New Capture One 9

<p>One of the other raw editing software titles, that lives in Lightroom's shadow, is Phase One CaptureOne. Coverage of this tool and news on it seems rather non-existing on this site. Now, I'm just a pleased user of this software - not connected to the company nor sponsored by them. I'd just like to correct the ommission and give it some 15 minutes of fame. The news is, last week they released a new version of their software.<br /> Here's the marketing fluff: http://www.phaseone.com/en/Products/Software/Capture-One-Pro/Highlights.aspx.<br /> _____<br /> Some (personal) impressions as I've been using the software now since the day it has been released. The novelties are actually such that I decided to upgrade straight away (which I usually avoid) after testing for a few hours.<br /> For me, the major fix is the keywording. Finally it's intuitive and simple. It worked in version 8, but it wasn't intuitive. Now, it's closer to what Lightroom can do, though arguably LR is still the better tool as far as catalogs are concerned. Still, it's now usable and on a whole, the catalog seems faster, which is welcome.<br /> The second item that is really nice is the ability to make a mask directly from the colour editor, based on the selected colour range. This works much like the U-Point technology of the Viveza plug-in (or CaptureNX2, the old Nikon software). The really nice touch is that it also works with the skin tone selector - a super simple way to select only skin (for smoothing/seperate colour balancing).<br /> The improvements in the contrast and brightness handling are subtle, but work better. The seperate Luma-curve (which effects luminosity without changing saturation) is in my view really useful. I always felt the colour editing tools in C1 were pretty magnificent, and this version just enhances their usefulness. B&W conversions are not the strongest part, in my view, and can take some work; unfortunately no updates in this area.</p>

<p>For those who are undecided on their raw workflow tool(s), and or curious for alternatives to Lightroom, I think spending some time on CaptureOne is worth it. I'm not claiming it is better than Lightroom, though in terms of features and abilities it's certainly not the lesser tool. The results it can pull out of files (also older cameras) are quite stunning. But I know, preference for software, the way it looks and works as well as the results and what makes a good conversion, is quite personal, so I won't argue about better/worse/best. I'm just glad I've got the choice. And well, a choice worth mentioning. I think.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Coverage of this tool and news on it seems rather non-existing on this site</p>

</blockquote>

<p>There's a dedicated forum for C1 on Luminous Landscape which gets a lot of traffic FWIW.</p>

<p>I know, and in case of need of information on the tool, I frequently end up there. I'm not saying this tool needs a dedicated area here, or something like it. Just some coverage - reposting the press release (as is being done for Adobe products, but not for any other software producer - look <a href="/photography-news-forum/">here</a>, there is effecively one software vendor mentioned). That's all. Nothing against Adobe at all, but exposure to the lesser known tools can be beneficial too.</p>

Thanks for you input Wouter. I am a please Lightroom user but was curious about the product. Starting now, I would take a serious look at this product. I like Lightroom, it is very easy to use, but that is not saying everything is intuitive. If it were, there would not be so many videos and books. I may download the program just to take a look.

<p>Thanks for the info. Although a LR user, am always curious about other editors, and how well they function.</p>

<p>As an annoyed Adobe customer (due to trying to force me to subscribe), I am on the lookout for a substitute for all my Adobe SW (CS6 and LR6) because I cannot trust Adobe in future. This one looks pretty good and collegues have recommended it as well. So I will give it a try. Thank you for your info.</p>

Peter W, please report back to the forum after you have used C1 awhile. I would be interested in hearing your findings.

<p>I had a good friend who always like C1 and convinced me to use. I always thougt that Capture 1 had or did have the best processing guts (term of art?) of any of the popular programs. They made many raws from different cameras look a little clearer/sharper than LR or PS and could get a little more exposure latitude over the other editors. However, I never could get used to the workflow and especially the importing and exporting functions. Over time, I felt also that LR and CSS have pretty much caught up in image quality, and I like the LR workflow much better. Its funny, but my buddy could never feel comfortable for a long time in LR either, he didn't like the module structure and he was used to the workflow in C1.<br /> I know that Capture is a really good program though, very high quality raw file interpolation. If one is looking for a good editor, that has a different structured workflow than LR, give it a try.</p>