No serious video editing program is intuitive or easy to use, and the more power you need, the harder things get. Worse news still. There are dozens of options, but there is no “best”.
We produce drone shoots of luxury properties, and I would like to edit the raw footage and add graphics in-house. Please can you suggest which software is the easiest to use and most intuitive to create professional videos on both Windows and Mac?Paul Coleman
Bad news I’m afraid. No serious video editing program is intuitive or easy to use, and the more power you need, the harder things get.
Worse news still. There are dozens of options, but there is no “best”. Or at least, the best option depends on the video file formats you are trying to edit, the hardware you have available, what you need to do, how skilled you are, and your personal taste in software.
There is good news, though. Most video editors are free, or offer free trial periods, or have limited free versions with paid upgrades to the full versions. Software houses expect you to try a few programs before you find one that suits you.
Pick a simple editing operation and try it with the most likely options using the same 60-second video. If you can’t manage a simple operation in a reasonable time, you won’t have much luck with the complicated ones.
Training wheels
If you are new to editing video, start with a simple program to learn the basics. Microsoft’s Movie Maker is the obvious choice for Windows users, and Apple’s iMovie for Mac users. Both can produce videos you could put on YouTube. I wouldn’t recommend them for your website, which already includes some very professional videos, but the experience should help you to choose a more advanced program.
Movie Maker has not been updated since 2012 and is not officially supported on Windows 10, though you can still download and run it. The many alternatives include open source Avidemux and the VSDC Free Video Editor. I think VSDC’s interface is more attractive, but Avidemux has a better user guide. VSDC pushes its paid-for ($29.99 lifetime) upgrade, but you can actually use it – look for the “Continue” button.
You could also try Wondershare’s Filmora (Mac and Windows), which has an “easy mode”, and/or the cloud-based WeVideo. Both have the same drawback: the free versions watermark your videos. However, both are cheap if they do what you need. Filmora costs $49.99 for a lifetime of personal use or $99.98 for business use. Unlimited WeVideo costs $69 per year.
Another easy alternative is GoPro Studio. This is aimed at GoPro owners who are new to editing videos, but it’s free to everyone. If you are not using a GoPro camera, you may have to convert your video files to a compatible mp4 format. If this fails, GoPro has a help page: Video Fails to Import into GoPro Studio.
Advanced editing
The premier PC video editing software is Adobe Premier Pro, which runs on both Macs and Windows PCs. This is the best choice for most professional purposes. It has the most hardware and software support, and the most official and unofficial help in the form of tutorial videos, books and online articles. It’s the editor most professionals know, so you can always hire someone for a difficult project, or pass your unfinished in-house project to an outside studio.
You can buy Adobe Premier Pro as a standalone program or rent it as part of Adobe’s Creative Suite. You may already use other CS programs such as Photoshop. Lightroom, Illustrator, InDesign, and Audition. It’s not cheap, but professional tools rarely are.
Apple’s Final Cut Pro is an alternative for Mac users, and it’s the best choice for home/small business users who already know iMovie. However, if you don’t have a high-end Mac, I’d be cautious about buying one to run it.
Final Cut Pro X upset a lot of professional video editors because Apple “consumerised” it and changed their workflows. Some were already abandoning Macs because of the lack of an easily upgradable tower system, which hasn’t been helped by Apple’s failure to upgrade the Mac Pro for three years. Professional video editors always want more speed, because time is money. They often want to upgrade their processors and graphics cards when new technologies arrive, and big PC towers enable that.
Of course, you don’t need either Adobe Premier Pro or Final Cut Pro X to edit drone footage. However, you will have to invest a lot of time to learn video editing, and if you’re doing it for professional purposes, you should consider using professional software.
Mid-range to pro
Many other video editing programs can produce professional results, but there is no consensus about which is best.
The main contenders include Adobe Premiere Elements, Sony Vegas Pro and Vegas Movie Studio, Cyberlink’s new PowerDirector 15, Corel Video Studio, Magix Movie Edit Pro, Editshare’s Lightworks, and Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve. Many programs come in several versions to cover the range from beginners to advanced users.
Adobe Premiere Elements 16 has only just come out, and would be a good choice if you think you might move to Premier Pro later. At the time of writing, it hasn’t reached Amazon.co.uk, but you could buy it from Adobe or pick up an earlier version at a lower price.
I have previously recommended Sony Vegas Movie Studio for its power and ease of use. However, in May, Sony sold most of its creative products to Magix, including the six programs in the Vegas range and loads of audio and music software. The future is unpredictable, but Vegas Movie Studio 13 Platinum still looks a reasonable program for a beginner, with the Vegas Pro range as an upgrade.
Corel Video Studio, Cyberlink PowerDirector, Magix Movie Edit Pro and other video editors also have their fans. I suspect most users are amateurs, but they should all be able to do what you need.
Finally, both Lightworks and DaVinci Resolve are powerful professional programs with free versions, but I wouldn’t recommend either to beginners. The free Lightworks only works for videos up to 720p, but there’s a Linux version, so it appeals to people who can’t run Adobe or Apple software. DaVinci Resolve’s highlight feature is colour correction. In both cases, I’d suggest watching some introductory videos (Lightworks, Resolve) and video tutorials before downloading them.
Keep it simple
I’ve never edited any drone footage, but I am sure that there are plenty of tips and tricks in the forums devoted to drone photography. There are also companies that specialise in this area, such as Hexii Aerial Imaging (which says it uses Adobe Premier and After Effects, plus DaVinci Resolve for grading).
What Is The Best Video Editor Software For Mac
I suggest that you keep things as simple as possible, rather than trying to compete with Hexii or Digital Snowball. All the best video editing is done in the mind, by choosing the best clips and putting them in the most compelling order. If you can nail that, nobody is going to miss the fancy editing tricks.
Have you got another question for Jack? Email it to Ask.Jack@theguardian.com
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Are you looking for the best free GoPro editing software? Awesome! In this post, I'll share the best options for free GoPro editing software.
Free GoPro Editing Software: 7 Options
Before we get started, I want to qualify the programs on this list. To be listed, they must offer a “free forever” version. Some of these programs are available for free with a premium upgrade. But there is no trial software included in the list.
How are these programs determined to be the “best”? They are deemed the best by the number of reviews and their features. While I've used many different video editing programs, I haven't used all of them – but after writing this post, I plan to review a number of them.
Okay, let's begin!
Here's the short list of the software options. Below this list, you'll find more in-depth information on each option.
- Quik by GoPro(Free) Somewhat automated editing software that replaced the failed GoPro Studio.
- DaVinci Resolve 15:(Free and Paid) This is an impressive looking program. I've downloaded the free version and can't wait to try it.
- Blender(Free) This open source software comes highly praised. Should be worth a look.
- Filmora Wondershare(Free and Paid) Trial version (unpaid) has the same functionality as the premium – except that output videos have a watermark. See how to get a free premium license below.
- iMovie for Mac (Free) Popular and free but you'll have to own (buy) a Mac to use it.
- Windows Movie Maker (Free) This is popular because Microsoft makes it. And because it's free. (You can probably do better.)
- Lightworks (Free and Paid) This is a new one to me. They offer a free and premium subscription option.
Additional GoPro Editing Software
Here are a couple of programs that are pretty outdated. And while their sites are old (and I'll never use them) they are free video editing programs. So here are two that I don't recommend:
- VirtualDub.org: This site was last updated in 2013 and the software is not made for Windows 10. In spite of this, it continually comes up as a viable choice. I included this so you can take a look if you're interested.
- Wax (DebugMode): This can operate as a standalone program or a plugin with Sony Vegas, Pure Motion and Adobe Premiere. The site looks like it was cutting edge in 1995. I'm not sure that I trust this program.
7 Best Free GoPro Editing Software Options
First up: Quik Desktop
1. Quik for Desktop (by GoPro)
This is the software that you'll probably start with. And if you've never used video editing software before, this will probably be okay.
This is created to be – you guessed it – quick. And it direct connects to Facebook and YouTube for fast sharing.
In addition to video editing, you can use Quik for Desktop to update the firmware your camera. Supported models include: HERO, HERO+, HERO+LCD, HERO3+: Silver Edition, HERO3+: Black Edition, HERO4 Session, HERO4: Silver Edition, HERO4: Black Edition, HERO5 Session, HERO5 Black). Use Gauges in Quik to show your GPS path, speed, elevation gain with overlaid gauges and graphs.
There is a level of automation that some users don't like. When you plug your camera in, it auto uploads the footage to a preset folder. As long as you don't mind automation – and have tons of space on your hard drive – you should be good to go.
Next up: DaVinci Resolve
2. DaVinci Resolve 15
I'm surprised that this is free. The amount of features belong on a program costing $100's and yet, you can download simply by creating a free account.
I haven't used it yet, but I'm excited to give it a try. Combine multi-cam editing, color and lens distortion correction, and new media management functions and you have a great piece of software. It is non-linear video editing with “the world's most advanced color corrector” (BlackMagicDesign.com)
DaVinci Resolve comes well reviewed by both No Film School and RedShark.
Download DaVinci Resolve or purchase the full Studio version
Next up: Blender
3. Blender
This is some super powerful software. It does 3D modeling, photo-realistic rendering, animation, sculpting, simulations, game creation and – oh yeah – video editing.
I'm excited about this one. Blender comes with 32 slots for video, audio, images, masks and effects. It has camera and object tracking and the ability to mask areas.
This should be expensive – but it's free. And don't worry about it changing. They publish this commitment on their homepage:
Next up: Filmora
4. Filmora Wondershare
This looks like decent software. It has screen recording, video stabilization, split screen, green screen, tilt shift, crop, color correction and speed adjustment. Some of it's transitions are a little too “home-movieish” for me, but it might work for certain projects.
The catch with Filmora is that their free version comes with a HUGE watermark across all your videos. But don't worry, there's a solution for this. I'll share how to get Filmora for free below this video (example of their edit quality).
Watch on YouTube
Here's how to get Filmora for free (and remove the watermark): The video explains it well, but you'll want to jump ahead to 2:17. That's where it explains all the details for the free Filmora license.
How to get a free Filmora license: write a review of the product and submit it to them. You'll need one of the following:
- Blog or forum: Alexa ranking of 100,000 or less; PR3 or above. If you aren't familiar with these metrics, your blog probably doesn't qualify.
- Social media following: 1000+ followers on Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus. Or 500+ YouTube subscribers.
What Is The Best Video Editing For Mac
Next up: iMovie for Mac
5. iMovie for Mac
If you're on a Mac, you already have access to this program. And it's free.
Their description (below) doesn't sound very compelling. It could be describing just about any video editing software.
What does set iMovie apart, is their synced mobile app. iMovie for Mac works seamlessly with iMovie for iOS. This means you can start a project on your iPhone, make some adjustments on your iPad and then finish on your Mac. iMovie Theater will keep all your finished videos synced across all your devices.
Next up: Windows Movie Maker
6. Windows Movie Maker
This is still in use – and will probably be for a few more years.
And you can still make decent videos with your GoPro footage. But you should know that it isn't being supported in Windows 10. This means that it's just a matter of time before it disappears.
I recommend choosing from one of the other options in the list.
Next up: Lightworks
7. Lightworks
This non-linear editing software by EditShare looks promising. It handles resolution up to 4K and advanced multi-cam editing.
Lightworks has edited many Hollywood films, including The Wolf of Wall Street, LA Confidential, Pulp Fiction, Hugo, and The King’s Speech.
The free version gives you the same editing power as the Pro version. But you can only output to a maximum of 1080P (Vimeo) and 720P (YouTube) with the free option.
Not quite what you were looking for?Check our our full list:GoPro Editing Software (includes 13 best options for Windows and Mac)
Your Turn
Did I miss one? Please share your favorite free GoPro editing software in the comments.
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