Adobe Premiere Pro Editing Software Review

Adobe Premiere Pro Video Editing Software Review

Overview

Adobe Premiere Pro is a professional video editing software developed by Adobe. It is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of applications and is the industry-leading software for video production.

Key Features:

• Non-linear video editing
• Support for high resolution video up to 10,240 x 8,192
• Wide range of supported video and audio formats
• Integration with other Adobe apps like After Effects and Audition
• Powerful color correction and audio editing tools
• Motion graphics and visual effects capabilities
• Collaborative workflows

Adobe Premiere Pro is used widely in the media and entertainment industry for video production. It is commonly used to edit videos for:

• Films
• Television
• Web videos
• Corporate videos
• Social media videos
• YouTube videos

Benefits of using Premiere Pro:

• Industry standard professional video editing software
• Powerful and versatile toolset for any type of video production
• Integration with other Adobe Creative Cloud apps
• Support for latest video formats and codecs
• Optimized for performance
• Reliable and stable
• Scalable solution that can handle small and large projects
• Creative editing features like morph cut and auto reframe
• Constant updates with new features and improvements

Interface and Workflows

Adobe Premiere Pro has a flexible interface with customizable workspaces that allow you to tailor the layout based on your editing needs. The main editing interface includes panels like:

• Project – contains all the media assets
• Source Monitor – preview and edit clips before adding to timeline
• Program Monitor – preview just the timeline
• Timeline – assemble clips into sequences
• Effects Controls – edit effects applied to clips
• Media Browser – quickly browse assets
• Tools – editing tools for clips and timeline

The interface also contains menus, buttons and other controls for performing different editing tasks. The default workspace is Editing. Other pre-built workspaces include:

• Color – for color correction
• Effects – applying effects
• Graphics – working with graphics and titles
• Audio – advanced audio editing

You can easily switch between workspaces using the Workspace menu. The interface will change to show relevant panels and tools based on the workspace. The Project panel is the main organizational unit for footage and sequences. You can organize media into bins which function like folders. The Source Monitor is used to preview individual clips and set edit points. The Program Monitor previews the entire timeline sequence as you edit. The Timeline panel is where you assemble clips, trim them, add transitions, overlay titles etc. to build your video sequence.

Key Editing Features

Adobe Premiere Pro provides a wide range of professional NLE (non-linear editing) features for cutting and assembling footage into videos.

Timeline Editing

The Timeline panel is the main workspace for assembling clips into sequences. Key timeline editing features include:

• Inserting, overwriting and ripple editing clips
• Trimming clips on timeline
• Rearranging and moving clips
• Adding transitions between clips
• Animating clip parameters using keyframes
• Adding and editing audio tracks

Multi-camera Editing

Premiere Pro has excellent multi-camera editing capabilities. You can sync footage from multiple cameras and edit the angles easily.

• Sync footage from multiple cameras and audio sources
• View all camera angles simultaneously in a grid view
• Switch between camera angles easily

Effects and Transitions

The software includes many built-in effects, transitions and titles that you can apply to your clips.

• Video effects – color correction, blur, distort, keying etc.
• Audio effects – reverb, echo, noise removal etc.
• Transitions – cross dissolve, wipe, zoom in/out etc.
• Titles – animated text and graphics

You can browse and apply effects easily using the Effects Panel. For advanced effects and motion graphics, Premiere integrates seamlessly with After Effects.

Color Correction

Premiere Pro includes the Lumetri Color toolset for professional color grading of footage. Key color correction capabilities include:

• Color wheels, curves, sliders for adjusting color
• Color grading presets and Lumetri Looks
• Scopes for color analysis – waveform, vectorscope etc.
• Secondary color correction using HSL qualifiers

Audio Editing

For audio editing, Premiere Pro offers essential tools like volume adjustments, panning, audio effects, mixing etc.

• Adjust volume levels
• Pan stereo audio
• Add audio effects – EQ, compression, reverb etc.
• Mix multiple audio tracks
• Waveform visualization

It also allows you to edit audio clips directly from the timeline using the Essential Sound panel. You can also send your audio to Adobe Audition for advanced audio editing.

Titles and Graphics

For creating titles and graphics, the software includes the Essential Graphics panel.

• Animated text templates
• Shape tools to create graphics
• Motion graphic templates (MOGRTs)
• Responsive design for mobile-friendly graphics

Media Management

Import and Export

Premiere Pro supports a wide range of media formats for import and export: Video – MOV, AVI, MP4, MXF, AVCHD, H.264, HEVC, ProRes
Image – JPEG, PNG, TIFF, PSD, AI
Audio – WAV, MP3, AAC, OGG, AIFF It can also import projects directly from other editing apps like Final Cut Pro, Avid etc. For export, Premiere offers presets for different devices like YouTube, Facebook, TV screens etc. You can export video in formats like MP4, AVI, QuickTime. It also allows direct export to DVD, Blu-ray, tape etc.

Organizing Media

Premiere Pro provides various tools to organize your media assets:

• Media Browser – visually browse and search assets
• Metadata – add searchable XMP metadata to clips
• Smart Collections – automatically group assets based on metadata
• Labels – color code and label clips

Performance

Premiere Pro is engineered for performance using features like native file support, CUDA acceleration, distributed rendering etc. Some ways to improve performance are:

• Use proxy workflows for high resolution media
• Adjust playback resolution
• Use GPU acceleration for effects
• Allocate more RAM to Premiere Pro
• Use fast SSD storage
• Disable clips/effects when not required
• Render previews of complex timelines

Collaboration

Premiere Pro enables collaboration workflows through:

• Productions – manage large projects with multiple editors
• Team Projects – collaborate in real time over the cloud
• Shared Projects – store projects on shared storage like NAS
• Adobe Anywhere – collaborate across remote locations

Strengths

Industry-standard professional video editor – Premiere Pro is the top choice for video editing and post-production worldwide. It offers a versatile toolset for any type of production. Integration with Creative Cloud – Tight integration with apps like After Effects, Audition, Media Encoder allows seamless workflows. Powerful performance – Engineered for performance with native file support, GPU acceleration making it fast and responsive. Reliable and stable – Used on countless productions, Premiere Pro offers rock solid stability and reliability. Scalable solution – Can handle both short clips and feature length films equally well. Constant innovation – Adobe keeps making improvements with new features like auto reframe, speech to text etc.

Limitations

Steep learning curve – Premiere Pro has a complex interface and deep toolset which can be overwhelming for beginners. Subscription pricing – You need a Creative Cloud subscription and can’t buy it outright. Monthly pricing might not suit all users. Hardware intensive – Needs high-end multi-core system with large RAM and GPU for best performance. Lacks motion graphics – After Effects required for advanced motion graphics and visual effects.

Pricing

Adobe Premiere Pro is available only as a subscription:

It can also be purchased as part of:

• Creative Cloud All Apps plan starting at $52.99/month
• Video editing bundle with Premiere + After Effects + more starting at $39.99/month

Conclusion

Adobe Premiere Pro is the industry-leading non-linear video editing software that provides powerful tools for professional video production. With its versatile feature set, wide format support, seamless integration with other Creative Cloud apps, and reliable performance, Premiere Pro is the top choice for video professionals worldwide. While the learning curve may be steep for beginners, and the subscription pricing a barrier for some, Premiere Pro remains an indispensable tool for anyone serious about video editing and production.