Are there any good video editing apps for photographers?

Question

Photo editing apps like Lightroom have very intuitive ways (my opinion, of course) of performing operations on pictures.I occasionally do small video projects that I edit either in Sony Vegas on Windows or Final Cut Pro 7 on Mac. These apps seem pretty lacking in some areas, when compared to Lightroom. For example, there is no option to show the EXIF data stored in DSLR clips, as far as I know, so I can't easily see what lens I've used for this or that shot, or what the aperture, shutter and ISO was. White balance is done by selecting a white area of the picture, which is fine, but then there is no slider to go warmer or cooler, instead I have to do this by hand using the full blown color correction filter.I was wondering if there are any video editing applications that have a digital photography friendly workflow. I don't have any constraints on operating system or cost.

Answer 1

Final Cut Pro 7 is quite outdated by now. You would be better off using Final Cut Pro X (aka FCPX) which was rebuilt from the original but is better at handling digital video and metadata.

The other half of the equation is the camera you use though. For example, my Canon T5i doesn't record all the EXIF data you mention. Keep in mind that some of the data you mention actually changes during the shot. You can zoom, bracket the exposure, etc so unlike a still, a video clip can have multiple focal lengths.

The tools you are looking for do exist within FCPX, but are just used in a different way than for still photography. For example, you can apply a tint filter rather than use Color Correction. They are 2 tools who can accomplish the same thing, but one has fewer options (therefore simpler) but Color Correction gives you much more control (but is more complicated to master)

I can't comment on Premiere since I don't use it, but if you are already comfortable with the Adobe interface due to your Lightroom experience, it may be worth checking it out. I do love FCPX and it is used by amateurs and Hollywood Blockbuster editors alike but it does have a learning curve to it.