CUPERTINO, Calif.—In a notable development for news and live video production, Apple has unveiled a number of significant upgrades to its Final Cut Pro software that includes Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 that transforms iPad into a live multicam production studio.
Along with the announcement of a new M4 chips and the new iPad Pro, Apple said that Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 gives users the power to speed up their shoot by allowing them to connect and preview up to four cameras all at once, all in one place.
To support Live Multicam, Apple also launched Final Cut Camera—an all-new video capture app—for iPhone and iPad that lets creators wirelessly connect and remotely direct each video angle with powerful pro controls.
Apple reported that Final Cut Camera also works as a standalone professional video capture app on iPhone and iPad. External project support gives users the flexibility to edit projects directly from an external drive, leveraging the fast Thunderbolt connection of iPad Pro. Editing and finishing a project with Final Cut Pro on the new iPad Pro with the M4 chip is incredible, enabling users to color grade, apply multiple effects, and render graphically intense timelines even faster. Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 has even more customizable content for editing and creating unique projects, and leverages the advanced features of the all-new Apple Pencil Pro such as barrel roll and squeeze for Live Drawing.
“Users have been loving the portability and flexibility of editing with Final Cut Pro for iPad. It was designed from the ground up to take advantage of everything iPad has to offer, and that continues with the latest advances like Apple Pencil Pro and the M4 chip,” said Brent Chiu-Watson, Apple’s senior director of Apps Worldwide Product Marketing. “Now, Final Cut Pro for iPad is getting even more powerful, transforming production workflows for creators by putting iPad at the center and allowing them to edit and share more quickly than ever, whether they’re at the studio or on the go. Final Cut Pro for Mac also continues to deliver efficiency gains for editors with new features that are smarter and faster.”
Apple also announced new artificial intelligence features are coming to Final Cut Pro for Mac 10.8, giving editors the ability to rapidly customize the look of videos or photos in a single click and retime visuals more easily than ever. Important workflow-accelerating tools bring new ways to manage color correction and video effects, as well as search and navigate the timeline with ease, the company said.
The updates build on a powerful new M4 chip and new versions of the Apple iPad Pro. With M4 on the new iPad Pro, final rendering is up to 2x faster, and editors can take advantage of support for up to 4x more streams of ProRes RAW than with M1, Apple said.
Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 also delivers Live Multicam, an innovative new solution for users to capture up to four different angles of a single scene, whether working with their own devices or collaborating with others. Live Multicam connects wirelessly via Final Cut Camera, a new video capture app, enabling users to view up to four iPhone or iPad devices and providing a director’s view of each camera in real time. Each live camera feed can have settings adjusted right from Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 to easily dial in exposure, focus, zoom, and more for the perfect shot. Editable preview clips are immediately passed through to Final Cut Pro for iPad and replaced with full-resolution files in the background, so users can seamlessly move from production to editing.
To support Live Multicam in Final Cut Pro for iPad 2, Final Cut Camera becomes available on iPhone and iPad, providing users with live monitoring and individual control of each video feed. Leveraging the camera systems on iPhone and iPad, Final Cut Camera allows users to adjust settings like white balance and manual focus, while monitoring their recordings with zebras and audio meters. Users can now also adjust ISO and shutter speed, and enable focus peaking, bringing even more power to the camera system on iPad Air and iPad Pro. Final Cut Camera can also be downloaded for free as a standalone video capture app to record professional videos on iPhone and iPad with precise manual controls.
For even more storage flexibility, Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 now supports external projects, letting users easily create or open projects on an external storage device and import media without taking up space on their iPad. Editors can quickly hand off external projects to another editor or take them into Final Cut Pro for Mac; create new projects on external storage; and seamlessly import high-resolution files and professional codecs like ProRes and Log.
Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 also brings more options to customize projects. Users can dial in their edits with 12 new color-grading presets, choose from eight basic text titles, score with 20 new soundtracks, and add additional dynamic backgrounds to create effect overlays and title sequences, Apple reported.
Apple also announced improvements to Final Cut on the Mac that allow editors to take their professional workflow to the next level by leverage the Neural Engine in Apple silicon, new AI features and organizational tools on Final Cut Pro 10.8. Available as a free update to existing users, Final Cut Pro 10.8 introduces Enhance Light and Color, offering the ability to improve color, color balance, contrast, and brightness in one simple step, and is optimized for SDR, HDR, RAW, and Log-encoded media. With Smooth Slo-Mo, frames of video are intelligently generated and blended together, providing the highest-quality movement and more drama to a project.
For efficiency in post-production workflows, color corrections and video effects can now be given custom names in the inspector to easily identify changes applied to a clip, and effects can be dragged from the inspector to other clips in the timeline or viewer. The timeline index also offers the ability to search for and navigate to clips with missing media or effects. And text-based timeline search now includes important information like reel, scene, camera angle, and more.
Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 will be available later this spring as a free update for existing users, and available on the App Store® for $4.99 (U.S.) per month or $49 (U.S.) per year, with a one-month free trial for new users.
Final Cut Camera will be available for free later this spring as a standalone app.
Final Cut Pro for Mac 10.8 will be available as a free update for existing users and for $299.99 (U.S.) for new users on the Mac App Store. All new users can download a free 90-day trial of Final Cut Pro.
Apple also introduced the new iPad Pro in a stunningly thin and light design, in 11-inch and 13-inch models at prices that start at $999.99.
Both sizes feature the new Ultra Retina XDR display with state-of-the-art tandem OLED technology and the new M4 chip, the next generation of Apple silicon, which delivers a huge leap in performance and capabilities.
M4 features an entirely new display engine to enable the precision, color, and brightness of the Ultra Retina XDR display. With a new CPU, a next-generation GPU that builds upon the GPU architecture debuted on M3, and the most powerful Neural Engine yet, Apple said.
“iPad Pro empowers a broad set of pros and is perfect for anyone who wants the ultimate iPad experience — with its combination of the world’s best displays, extraordinary performance of our latest M-series chips, and advanced accessories — all in a portable design. Today, we’re taking it even further with the new, stunningly thin and light iPad Pro, our biggest update ever to iPad Pro,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. “With the breakthrough Ultra Retina XDR display, the next-level performance of M4, incredible AI capabilities, and support for the all-new Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard, there’s no device like the new iPad Pro.”
More information is available at https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-ipad/ipad-pro.
