Video Editing Software Recommendations

[FlyingFilmmaker]

#1 No it doesn't matter what you encode to, what bitrate you use. If you are re-encoding video then you lose quality..Period. Now you can apply filters and color grading and you may "perceive" you have a better video, but from a pure pixel/resolution perspective unless you using some really cool profession(studio professional) software that can literally "invent" pixels, you're degrading the picture.

#2 Yes it depends on you final target, but if that's the case why buy a drone that records 4K at 100+mb?
#3 Whatever works, just stating what works for me. I'm a novice in producing cinema and shooting with drones, but have been dealing with video encoding and filtering and editing for decades. I have a nice laptop, but resolve takes some horsepower to load a 20 min video, compared to a 5 min clip where as I can turn a 20min video into a 5 min clip in less than 5 min in avidemux.

#1 Good point. Encoding from a lossy format to a lossless format you will technically lose some quality. Very likely not noticeable, but possibly visible. The "studio professional" solution is generally not to invent pixels (which is rarely a good idea, image quality wise) but to capture in a lossless format like Prores or DNxHR or RAW. Unfortunately, most drones/affordable cameras don't capture these formats and even if they did, they take a lot of space.

#2 My reason for using a camera/drone that captures 4k or 10 bit or 150mbps is to have more data to work with in post so that I have freedom to crop more or push the grade farther etc. if I need to without it becoming noticeable in the final output.

#3 Again, good point. I usually am working with short (well under 1 min) clips (drone footage that is), so that's generally not something I'm running into. If that works well for you, that's great!

 

[Scrinch]

I'm using Wondershare Filmora 9 for my editing. It was about $60 for a lifetime subscription.

Have you had issues with Filmora? It crashes on my older iMac and will not write a DVD that works on a regular DVD player. I have upgraded to the latest version, contacted support, but is still a problem.

 

[Tomcat043]

Being completely new to the world of drones and everything related to them, I'm up against a large learning curve. One of the things that caught my interest was the simplistic editing software that came with the Mavic Mini. However, the DJI Fly app is only available for Android or Apple operating systems. I would much prefer to attempt editing on my Windows 10 Pro system. However, apparently the DJI app is not Windows compatible. Looking for recommendations for any basic, simplistic editing software for Windows would be appreciated.

New to the Mav2Pro, but have been doing some basic video editing. Of course, not free, but affordable. I'm using Cyberlink PowerDirector 17. Pretty easy to use, and will do just about anything Adobe Premiere will do. You can also add their ColorDirector and AudioDirector. The ColorDirector is awsome.

 

[TomSull]

DaVinci Resolve is an excellent FREE program. It is very complicated though. The manual is 3,200 pages long, so you can imagine it does everything.

I just got my Mavic 2 Pro 2 weeks ago (+ 2 days). Because I wanted to use 10 bit color, which the Mavic 2 Pro has, I needed a video Editor that could do the color adjustments needed. On the Mavic 2 Pro download page, they have a LUT file and a PDF describing how to use it. That PDF has a great extremely brief introduction to doing video editing with DaVinci Resolve and Apple Final Cut Pro. I downloaded DaVinci and played with it on and off over the last week. In the Help menu, it has a selection called "DaVinci Resolve Training" and that points to a web page that has several fast paced tutorials, one on each section of the program. I did my best to follow allow through the editing one, and got all the skills I (currently) need to use the program. It is a complex program that does all kinds of things, most of which I'm still discovering, but you can get it up and running effectively very quickly. I have over 1/2 dozen projects already done in there, primarily using it to fix color and lighting in videos.
So, I'd recommend DaVinci Resolve. The free version does most things I want with it, but it doesn't do lens distortion correction unless you spring for the paid version. There are a few limitations you'll encounter with the free version, but most of what you'll need is there.
So, check out the D-Log to Rec. 709 LUT manual (PDF). It has the basics for getting started with DaVinci Resolve if you use Windows, and there's also a bunch of Youtube content out there as well to help you get started. That PDF also, as stated, has similar instructions for Final Cut Pro for Apple. I started with DaVinci as there was a free version and I use Windows. Then check out the tutorials, they are pretty in depth to get into more advanced topics.

 

[jeffchap]

I use Adobe Premiere Pro. I subscribe monthly to Adobe Creative Cloud which gives you all their apps to use. I pay $20 a month which is the educator and student rate. I think its like $30 a month regular rate. Premiere Pro is not that hard to learn and is a fantastic editing package.

 

[Okravina]

Hello!
It depends on the hardware configuration of the drone. Generally speaking, any software that is flexible enough to accommodate many different hardware configurations is chosen.

 

[SMLP]

Does anyone use Final Cut Pro ? I use iMovie right now, but may later get more power

I had been using iMovie for years, then switch to LumaFusion on the iPad but recently forced myself to start using final cut when I got my new Mac. It's overkill for most stuff however everything I learnt from using Lumafusion has transferred well.

 

[Jetdriver100]

I had been using iMovie for years, then switch to LumaFusion on the iPad but recently forced myself to start using final cut when I got my new Mac. It's overkill for most stuff however everything I learnt from using Lumafusion has transferred well.

I got the trial version of final cut. I'm beginning to learn that and must say it is pretty cool. Fixing over exposed and adding some colour is so easy.
I'm not totally sure I will buy it for the 400 at the end of the trial. We will see

 

[Juggler]

First, this thread is GREAT!
so many of my questions about editing software have been touched on. As I previously said in nother post my current laptop wont even run the MA2 footage without freezing and having white blurs over it.
Just ordered a i7-9750H 6 core cpu with 16gb Ram and a Nvidida GTX 1650 Gpu. Hopefully this will do the job.

 

[SMLP]

I got the trial version of final cut. I'm beginning to learn that and must say it is pretty cool. Fixing over exposed and adding some colour is so easy.
I'm not totally sure I will buy it for the 400 at the end of the trial. We will see

My "free trial" ended a few years ago ?

 

[Jetdriver100]

My "free trial" ended a few years ago ?

Yes.. Mine is coming up in another month. I will probably end up buying it and getting it over with. Having a bunch of unfinished videos I'm working on, I don't think I'll have a choice

 

[Ztopgun28]

Anyone using Vegas Pro? Any good?

 

[DillyDrones]

personally im a huge fan of Adobe Premiere Pro. Very Pricey but i love the amount of resources and tutorials found online.

 

[Jblah]

+1 for Cyberlink PowerDirector. Lots of features and powers for people just starting off who are not wanting to spend the money to get Premier Pro. PowerDirector with all the free accessories is like $51/year vs Premier Pro which is $20/mo.

 

[Juggler]

Hi does anyone use/recommend Lightworks? I have down loaded it and watched one tutorial and it seem s ok but as I know literally nuffin bout the subject some advice would be great. Do I use this one or suck it up and learn Davinci and go through the learning curve.

 

[KingRat]

Another one I have had on my old computer was 'Shotcut', but not being a fiddler on computers I never managed to get a video clip done with it. To be fair I wasn't that interested back then,maybe another, more determined, study of the tutorials will yield more return!
Has anyone on here tried it? If so, what were your thoughts?I am ging to need an upgrade from the Media Maker I have used for phone clips and from my compact camera. It does manage to work video clips from my D4s (not a good video camera, but does OK), but Media Maker won't do anything higher than 1080 - maybe the newer version does, mine is about 10 or more years old now.
Resolve... I don't know if my computer is capable of running it. How do I find out please?

 

[BushWacker]

Davinci Resolve is by far the best Free software, Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro are the top paid programs. The learning curve is big for anything powerful in video editing unless you simply want basic cuts which can be easy on most programs but if you're going to spend the time to learn you might as well get program you can grow into. There are so many tutorials on YouTube you can learn the basics quickly. A good series is Premiere Pro in a Minute. This series takes 1 feature at a time and tries to teach it in a minute (or two or three), it's great for when you just want to learn something quickly.

 

[sigi.stiemer]

I am using VEGAS Pro for quite a number of years. It does the job for me - but I haven't tried anything else. The learning curve for all those video editors is rather steep. I don't have the patience and time for another one. They all have in common: You need a very powerful computer to keep rendering times reasonable.

 

[Tomcat043]

Like you I'm somewhat new to editing. I do some audio-video editing for a friend and he talked me into trying Premiere. Way to advanced for me. I have been using Cybelink PowerDirector for some time now and it is much, much easier to use than PR. It's cheaper and also has a fairly good audio director. I've just started using Cyberlink's Color Director for color grading. For the price and ease of use, you might want to check them out. Good Luck

 

[drone_dh]

I've used Vegas for years, very new to drone footage though. I just upgraded to the Vegas 17 package, haven't had time or footage really to play with it.... YET.