| Cult of Mac

Film and TV pros want Apple to love Final Cut Pro as much as they do

By

Many film and TV editors say Final Cut Pro is powerful and fun to use. So why can't it be a professional standard?
Many film and TV editors say Final Cut Pro is powerful and fun to use. So why can't it be a professional standard?
Image: Apple

In an open letter sent to Apple CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday, more than 100 film and TV professionals called on the company to publicly commit to building its video editing software Final Cut Pro into an industry-standard tool.

The group praised FCP as as “the biggest leap forward in editing technology since the move to digital” but complained it’s not living up to its potential.

The group noted, bitterly, that even the crew on CODA — the first streaming service release to win a Best Picture Oscar, and Apple’s own release — would probably not have chosen to edit it with FCP.

Smartphone film fest dangles $10,000 prize for your iPhone masterpiece

By

publicity shot for Moment International Film Festival
You have a little over a month to make a three-minute classic.
Photo: Moment

Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh has sworn off big expensive motion picture cameras for the camera in his pocket. Your iPhone is no different from his, so get out there and make the movie that’s locked in your head. It could win you $10,000 in the Moment International Film Festival.

Mac Pro’s monster price tag is actually a steal

By

Mac Pro
The new Mac Pro drew a lot of attention in the demo room.
Photo: Apple

WWDC 2019 bug That outrage you’re feeling over the cost of Apple’s new Mac Pro is your first clue this computer is not for you.

In fact, it’s not a computer, it’s a workstation. And for those who work in jobs requiring fast, sophisticated set-ups, the new Mac Pro — even once they pay for all the beefy components — comes with a fair price tag.

Why photographers won big-time at WWDC

By

photographers and new Mac Pro
Apple has a pretty good idea on how to make photographers and filmmakers happy.
Photo: Apple

WWDC 2019 bug The WWDC keynote delivered exciting news for every Apple user, but for photographers of all stripes, Monday was their jackpot.

Professional photographers and filmmakers finally got a new Mac Pro that can handle ambitious workflows.

Operating system updates due out this fall for Mac, iPhone and iPad will bring a slew of new features for editing and organizing.

The iPad will be an even more capable tool in the field and changes to the iPhone camera should tamp down those worries that Apple was falling behind the likes of Huawei, Samsung and Google.

And we’re not even talking about the new hardware coming this fall.

Prius backup camera takes filmmaking in new direction

By

This director has a vision and sees what's behind him.
This director has a vision and sees what's behind him.
Photo: I Want My Mommy/YouTube

The iPhone as a tool for filmmaking made us gasp and marvel last year. Are there any other cinematic frontiers left to conquer?

The sketch comedy troupe I Want My Mommy has taken the feature film in a whole new direction – reverse. It shot a feature film with the backup camera on the Toyota Prius.

Super-sexy DJI camera promises super-steady video

By

The Osmo by drone makers DJI is a camera steadied by a three-axis gimbal.
The Osmo by drone makers DJI is a camera steadied by a three-axis gimbal.
Photo: DJI

DJI, which has taken our filmmaking aspirations airborne with its popular line of Phantom drones, has brought its tech genius back to Earth with a new handheld camera with three-axis gimbal stabilization.

The Osmo can record 4K video or 12-megapixel still images all atop a grip with built-in controls, a stereo microphone plus an audio jack for more sophisticated sound recording.

Turn your iPhone into a Super 8 camera

By

The Luminati CS1 is a case for the iPhone 6 that brings the design practicality of a Super 8 movie camera to your filmmaking.
The Luminati CS1 is a case for the iPhone 6 that brings the design practicality of a Super 8 movie camera to your filmmaking.
Photo: Luminati

The iPhone is the gold standard for modern design – and that sometimes gets in the way of some of its amazing functions.

Take photo and video. Even the most serious photographers and filmmakers can create high art with an iPhone, but conventional cameras, no matter how clunky they seem today, were designed with grip and stability that is missing from an iPhone.

A startup company has created an iPhone 6 case that converts the iPhone into a retro-looking handheld movie camera, complete with cinematic lenses, a viewfinder, film trigger and a mount for mics and lights.