Editing software recommendations, basic to mid-range?

daisylady

Hi Folks,

New to the site, I just recently became the proud owner of a canon550D. I had chanced my arm and asked for one at xmas, however with the reality of holding it in my hand I promptly realised I hadn't the foggiest idea how to use this damned thing, but being the stubborn mule I am, I'm determined to overcome it!

My primary interest will be filming.

My question is, could anyone recommend a suitable piece of editing software to purchase for my PC. The only thing I have is Windows Live Movie Maker, which is pants. I have no experience with editing but hope to have a steep learning curve in the next few months, so possibly something basic to mid-range?

Thanks for reading.

Dave Van Ronk

daisylady wrote: »

Hi Folks,

New to the site, I just recently became the proud owner of a canon550D. I had chanced my arm and asked for one at xmas, however with the reality of holding it in my hand I promptly realised I hadn't the foggiest idea how to use this damned thing, but being the stubborn mule I am, I'm determined to overcome it!

My primary interest will be filming.

My question is, could anyone recommend a suitable piece of editing software to purchase for my PC. The only thing I have is Windows Live Movie Maker, which is pants. I have no experience with editing but hope to have a steep learning curve in the next few months, so possibly something basic to mid-range?

Thanks for reading.

Hi Daisy,

There was a discussion on that very topic only a while back.

Here's the link

My personal recommendation would be to start off with the user friendly Pinnacle Studio

Adobe Premiere is also very good but maybe a slight bit more complex,

Anyways hope this is of help and best of luck with the new Canon.

Richy06

Your best bet would be Adobe Premiere Pro I'd say. Although I'm sure others know of some freeware that would do a decent job?

stunt_penguin

The requirements here are tougher than that other thread- pinnacle won't be able to touch the HD footage without stuttering horribly and making eidting miserable- it's just not efficient enough at handling the large footage from those cameras.

To edit this stuff you'll need a PC with Premiere CS5 or a Mac with Premiere CS5 / Final Cut Pro.

Those are the only two bits of software that will handle your footage without the excruciating pain of having to transcode them down to smaller files, then replacing them again with new ones once the edit is complete.

Premiere... well it's the same price as your camera if you go out and buy it, however there are less scrupulous ways of acquiring such software. Occasionally, needs must.

SouperComputer

stunt_penguin wrote: »

The requirements here are tougher than that other thread- pinnacle won't be able to touch the HD footage without stuttering horribly and making eidting miserable- it's just not efficient enough at handling the large footage from those cameras.

Yeah I agree if you are editing 1080p from that camera it wont playback smoothly on a laptop like that. You could edit but you need to keep moving the playhead manually and rendering will take forever. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

stunt_penguin wrote: »

To edit this stuff you'll need a PC with Premiere CS5 or a Mac with Premiere CS5 / Final Cut Pro.

What about Vegas 10? That said its as expensive as the camera too.

daisylady

Thanks for the info, much appreciated. The stuttering was soul destroying on the Movie Maker, still havent seen a 1 minute video I did all the way through yet.I think I will go for the Premiere CS5, trying to download a trial off the adobe site all evening but its not happening for some reason...Have Photoshop CS4 on the PC at the moment so will stick with the adobe. I'll be working on 'acquiring' such Premiere software in the meantime.

Now, I'm off to find a mini filming project to at the weekend to get to understand the camera and lenses a bit better!

JG009

SouperComputer wrote: »

What about Vegas 10? That said its as expensive as the camera too.

+6billion. Great software.