Final Cut Express

This book covers every button, every adjustment, and every feature in Final Cut Express 3.5. If you are looking for a quick, easy read to get your video onto DVD, there may be other books out there. This book is designed for "Power Users" - that is, if you want to know every shortcut and keystroke in the program to shave off a few seconds off your editing then you have arrived at the right place. The book needs some updating. Apple has released Final Cut Express 3.5.1 and OS X. Apparently, these updates change some of the keyboard shortcuts and the interface is just slightly different. A few of the buttons have been moved to a different location or look and behave a bit differently. The author will instruct the reader to press F10, for example, which will not work as expected and leaves the reader searching for the equivalent function in the pull-down menus. After a week of reading and editing, I was anxious to burn my first DVD; but, the book abruptly ends. This is more of a reflection on Apple. At the time I am reading this book, after you finish editing your video, the road to DVD authoring ends at a cliff's edge with the bridge still under construction. There is no mpeg2 encoder (compressor) in Express. There is one in the Pro version, now known as "Studio" which includes DVD menu authoring and mpeg2 encoding. For the rest of us Express users, there's iDVD. Works great for vacation flicks, but just forget about professional editing. If your final target is a professionally authored DVD, be prepared to look into third-party non-Apple software to pick up where Final Cut Express leaves us hanging. If your final target is a .mov or .mpg file, this book does not delve into codecs, bitrates, streaming, and video compression. You will need to know about this for web publication and be at least more familiar with these topics for DVD authoring.

This book makes learning Final Cut Express extremely easy and fun. It takes you step by step and shows you just how cool and intuitive the program is. The author explains things so clearly, it seems like she is sitting beside you, walking through every move. I have read 3 books on Final Cut Express and this book is by far the easiest way to learn it. You MUST get this book! It comes with a DVD which includes all the video files you'll need to work through all of the excercises. I plan to use all of Diana Weynand's books as I go on to learn Final Cut Pro 4 and the advanced version...and any other book she writes. Thank you Diana!!!

This book really got me started...I now feel like I can really edit using the program...the step by step guide was terrific...it was easy to understand, simple instructions to follow and bingo you're editing.