Final Cut Pro 2 on M4 iPad Pro: what you need to know
Exceptional hardware, great battery life, incredible screen, so thin and so light, but the M4 iPad Pro, just like every iPad, comes with some software limitations. Apple is on a mission to prove that the iPad can be used for professional work. That includes releasing its own professional apps like Final Cut Pro for iPad, Logic Pro for iPad. This year, Apple is updating both, but is also releasing a brand new standalone video-only app called Final Cut Camera.
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00:00One year after the debut release of the iPad version of Final Cut Pro, the big sequel is
00:07here.
00:08Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 is out.
00:10This professional video editing software was announced alongside the new, stunning and
00:15incredibly thin iPad Pros, with brand new M4 chips and new accessories.
00:20My expectations, as someone who deeply loves his iPad for his creative work, and as someone
00:26who had a long wish list for Final Cut Pro 2, were really high.
00:32And for Apple, the stakes are high too.
00:34The iPad has always lived in this weird place between being just a bigger iPhone and something
00:38that's kind of a laptop, but not something you can get actual work done on.
00:43So Apple's own Pro apps, like the Final Cut Pro for iPad, are meant to change that.
00:50But can they?
00:52So for this review, I used the latest M4 iPad Pro and last year's M2 iPad Pro.
01:02The smaller 11-inch iPad has 1TB of storage, which means that the M4 processor that's in
01:08it comes with 10 CPUs, 10 GPU cores and 16GB of RAM, compared to the other smaller storage
01:14configurations.
01:16Those come with 9 CPU cores and 8GB of RAM.
01:19But whichever one you pick up, you shouldn't be worried.
01:23This one and the older M2 Pro fly through edits without any problems.
01:28The performance of either of these iPads was never really in doubt, but you do get a little
01:33performance bump on the M4, as you can see from my export test.
01:37It is minimal, and it's probably not a reason to upgrade.
01:40For years now, we've known that despite the iPad's stunning hardware, its software is
01:45what leaves us wanting more.
01:50Apple's list of ideas for Final Cut Pro this year fortunately remains really thin.
01:55Even during Apple's modern-day infomercial event for the iPad, most of the focus and
01:59time was spent talking about the new companion app called Final Cut Camera.
02:04It is a standalone app for your iPhone with more advanced camera controls, peaking, manual
02:09focusing, audio metering, that sort of stuff.
02:12But on the iPad, via the Final Cut Pro app, it lets you, the director, monitor up to four
02:17separate streams of footage coming from the iPhones.
02:20Okay, here's a quick demo of how it works.
02:23We're gonna start the recording here, so now all of these cameras are being controlled.
02:27So I can talk to you on this one, then I can switch on to that one, and lastly I can go
02:34on here.
02:36And from the iPad, you can take control of each camera.
02:39You can change the focusing mode from auto to manual focus, you can change the exposure,
02:43and you can change the white balance.
02:45You can zoom in and out, and you can slowly zoom out, or you can zoom in faster.
02:55You cannot switch between lenses once you're locked in, so you have to make the selection
03:01beforehand.
03:02So as I've said before, you can use up to four iPhones.
03:05So I have three, one, two, and three, and this fourth track is actually going to be
03:10for the audio, so I can sync it up later with something that sounds a little bit better
03:13than what you get on the iPhones themselves.
03:16This isn't really a part of my normal workflow, but for anyone filming primarily on iPhones,
03:22the app is really simple and straightforward.
03:24And I think it'll be particularly useful for video podcasts too.
03:30You'll hear me say this a lot.
03:32I love working on my iPad.
03:34It is a device whose admittedly limited user interface and operating system actually help
03:39me keep focus on a task at hand.
03:41But a proper video editing app could make an iPad my main machine.
03:46I had a long list of notes after the first Final Cut Pro for iPad was released, and Apple
03:52addressed, well, not a lot of them, except one big one.
03:57External drives are finally supported.
04:00Drives are already extremely expensive, and the markup on storage alone is what can really
04:04raise that price up quickly.
04:07This feature was weirdly absent last year, but it is finally here.
04:11However, it instantly reminded me of how poorly Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad handles file management.
04:17All of your files have to live within the Final Cut Pro library, meaning you can't just
04:23link files or have them stored in a separate folder at all.
04:28Okay, so for example, you're working on a video on your iPad's internal storage, and
04:32let's say you have a folder of 200GB of B-roll on your external hard drive.
04:37You have to bring those into your internal storage.
04:39You can't just let them hang out on a drive and link them when you need them.
04:44Another side effect of this method is that that means that you're just constantly duplicating
04:47files.
04:48Furthermore, you still can't import complete folders in Final Cut Pro, just individual
04:54files because there is no folder hierarchy within the app either.
04:59Meaning that all of your media just hangs out in this little window.
05:03You can't organize it in separate folders like A-roll, B-roll, music, graphics, or whatever
05:09you use.
05:10You can still favorite your files, filter through by types of files, but it all just
05:14feels a little bit too trivial for a professional video editing app.
05:19And there are other issues as well.
05:21Most of my library lives on a NAS, which is connected through the Files app, but once
05:26I import footage from it, the next time I open Final Cut, most of those files are just
05:31missing or need to be relinked, and you can't actually relink them, your only solution is
05:35to re-import everything again and hope it works the next time, which it won't.
05:41There are some smaller updates coming as well, and these weren't available during my testing
05:45period, but there will be 20 new songs for you to choose from, new text titles, new dynamic
05:51backgrounds, and some new color presets.
05:54Apple didn't give me a full list of which effects are getting added, but I do hope some
05:58of the more exciting ones from the desktop version are going to make their way here.
06:03And there's also support for the new Pencil Pro for live drawings, but otherwise, there's
06:07not much to do with the Pencil Pro itself.
06:10I wish there was a way to program the haptic squeeze to do something more on the timeline,
06:16maybe selecting more clips while hovering, or just use it as a right click.
06:20I think that would be super useful.
06:27I had high expectations for the new Final Cut Pro ahead of the iPad event, but I was
06:33expecting a lot more features to be added that are still absent, which could have been
06:38just easy wins.
06:40Compounding clips, folders as I mentioned, adjustment layer, stabilization, more coloring
06:46tools like curves, sharing projects between machines is still kind of iffy, ability to
06:51add new LUTs, 360 video support, object tracking, there's a lot more that's missing that
06:56really can catch you off guard when you're in the flow.
07:00Just a few weeks ago I made this tiny video.
07:02What I actually wanted to do is add a slight push-in effect, like Ken Burr's effect to
07:07it.
07:08But while you can add that effect to individual clips, you can't add them to multiple clips.
07:13Compounding clips or adjustment layers wouldn't fix that.
07:16The easiest thing for me to do is export this video, import it back into Final Cut Pro,
07:22and then add the Ken Burr's effect across the whole thing.
07:26Bottom line is that I found myself making creative decisions based on software limitations.
07:32And there are other options out there.
07:34CapCut has been extremely popular with TikTokers, and why I'm switching to DaVinci videos are
07:40all over my YouTube feed.
07:41In fact, three of the features that I desperately need are already on DaVinci's iPad app.
07:47But here's the weird part.
07:50Even after trying all of the other apps I just listed, I keep coming back to this one.
07:55Because there is one thing Apple is doing right here.
08:01So Apple calls this app the Touch First app, and they are right.
08:05Once you're past the learning curve, and once you get a hang of the controls, and once you're
08:09aware of its limitations, I know that's a lot of disclaimers, but you start to actually
08:14enjoy it and have fun.
08:16Apple isn't trying to replicate the desktop experience, they're building towards a new
08:20one.
08:21And you can see it in the way that you interact with the digital jog wheel, the way that the
08:25sidebar comes in so you can edit everything with your left hand.
08:29And then there's the hardware.
08:32This is by far the best screen I ever had a chance to work on.
08:36The tandem wallet is bright, super color accurate, vivid, and just breathes new life into my
08:43old videos.
08:44And the fact that I'm editing 4K ProRes video on a device so small, so light, and so thin,
08:51does feel unreal at times.
08:53So if Apple can check off those easy wins, then its vision of a Touch First, a Final
08:58Cut Pro could really thrive.
09:00But until it does that, the iPad remains something that's kind of a laptop, but not something
09:06where you get actual work done.
09:09At least for video editors like me.
09:10Okay, I feel like my ender is always the same.
09:13There's so much more that I wanted to get into, but it just feels like it would take
09:17forever to talk about.
09:18So if you have any specific questions, drop them down below, I will be answering all of
09:24them.
09:25But don't be mean.
09:26Don't be mean.
09:27Don't be a d*** online.