Are editing peripherals any good? at DVinfo.net

Richard Cavell · June 5th, 2012, 12:49 AM

Hi. I'm editing using Adobe Premiere Pro. I have a nice mouse with 5 programmable buttons. Has anyone tried using those jog/shuttle controllers, or anything else that's designed specifically for use with video editing?

Richard

Robert Turchick · June 5th, 2012, 07:36 AM

I have a Contour Shuttle collecting dust somewhere. Many years ago it eased the transition from tape based editing to FCP. I got so fast with keyboard commands that it became a hindrance. Now that I'm on PP CS6, the assignable keyboard commands are fantastic and it's gotten me comfy with the transition from FCP.
I don't think I'd use the Shuttle ever again.

Bart Walczak · June 5th, 2012, 01:28 PM

Actually I use my Contour Shuttle for the smoother and quicker control while browsing material and making selects or rough cuts, but that's all.

Richard Cavell · June 5th, 2012, 07:44 PM

Robert,

When you speak about "the transition from FCP", are you abandoning the FCP ship due to version X?

Richard

Robert Turchick · June 5th, 2012, 10:59 PM

you are correct sir!
Bought FCPX and gave it a fair shake on a few gigs. Just missing too many things that I need. Really liking PP. But I have to keep FCP7 for several clients who like revisiting projects regularly.

Kevin Currie · June 5th, 2012, 11:44 PM

I still use my Contour Shuttle too. It comes in very handy. Supposedly they work with lots of programs, not just Adobe and Final Cut, but I haven't tried it for anything other tham PP, AE, and Audition.

Vincent Oliver · June 6th, 2012, 04:43 AM

I too have the Contour shuttle somewhere in a draw, I found keyboard shortcuts quicker to use, besides I hate trailing cables on my desktop.

I also have the new Wacom Intuos 5 tablet, this should be easier to use with PP CS6, however, in Windows 7 there is an annoying mouse cursor highlight every time you click and I can't make it go away, despite several suggestions from various internet sites.

Once I have got rid of this cursor highlight circle then I will use the tablet for editing. One of the most useful features is that you can use your fingers to navigate and zoom just like a touch pad or iPad.

Kawika Ohumukini · June 6th, 2012, 04:53 AM

I use my shuttlepro v2 all the time in lots of programs. You can set it up for any program. It comes in handy when I only need a few functions to support a particular workflow. I record on a Canon XA10 and since it has a big memory and battery life, at events I just leave the camera running all the time. So when I get back to PP, I need to go through the timeline and chop it up into segments. This is where play, fast play, jog, razor, zoom in/out (I use the shuttle wheel) are my first edits. Then when I bring the segments together I'm deleting blank spaces, sliding, doing rolling edits, adding effects and editing the effects control. All of which are right on the shuttle so I have my left hand on the shuttle and my right on my trackball. I only touch the keyboard when I'm entering text. I haven't set it up for Speedgrade yet but I'm sure I will.

In Photoshop (where I use my Intuos 4 pen in my right hand) and Lightroom I do a specific workflow for portraits and the shuttle is setup to support the workflow by pressing buttons left-right. I also use it in After Effects, Illustrator, Excel and Word. This is nice because many of these programs have keyboard combination sequences like Shift-1 in Lightroom to rate an image/video a 1 star then move to the next image (I use the 5 buttons as 1-3 stars then green and red labels for ready to upload and to delete respectively). I use a single button on the shuttle for this which for me reduces fatigue when I go through hundreds of images. Same thing, I never need to touch the keyboard except for text and quick entering values which is rare. If there was a shuttlepro control to manage the crop tool it would be the ideal device.

It's nice because you can assign presets to applications and it comes with a ton of existing presets based on specific versions of the application. For $80 it's worth a shot. GL

Steve Kalle · June 9th, 2012, 10:36 PM

For certain tasks and programs, my LARGE Intuous4 tablet is amazing. My business partner was amazed at how fast I was the first time he watched me edit in PPro and Photoshop. I was editing on his new iMac and I was performing functions with the pen so fast that his iMac couldn't keep up. However, my 2 very fast PCs never have an issue keeping up.

I also use the Kensington Mighty Mouse ($100) on every computer I own and when I must work on other PCs/Macs, I always bring one of my Mighty Mouses because nothing else allows as quick of mouse movement with almost ZERO strain on my wrist and hand. I actually bought both the mouse and tablet due to carpel tunnel and I have never had a recurrence of CTS.

One thing I have seen quite often in many medium to large post houses is the Intuos tablet whether its an editing suite or a Smoke/Flame suite.

For me, I greatly value speed and efficiency when working (which is why I never ever liked FCP and transcoding everything). Why should I spend 9 hours editing when the Mighty Mouse & Intuous4 tablet allow me to cut that time by 45-60 minutes? In addition, I also have a backlit keyboard that is smaller than normal in order to minimize the total footprint of my mouse, tablet & keyboard.

My *only* gripe with the tablet is I wish that I bought the Medium size which works better with monitors 24" and under. If I had a 27" or 30" monitor with pixels of 2560 wide, then the Large or Xtra Large work better.

June 5th, 2012, 12:49 AM	#1
Richard Cavell Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Ipswich, Queensland, Australia Posts: 102	Are editing peripherals any good? Hi. I'm editing using Adobe Premiere Pro. I have a nice mouse with 5 programmable buttons. Has anyone tried using those jog/shuttle controllers, or anything else that's designed specifically for use with video editing? Richard

June 5th, 2012, 07:36 AM	#2
Robert Turchick Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Mesa, AZ Posts: 1,389	Re: Are editing peripherals any good? I have a Contour Shuttle collecting dust somewhere. Many years ago it eased the transition from tape based editing to FCP. I got so fast with keyboard commands that it became a hindrance. Now that I'm on PP CS6, the assignable keyboard commands are fantastic and it's gotten me comfy with the transition from FCP. I don't think I'd use the Shuttle ever again. __________________ The older I get, the better I was!

June 5th, 2012, 01:28 PM	#3
Bart Walczak Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Warsaw/Poland Posts: 716	Re: Are editing peripherals any good? Actually I use my Contour Shuttle for the smoother and quicker control while browsing material and making selects or rough cuts, but that's all. __________________ Creative Impatience - The Solace of Simple Solutions. A few useful plugins for Adobe users, and my remarks on the tools and the craft in general.

June 5th, 2012, 07:44 PM	#4
Richard Cavell Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Ipswich, Queensland, Australia Posts: 102	Re: Are editing peripherals any good? Robert, When you speak about "the transition from FCP", are you abandoning the FCP ship due to version X? Richard

June 5th, 2012, 10:59 PM	#5
Robert Turchick Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Mesa, AZ Posts: 1,389	Re: Are editing peripherals any good? you are correct sir! Bought FCPX and gave it a fair shake on a few gigs. Just missing too many things that I need. Really liking PP. But I have to keep FCP7 for several clients who like revisiting projects regularly. __________________ The older I get, the better I was!

June 5th, 2012, 11:44 PM	#6
Kevin Currie Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Calgary, Canada Posts: 85	Re: Are editing peripherals any good? I still use my Contour Shuttle too. It comes in very handy. Supposedly they work with lots of programs, not just Adobe and Final Cut, but I haven't tried it for anything other tham PP, AE, and Audition.

June 6th, 2012, 04:43 AM	#7
Vincent Oliver Trustee Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Chislehurst, London Posts: 1,724	Re: Are editing peripherals any good? I too have the Contour shuttle somewhere in a draw, I found keyboard shortcuts quicker to use, besides I hate trailing cables on my desktop. I also have the new Wacom Intuos 5 tablet, this should be easier to use with PP CS6, however, in Windows 7 there is an annoying mouse cursor highlight every time you click and I can't make it go away, despite several suggestions from various internet sites. Once I have got rid of this cursor highlight circle then I will use the tablet for editing. One of the most useful features is that you can use your fingers to navigate and zoom just like a touch pad or iPad. __________________ Eyes are a deaf man’s ears. Ears are a blind man’s eyes

June 6th, 2012, 04:53 AM	#8
Kawika Ohumukini Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 185	Re: Are editing peripherals any good? I use my shuttlepro v2 all the time in lots of programs. You can set it up for any program. It comes in handy when I only need a few functions to support a particular workflow. I record on a Canon XA10 and since it has a big memory and battery life, at events I just leave the camera running all the time. So when I get back to PP, I need to go through the timeline and chop it up into segments. This is where play, fast play, jog, razor, zoom in/out (I use the shuttle wheel) are my first edits. Then when I bring the segments together I'm deleting blank spaces, sliding, doing rolling edits, adding effects and editing the effects control. All of which are right on the shuttle so I have my left hand on the shuttle and my right on my trackball. I only touch the keyboard when I'm entering text. I haven't set it up for Speedgrade yet but I'm sure I will. In Photoshop (where I use my Intuos 4 pen in my right hand) and Lightroom I do a specific workflow for portraits and the shuttle is setup to support the workflow by pressing buttons left-right. I also use it in After Effects, Illustrator, Excel and Word. This is nice because many of these programs have keyboard combination sequences like Shift-1 in Lightroom to rate an image/video a 1 star then move to the next image (I use the 5 buttons as 1-3 stars then green and red labels for ready to upload and to delete respectively). I use a single button on the shuttle for this which for me reduces fatigue when I go through hundreds of images. Same thing, I never need to touch the keyboard except for text and quick entering values which is rare. If there was a shuttlepro control to manage the crop tool it would be the ideal device. It's nice because you can assign presets to applications and it comes with a ton of existing presets based on specific versions of the application. For $80 it's worth a shot. GL

June 9th, 2012, 10:36 PM	#9
Steve Kalle Trustee Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 1,554	Re: Are editing peripherals any good? For certain tasks and programs, my LARGE Intuous4 tablet is amazing. My business partner was amazed at how fast I was the first time he watched me edit in PPro and Photoshop. I was editing on his new iMac and I was performing functions with the pen so fast that his iMac couldn't keep up. However, my 2 very fast PCs never have an issue keeping up. I also use the Kensington Mighty Mouse ($100) on every computer I own and when I must work on other PCs/Macs, I always bring one of my Mighty Mouses because nothing else allows as quick of mouse movement with almost ZERO strain on my wrist and hand. I actually bought both the mouse and tablet due to carpel tunnel and I have never had a recurrence of CTS. One thing I have seen quite often in many medium to large post houses is the Intuos tablet whether its an editing suite or a Smoke/Flame suite. For me, I greatly value speed and efficiency when working (which is why I never ever liked FCP and transcoding everything). Why should I spend 9 hours editing when the Mighty Mouse & Intuous4 tablet allow me to cut that time by 45-60 minutes? In addition, I also have a backlit keyboard that is smaller than normal in order to minimize the total footprint of my mouse, tablet & keyboard. My only gripe with the tablet is I wish that I bought the Medium size which works better with monitors 24" and under. If I had a 27" or 30" monitor with pixels of 2560 wide, then the Large or Xtra Large work better.