Third Party Programs for Motion on Stills

Question

Two questions:
Question 1: I am just starting with FCE but have been using Windows editing programs for a long time. I produce a lot of documentary programs that use mostly still photos with the "Ken Burns" effect. Unfortunately, I can't say that I'm especially impressed with the ease and quality with which that effect is accomplished in FCE.
In the past, I have used a stand alone/plug-in program called Moving Picture from Bill Ferster's Stage Tools to do this. Also unfortunately, his plug-in works only with Final Cut, not Express, and his stand-alone Producer application doesn't work with Intel processors on the Mac.
I have also used Imaginate from Canopus, but of course it is Windows only.
Does anybody know of another third party application, plug-in or stand-alone that will accomplish this easily in FCE witihout having to spend a bundle? I'll appreciate any information or suggestions.
Or maybe I'm just being too hard on the FCE program. I'd like to pan, zoom, and rotate, all at once with a GUI if possible. I know I'm asking a lot.
Question 2: If I am using mostly stills, both in the manner above and as stills only, and a very small amount (20%) of video, is it still important to have a separate media drive? I realize it all becomes Quick Time video in the long run, but I'm just wondering. My system drive has 500G with 412G available.
Since I have a Canon GL-1 camera would I have to download all my resources to the external drive before editing, including video and the original stills and graphics that have been processed in Photoshop?
If I need to do this, can somebody suggest a ready-to-go external firewire drive for my 24" iMac that won't break the bank? I'm going to have to buy a Canopus 110 converter also. The longest program I do is about 30 minutes. Thanks again.

Answer 1

Jim,
I have used Photo To Movie, $50 from LQ Graphics <http://lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovie.php> in the past and found it relatively easy to use. The downside is you have to render/export your motion as a file to later import into FCE. Although I've done that, I now find it easier to work completely inside FCE.
If you need to make even the smallest change, it's fairly quick in FCE. But if you have to go back to PTM, you start the process over again with render/export/import.
Also, there is Pan Zoom Pro $50 from Lyric <http://www.lyric.com/fcp-plugins/panzoompro/pzp.htm>. It works as a plug in for FCE. I have it, but have not yet given it a try.
It did take some experimentation to get satisfactory movement in FCE. It does work. I don't have any problems with the quality once the motion is rendered. Here's a link to a short article by Tom Wolsky on motion control in FCE <http://www.fcpbook.com/MotionControl_inFCE.html>
Ross Hunter
Orange, VA