It’s a big day for video editors who use Apple products. The company updated all of its Final Cut apps and finally relaunched the main desktop version as Final Cut Pro 11.
While all the updates offer nice improvements, the most substantial is Final Cut Pro 11, which brings a host of AI upgrades to the app, making it easier to mask, add captions and more.
Final Cut Pro for iPad is updated to version 2.1, which includes new Live Drawing pen tools and a host of usability improvements to make editing on an iPad screen easier than ever before. Finally, Final Cut Camera has gotten a new level. If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or 16 Pro, you can now shoot LOG footage in HEVC instead of ProRes, allowing you to get professional-level video without blowing up your iPhone’s storage.
Final Cut Pro 11
Final Cut Pro 11 is easily the most exciting of the three updates to me since I use that one the most. Being able to add masks with ease not only speeds up my workflow but also allows me to attempt more ambitious edits since the masking tool is now easier to use.
The AI masks are called ‘Magnetic Masks,’ and there are three ways to add them to your timeline. You can drag a magnetic mask to your timeline or right onto the preview window from the ‘Masks and Keying’ section in the effects browser, or you can just drag any effect you want, and if you hover it over your preview, it will automatically become a Magnetic Mask. You can also add one of these masks from the Modify dropdown menu or use the Control+Command+M keyboard shortcut to apply one to your scene.
Once you have the mask/effect on your clip where you want it, you can click on the Analyze button at the top left of the preview window, and it will go through and automatically add the mask to your subject throughout the full shot. In my testing, it works wonderfully, and even in frames where I’m waving around my arms, it captures my whole body, and if I walk behind a tree or pole, it moves the mask around those objects so that it only applies to the subject I chose.
I typically have avoided masking in shots because it’s so tedious to paint one over a whole scene. That said, this new feature makes it a lot easier, and being able to simply brighten or darken parts of an image easily makes editing the A-roll that’s shot outside without proper lighting a whole lot easier.
The next new trick is the ability to auto-generate captions, but when I tried it, I couldn’t help but be disappointed by the formatting options. Since the program generates ITT captions, you can’t change the fonts or stylize them. You can apply Bold, Underline or Italics, but compared to what you can do in CapCut or Premiere Pro, this option is pretty lacklustre. Don’t get me wrong, the Final Cut Pro 11 implementation is very quick and very accurate for auto-generated captions, but I really wish this feature was fully fleshed out.
Other updates to the app include the ability to edit in 3D spatial video for the Vision Pro. You can do this by importing stereoscopic video from an iPhone 15 Pro or later or by using third-party cameras that shoot in 3D. There are a few different ways to view this Spatial content on the computer, but one of the coolest features is the ability to export your content directly to the Photos app so it will automatically transport to your Vision Pro via iCloud so it’s easy to watch it in 3D.
The new headlining features really utilize AI and are a great starting point for Final Cut Pro 11 as Apple moves into the next generation of its video editing software. This also includes AI-powered lighting, slow-motion and voice isolation tools.
There are a few smaller updates, including new keyboard shortcuts to make moving around your timeline easier and enhanced proxy tools to make it easier to shrink and share your project with other creatives.
Final Cut Pro 11 costs $400 to buy, but it’s a free update for anyone who already uses Final Cut Pro X. There is also a three-month free trial.
Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.1
While I don’t use my iPad to edit that much, these new updates to Final Cut on the platform are making me want to use it more and more. The fact that you can colour and draw titles on your clips with Apple Pencil looks really unique and helps make the iPad version of the app offer unique tools that aren’t available on many other platforms.
Like Final Cut Pro 11, the new iPad version also includes the automatic ‘Enhance light and colour’ tool, which can help brighten or add contrast to a clip to make it pop more. This tool makes a ton of sense to me to be on iPad. I expect that many iPad editors are shooting content on iPhones, so having a one-click solution to improve your colours should make using smartphone videos on iPad even easier.
When Final Cut Pro launched on iPad, one of the standout tools was its Live Drawing capabilities. That said, it only had a few pen types, so this new update adds a lot more, like a watercolour brush, a crayon, a fountain pen, and monoline inks. With Apple Pencil Pro, you can even spin the fountain pen to draw with different ink weights like a real fountain pen.
While the Live Drawing tools are the standout feature that might draw me and other editors to Final Cut on iPad, other new features should make the app easier for people who already edit on their tablet.
A new picture-in-picture mode lets you pull the preview window out of its usual spot and move it around the screen. Doing this expands the timeline or file bin, making it easier to set up the app as you want. For instance, if you’re just tweaking your timing, once you have all your files laid on the timeline, you can move the preview into the top corner and have more room to see all your timeline clips and edits.
If you edit with Apple Pencil Pro, you’ll also get haptic feedback, making it feel even more precise to use the jog wheel and other iPad apps. This also applies to moving media, cuts, and simply navigating the timeline. It’s a subtle improvement, but it does help you feel more connected to your edit in an understated way.
You can also pinch to zoom on your clips in the timeline to expand or minimize you clips, and if you’re using a keyboard to help you edit, Apple has added even more keyboard shortcuts to help bring the iPad app more in line with the full version of Final Cut 11.
Overall, it’s great to see Apple add so many refinements to Final Cut on iPad in the short time that it’s been out. This new version is better than ever and well on its way to being as capable as its desktop counterpart while still being easier to use and more approachable for iPad users. That said, the app scales well, and both beginners and pros can get more out of it than you might expect.
Final Cut for iPad 2.1 costs $7 per month or $70 per year. Sadly, you can’t buy the app outright. While you can start projects on iPad and move them to Final Cut 11 on Mac, you still can’t move Final Cut 11 projects from Mac to iPad.
Final Cut Camera updates
The new updates to the Final Cut Camera app finally add the ability to shoot LOG with the HEVC file codec, which basically means you can shoot colour-gradable footage with manageable file sizes. ProRes looks great, but even a short 30-second clip can be over 2GB, which can very quickly fill up your iPhone’s storage.
If you’re shooting in LOG, you can also apply Apple’s LUT preview so the colours look more like they would when you bring them into Final Cut to edit. Sadly, you can’t load in custom LUTs like you can in the Black Magic camera app or use a bunch of different LUTs like you might in Kino, but it’s a start and does make it a bit more approachable to use LOG in Final Cut Camera.
The most underrated update to this new camera update is the ability to turn on a level that makes it really easy to line up shots and when you turn the camera to shoot something on a desk or with a top-down perspective the level transforms into a crosshairs to make lining up those shots easy as well. This is a great upgrade and makes the camera even more professional and easy to use.
If you have a new iPhone 16 Pro, you can now shoot in 4K 120fps to get crispy slow-motion shots without having to switch back to the default camera app.
This app is free to use and works great with Final Cut Pro on iPad to record multi-cam shots right into the editing program.
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