davinci is not new to the game but until relatively recently was mostly used for color grading rather than editing).

Anyway, just my opinion. The best call on video is Resolve (but don’t bother reading the 3000 page user’s guide. Even at that many pages, it’s confusing and terribly written. Just find some good YouTube tutorials).

As far as Adobe CC, call Adobe. They will offer you a deal. They will almost always give new users a 1-year offer of $30/m for the whole suite, about half price. You may not need it - as Mr. 8883 pointed out, Ps/Lr for $10/m plus Resolve for free is a great deal. The $30/m deal is a “first-year only” thing, officially, but every year I call to cancel everything except the photo package and Acrobat and they offer to continue it. I occasionally use Audition, After Effects, and Illustrator, so it’s worth it for me to pay an extra $5/m to have them available. And if they cut me off next time renewal is up, I’ll just go back to the $10/m photo package.

Finally, depending on how complex the work you’re going to be doing, the Adobe Elements software is excellent for the price. Though I’d still go with Resolve over Premiere Elements if you’re willing to put the time into learning it. It is infinitely cheaper.

Yes, I know I talk too much.
Yes FCPX is limited as I noted before but it has its place. I still recommend Resolve over FCPX but FCPX has much better rendering and playback performance compared to Premier Pro, is easy to learn and has *most* of the basic functions of any NLE if you consider FCPX and Apple Motion as a package which most people over look. It also has by far the best 3D text implementation. FCPX just makes things easy even if it lacks the advanced functions and fine controls of the other two editors.
 
I’m trying to decide which softwares I’m going to attempt mastering in order to have the ability to apply high end post production.

I’m going to need to be able to edit photos as well as videos. Have been looking at Photoshop, Final Cut, Adobe Premiere, etc.

Can y’all give some advice about what you use and maybe some suggestions.

I’m thinking the Adobe Suite (Photoshop and Premiere) may be the best way to go but at 70$ per month subscription model I want to make sure I cover my bases before I commit.

Thanks everyone!
Have you looked at Pinnacle Studio you could buy an early version say 19 or 20 then if you like the prog it gives you
the option to upgrade I am just going to upgrade to 24 Ultimate for £74.00 The program gives you all the video editing and colour correction I need.
 
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