What Video Editing Software Do You Recommend?

[lakong]

I have imovie, premiere pro and final cut pro. While PP and FCP are much more powerful, imovie (if you have a mac) is much, much better at dealing with the the Mavic Pro compressed 4k video. It doesn't slow down one bit while PP and FCP on my macbookpro (8gigs memory, tons of hard disk space, fast processor) can barely function. PP has a proxy option whereby it generates smaller clips for editing and it works fairly well, but for most drone tasks imovie is just much easier. The only shortfalls of imovie I can see when it comes to simple editing of clips and putting them together with simple transitions are:

- less options for titles, but you can always create a PNG/JPG overlay if you need something very custom
- there are many color correction settings (LUT files) that you can get on the web which make it easy to color correct on FCP and PP. However, most/all of the settings are in imovie too, you just have to adjust yourself.

So in summary, if you are working with 4k on a mac, I would start with iMovie. Otherwise, PP is probably best since you can do the 19/month option. FCP doesn't have a subscription option. I haven't tried Da Vinci

 

[drvdijk]

Great thread, thanks for all the feedback. So far I've not seriously edited videos, and iMovie fit my one-off wedding video or stuff like that fine.

With this great bird though I feel I would be willing to invest a few hundred $ if it is really worth it.

I'll check out DaVinci as well as the free trial of (I believe) FCPX. What I'd really like in such software would be color grading (like I do all my photography work in Lightroom) but also ability to point things out in the video which will move along with the frame. Like the fancy Apple screensavers that have emoji on them moving along with where the building is, or text over someone's head that follows them. Not sure what the term for that is, but I am looking for that [emoji4]

And of course the never ending question of finding suitable music [emoji12][emoji851]


Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

 

[maikm]

I have used iMovie a lot in the past, and naturally used that to edit my Mavic's 4k footage until recently. I now tried the Final Cut trial version and went through the tutorials. I find the performance with 4k footage equal to iMovie (MacBook Pro 2013, 4k monitor, 1TB SSD, 16 GB RAM). There is some stuff that makes FCP tempting, but I guess I'll wait with the purchase until I know I need them.

I also tried Da Vinci Resolve, but the performance was very bad. I wasn't able to edit 4k footage fluently. Other bugs like nonfunctioning fullscreen mode drove me to use it's uninstaller, and it's gone again.

Before Mavic, I usually shot 1080p footage, but now went to 4k. Even if it may be a bit of overkill right now, do you really know you won't be using some of that footage a few years in the future? Or put another way: do you enjoy your past 720p footage any more now that you're accustomed to 1080p or 2.7k?

 

[bluezdawg]

That's what I paid for PowerDirector but just buy PD and wait for your email. I got a link for a free copy of color director with the access code email. I don't know it that happens for all purchases but it's worth checking on.

Cool, I'll give that a try!!

 

[wolfmad]

I am using GoPro studio
Seems ok for me so far. Free
I like to use zoom and speed changes.
Downloaded resolve but will have to do a lot of training video watching!

 

[Robbyg]

Just to reiterate.. invest with a product that you can "grow" with.. If you're going to spend time learning it and want to do some more advanced editing, then FCP or Adobe products. They are well established and have many 3rd party tools/templates that can make the end product look professional.. Here's my playlist that uses some template to make video a tad different.. Life In Napa - YouTube

I also use Premiere for that exact reason. Also one of the big bonuses of premiere is that you can go on YouTube and type in "How Do I do ______ in Adobe Premiere" and you will get 15 different videos on the function. I love the fact that I can choose from 30 minute videos that go into a crap load of details all the way down to 2 minute videos that just cut to the chase.

Another advantage to Premiere is the fact that once you use one Adobe product it gets easier to use the rest. Since I have always used Photoshop and Lightroom it was much easier to use Premiere.

It's all about an investment in learning a skill set and having that skill remaining relevant.
For those thinking of making good videos, I would just say that I made a video this weekend for the family. Out of 50 minutes of Mavic video I was able to use 4 minutes of scenes and those 4 minutes got sliced into about 20 segments. Arranging the segments along with stills to music and doing fades etc was a lot of work. Then I had to color grade each of the pieces. It took me about 3 hours to produce a 6 minute video.

Rob

 

[Kai Mele]

I bought Filmora and used it for awhile, but there are limitations I was running into pretty quickly. It's not a bad piece of software, though.

Upgraded to Powerdirector 15 and it's been very good. I bought the 'Ultra' version

Yes, I use Power Director 15 as well. I'm surprised it's not mentioned more often. It's a solid editor at a reasonable price.

 

[grizzard]

I've used Adobe Premier and a few others but right now using the latest version of Filmora which I'm pretty happy with.

 

[Budmancan]

I just got FCPX and like it a lot. Steep learning curve but the functionality and workflow options are a big upgrade from iMovie.

For color correction you can edit 1 clip and apply very quickly to a whole series of clips so they look very consistent.

You need to invest in external storage with Thunderbolt connection or you will fill up your hard drive pretty quickly. With the software and external storage your looking at an investment of $500 plus.

 

[jbst505]

Just Started shooting videos with my Mavic and I really like the videos im seeing that you guys are able to produce. I would appreciate it if you guys could recommend what software you guys use and how you learned to edit your videos so well.

I need a good video editor myself. Check out this site. The Best Video Editing Software of 2017 | Top Ten Reviews

 

[TomD6807]

For what it's worth, I'm using Pinnacle Studio 20 which came with a ton of add-ons. I believe I paid $89 for the suite.

 

[lookatbowen]

I need a good video editor myself. Check out this site. The Best Video Editing Software of 2017 | Top Ten Reviews

Thanks, that is a cool website, nicely reviewed all those products. Saved me a lot of time. The best is what I will get!

 

[bluezdawg]

Yes, I use Power Director 15 as well. I'm surprised it's not mentioned more often. It's a solid editor at a reasonable price.

Been really pleased with PowerDirector & ColorDirector thus far.

 

[Roen808]

Personally when I'm on the phone, I use an app called Adobe Clip. It seems simple but you can mess with the artsy fartsy stuff like brightness, saturation, etc on the go. I don't do that, I just really like the interface of it honestly.

On my Windows desktop I use Premiere Pro. It has many advanced features like Morph Cut that really make it the ultimate editor and make it worth the money.

 

[Desertdude]

Debt free means I refuse to pay for any editing software on a monthly basis . So I use The iMovie app on my iPad. Then I will drop box over to my PC and finish off with movie maker. It's all free and my clients are happy .

I find iMovie on my iPad really easy to use, I love it. It's quick and easy, might not be a pro app but good enough for just a hobbyist like me.

 

[TomKemp]

I use final cut pro seems to work well also has a built in stabilization so now even mediocre filming turns out really good. And is available for free all over the web

 

[lookatbowen]

Looks like it may work for effects and basic editing but not seeing any color correction abilities, do you know if it has that?

It has tons of effects, definitely does have colour correction, adjustment, enhancement, lighting adjustment, lens correction, video stabilizer, video denoise, video enhancement, color director & presets. I would recommend this program as well, and it seems to work best is one has a beefy system (e.g. Microsoft surface pro 4, 16GB RAM, i7 processor, lots of storage).

 

[PalmettoAerial]

I am using GoPro studio
Seems ok for me so far. Free
I like to use zoom and speed changes.
Downloaded resolve but will have to do a lot of training video watching!

i tried importing my first test flight footage into GPStudio and it was very very choppy.... was literally jumping around. Lots of lag. I didn't convert anything prior to import.... suggestions?

I have a lot of GP footage from the past and will def be incorporating my GP footage in the future with my mavic vids.

 

[PalmettoAerial]

Personally when I'm on the phone, I use an app called Adobe Clip. It seems simple but you can mess with the artsy fartsy stuff like brightness, saturation, etc on the go. I don't do that, I just really like the interface of it honestly.

On my Windows desktop I use Premiere Pro. It has many advanced features like Morph Cut that really make it the ultimate editor and make it worth the money.

thats great info ...

I was about to search for a solid mobile editor for little clips you want to edit and upload from the field.

also - why did you choose PP as your main editor? I am evaluating softwares for post production and am just beginning thanks

 

[grizzard]

Until a few months ago I used Filmora which is pretty slick and easy to use ..... then I decided to use the free Davinci Resolve 14. It has a stiff learning curve but it seems it will do almost anything. Learning isn't that hard if you keep going back to YouTube ... which I did a lot.