Capture one vs lightroom

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Sanjazzy

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Sanjay
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Hi im relatively new to posting on here. Apologies if this has already been discussed. I am currently using lightroom classic with annual subscription. I have heard good things about the raw conversion on capture one being alot better does anyone have any experience of both. I use Fuji system so the one off proce seems attractive but not sure how often i would need to upgrade capture one if I jump ship

Thanks in advance
 
FYI - I recently jumped ship from LR to C1. I think, especially with the fuji RAW files c1 is a better processor and `I've yet to fin anything LR can do c1 can't
 
Capture one is more versatile than lightroom because you can work with layers, it does also render better results with the Fuji files than lightroom. Why don't you download the 30 day free trial and see what you think .
 
Although I still tend to use LR because it's what I've come to know, Capture One is far better and faster (especially tethering). (y)

I just need to practice more with it and stop using LR until I've mastered it. :whistle:
 
Period of upgrade is to a large extent your preference. You might be forced into it - with any non-subscription program - when (a) you buy a camera that's newer than the program version you have, or (b) less often, that the app version you have stops playing ball with a later OS version that you come to have.

Sounds as if you could get C1 for Fuji only, which moderates the price?
 
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droj said:
Period of upgrade is to a large extent your preference. You might be forced into it - with any non-subscription program - when (a) you buy a camera that's newer than the program version you have, or (b) less often, that the app version you have stops playing ball with a later OS version that you come to have.
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Typically the software company releases updates for quite some time after purchase for newer cameras and OS compatibility can buy you years.

I had Aperture 3 on my Mac since 2012. Latterly I didn't use it so much but it worked with my 645z I bought in 2021 and D810's. For £60 I got 9 years out of it. Seems alright. If you delved into it - it had processing features that DXO doesn't have, or you have to pay extra to have - but it's RAW engine was poor.

DXO was £130 and if it gives over 3 years service it's worked out comfortably cheaper than LR - but I envisage using the 645z for at least 5 years so I can run it for that time without any updates and still way cheaper than LR - and actually processes better than LR for this camera.
 
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Wandering star said:
Capture one is more versatile than lightroom because you can work with layers, it does also render better results with the Fuji files than lightroom. Why don't you download the 30 day free trial and see what you think .
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Thanks for your advice , yeah thats what Ive done just downloaded to see, with all the positive response from the forum i'll persevere with it and try and avoid switching back straight away
 
droj said:
Period of upgrade is to a large extent your preference. You might be forced into it - with any non-subscription program - when (a) you buy a camera that's newer than the program version you have, or (b) less often, that the app version you have stops playing ball with a later OS version that you come to have.

Sounds as if you could get C1 for Fuji only, which moderates the price?
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Yeah so Ive downloaded the trial, if it goes well will get the fuji one , ive still got the xt2 as my main camera and only see myslef upgrading to xt4 in the near future so hopfully the program should hold up. I was mainly worried if i buy the program it would stop playing ball and force me to upgrade to the new version.
 
Sanjazzy said:
Yeah so Ive downloaded the trial, if it goes well will get the fuji one , ive still got the xt2 as my main camera and only see myslef upgrading to xt4 in the near future so hopfully the program should hold up. I was mainly worried if i buy the program it would stop playing ball and force me to upgrade to the new version.
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It will - they release updates for newer camera bodies - from feedback from workshop clients who I've steered away from LR to C1pro who use Fuji they've cited cleaner shadows, crisper colour rendering and how nicely it works with their cameras. The same will probably apply to GFX camera's should you decide to go down that route.

I liked it when I had - it had a lot of quirks and complexities but as a tool it was very powerful. Only switched to DXO because of the 645z not being compatible with C1 - as it is a direct competitor to the now obsolete Phase One IQ50 digital back which the 645z shares it's sensor. In saying that, I am actually in love with DXO PL4. It just seems as if it was made for me in mind.

C1 pro usually release an update every 1-2 years - but you don't have to take it. A lot do - but you don't actually have to.

It is also a multi threaded application so if you have a PC with a high core/thread count (mine is 32c/64t) and a powerful GPU it can fully utilise this. LR fills RAM, but rarely takes anything more than 8c - and uses very little GPU. If you have a powerful machine, best use a package that takes advantage of that.
 
I have dabbled with C1, like @Sky above, I am familiar with LR and thus, default to LR. However, if I committed to working with C1, I think I may make the switch. That said, the argument for LR is the huge wealth of profiles, YouTube resources and... results that are excellent. What's difficult for me is that I have (and continue) to be happy with the images LR has delivered and I'm certain my composition / technique would add more to my photography than the raw processor....
 
Not sure if you know about this aready, but there's a free Express version of Capture One for Fuji, which has fewer features (you'd need something else for local edits) but is still a capable raw processor:
www.captureone.com

GET THREE MONTHS OF ALL IN ONE FOR FREE

Exclusive Capture One x Fujifilm trial . All in One means you get Capture One on your computer, iPhone, and iPad plus our collaboration tool Live Unlimited, priority support from our Customer Support, and all future updates included.
www.captureone.com www.captureone.com
It's the same download as the time-limited trial of the full version you already have, but you get a different licence code to enter during installation so that it doesn't expire, but fewer features are available.
 
SFTPhotography said:
It will - they release updates for newer camera bodies - from feedback from workshop clients who I've steered away from LR to C1pro who use Fuji they've cited cleaner shadows, crisper colour rendering and how nicely it works with their cameras. The same will probably apply to GFX camera's should you decide to go down that route.

I liked it when I had - it had a lot of quirks and complexities but as a tool it was very powerful. Only switched to DXO because of the 645z not being compatible with C1 - as it is a direct competitor to the now obsolete Phase One IQ50 digital back which the 645z shares it's sensor. In saying that, I am actually in love with DXO PL4. It just seems as if it was made for me in mind.

C1 pro usually release an update every 1-2 years - but you don't have to take it. A lot do - but you don't actually have to.

It is also a multi threaded application so if you have a PC with a high core/thread count (mine is 32c/64t) and a powerful GPU it can fully utilise this. LR fills RAM, but rarely takes anything more than 8c - and uses very little GPU. If you have a powerful machine, best use a package that takes advantage of that.
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Thank you so much, yeah recently build pc with multicore so ill give it a good go to try and move away from lightroom, at the end of the im all using these programs to get the best possible output :)
 
I use C1 Express for Fuji now and really like it. It has the film sims built in and find it quite easy to use.
 
I've been running a trial using LR6, Photolab4, and C1 21 in parallel. The acid test was some images taken in woodland where the normally excellent auto white balance of the camera had seriously screwed up.

My findings were that with a lot of effort, using global adjustments, I could get results from each of the apps that were pretty similar - but the usage experience was notably different. All this was on an 'elderly' quad core with 20GB of RAM.

I find that the adjustments panel on PL4 remains too narrow even when it's as wide as it can go. This affects the sensitivity of the sliders. Also I was left with the impression that something was going on behind the scenes that resulted in an image that whilst very convincing, was a bit 'over-egged'.

The slickest experience was undoubtedly with C1 - switching image views was very quick, and the controls very smooth.
 
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What is DRM and handling of plugins such as Nik Efex like in C1? Thinking about running LR 6 for historic/catalogue images and possibly swapping to C1 as main editor. Never really felt *completely happy* with dxo stuff, and On1 was always a bit clunky.

Just keeping options open at this stage.
 
What aspects of DRM?

I don't use plugins, but ongoing issues have been reported between Nik apps and C1 (Google or DuckDuckGo are your friends for this ...). By habit I've tended to do mono conversions in PS using adjustment layers including curves, but equally they could be done in your raw processor of choice ...
 
ancient_mariner said:
What is DRM and handling of plugins such as Nik Efex like in C1? Thinking about running LR 6 for historic/catalogue images and possibly swapping to C1 as main editor. Never really felt *completely happy* with dxo stuff, and On1 was always a bit clunky.

Just keeping options open at this stage.
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I'm not sure what DRM is, but with plugins, it depends.

C1 now has a plugin interface, but very few plugins use it. Helicon Focus, and Jpegmini plus some online services are the only ones I am aware of. ON1 say that there Plugins work with C1.

However, for a long time, C1 will run, as a plugin, anything that has a stand alone option. This includes most, probably all, Nik plugins, Topaz etc. DXO apparently broke this with the latest release, but after just saying the "don't support C1" the latest from C1 forums is that a point release of the Nik plugins has fixed this.

C1 has a right click option to "open with" or "edit with" which both open a context sensitive menu, which lists things like Silver Efex pro or other programs on your computer.

If you select Silver Efex pro, from the "edit with" option, C1 creates a TIF/PSD beside the raw (embedding any C1 edits in the TIF/PSD) and then opens the TIF in Silver Efex pro. Any edits you make in Silver Efex are saved in this TIF, which is already "in" C1. When you shut down Silver Efex, you can carry on tweaking the TIF in C1.

I use Photoshop as a "plugin" to C1. The C1 "Edit with" option creates a PSD, which includes any C1 edits to the RAW, and then opens the PSD in Photoshop.

All edits in PS are saved in this PSD which is already in C1, and I can carry on editing the PSD in C1, when I close Photoshop.

If I want to tweak the underlying PSD, I can reopen it in Photoshop using the "open with" (not "edit with") option in C1. In this case the C1 edits to the PSD aren't sent to Photoshop.

As an example of this. I might do some initial editing in C1, then do noise reduction in a layer in Photoshop, and then come back to C1 for further editing. If after editing the PSD in C1 I decide I need to tweak the noise reduction, I can use "Open with" to go back to PS to tweak the noise reduction without affecting any of the C1 edits.

I don't really use Plugins anymore, but those that I do (sharpening and noise) I use via a layer in PS (or Affinity Photo) and round trip from C1 to PS as described above.

I don't want to get into a C1 vs LR argument, but I just drifted away from Plugins when I switched to C1.

This is much easier to do than describe :-(
 
I shoot Fuji and have dabbled with C1, but used Lightroom since v1.

I found that the results from C1 are marginally better than Lightroom, but with 14 years of experience using Lightroom I found it easier to get images I am happy with in Lightroom.

If you are starting from scratch, C1 would probably be my suggestion.
 
Craikeybaby said:
I shoot Fuji and have dabbled with C1, but used Lightroom since v1.

I found that the results from C1 are marginally better than Lightroom, but with 14 years of experience using Lightroom I found it easier to get images I am happy with in Lightroom.

If you are starting from scratch, C1 would probably be my suggestion.
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Exactly the same.
I did Some comprehensive testing a while back on images between the 2, and C1 definitely produced slightly better quality, especially where grass and foliage was involved… but, the workflow for me was so archaic, the difference in quality was negated by the fact I didn’t enjoy using c1 and Lightroom is so much easier.
 
Been using LR since 2013 :p
 
Sanjazzy said:
I am currently using lightroom classic with annual subscription. I have heard good things about the raw conversion on capture one being alot better does anyone have any experience of both. I use Fuji system so the one off proce seems attractive but not sure how often i would need to upgrade capture one if I jump ship
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The C1 upgrade has been annual for several years now, and they announced last year that the upgrade price for 2021 (V22) would be £200. So far C1 hasn't normally back dated things like support for new camera, or bug fixes to earlier releases.

I by far prefer C1 over LR, especially the workflow which I find much more flexible and intuitive than LR, but it's an potentially expensive option. You also may well need a pixel editor as well as C1, I sill have an Adobe subscription so still use Photoshop, but Affinity Photo also works well. C1 for example doesn't do focus stacking or panoramas if that's of interest.

The catalogue is better in LR than C1, but many people find the C1 catalogue perfectly fine.

Overall, I prefer the quality I get from C1 over LR, but not sure about the "lot" better.

I'm certainly not trying to put you off C1, as it's a fantastic program to use, but it does have it's disadvantages.
 
ancient_mariner said:
What is DRM and handling of plugins such as Nik Efex like in C1?
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I think all versions of C1, including the free Express editions, need online activation and so can only be installed as long as the publisher decides to support them. This seems to be almost universal for image editing payware. Affinity is one rare exception, Nikon and Fuji's own packages are others.
 
Just to clarify, I should probably have written DAM - digital assets management - rather than DRM. :rolleyes:
 
FWIW. I purchased a one off license (To own the programme) and get all updates free for the current version...ie C1 21.
With discount about £140.
If in 3 or 4 years it improves dramatically I can spend another £140 (?) and upgrade to a new version.
It suits me but not really for serious photographers. ;)
 
ancient_mariner said:
Just to clarify, I should probably have written DAM - digital assets management - rather than DRM. :rolleyes:
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Ahh, that means more to me.

I find the DAM in C1 rather clunky and use Sessions instead.

C1 offers four ways of managing files.

1. Managed catalogue (as the default in Aperture) where the raw files are imported into the catalogue file.

2. Referenced catalogue as LR does it.

3. Sessions, which combines C1 with the system folders and you get a set of self contained folders of all assets related to a single project. but only the files within the project are catalogued

4. Session as browser, this allows you to use C1 as a browser and metadata+ previews etc are stored in the same folder as the original raw file.

LR comes across as a more robust DAM to me than C1, but I haven't used it for a couple of releases. It gets continuously improved and the changes this week tempt me to try it again. It gets a lot of bad press, but equally some people report being perfectly happy with 100,000 to 450,000 images. Others say it's unusable with 20,000.

I had some odd behaviour that didn't seem to be experienced by others, related to working with files found by a search, where browsing the searched files, seemed to trigger a new search, rather than the found files being stored in memory. Not an issue I had experienced with any other DAM I use. If I was just using the search to find a single specific file to work on, it was fine.

If you have LR, and set C1 up as a browser, you can drag raws from LR to C1 for editing. You can set LR and C1 up to share metadata in XMP sidecar files, and if you save a final file (Jpeg TIFF. PSD) in C1 you can then catalogue it in LR.

There are other options, and nuances to the above, but generally, I think the DAM will be "OK" for most people, but you don't need to use a DAM at all with C1. If you work on "projects" using C1s sessions might be a better option than a DAM based system. I think I would have just lived with the C1 DAM, if I wasn't already familiar with, and owned, several other DAM options.
 
droj.......Sorry I wasn't clear enough ........The programme, Capture One, is as good as any other.....my comment referred to the purchase method.
 
myotis said:
The C1 upgrade has been annual for several years now, and they announced last year that the upgrade price for 2021 (V22) would be £200. So far C1 hasn't normally back dated things like support for new camera, or bug fixes to earlier releases.

I by far prefer C1 over LR, especially the workflow which I find much more flexible and intuitive than LR, but it's an potentially expensive option. You also may well need a pixel editor as well as C1, I sill have an Adobe subscription so still use Photoshop, but Affinity Photo also works well. C1 for example doesn't do focus stacking or panoramas if that's of interest.

The catalogue is better in LR than C1, but many people find the C1 catalogue perfectly fine.

Overall, I prefer the quality I get from C1 over LR, but not sure about the "lot" better.

I'm certainly not trying to put you off C1, as it's a fantastic program to use, but it does have it's disadvantages.
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Thank you, yeah ive like C1 , but its the proce thats putting me off , i was hoping to buy it iut right and be happy with it for atleast 3 years but support and bug foxes is a worry
 
EJB said:
FWIW. I purchased a one off license (To own the programme) and get all updates free for the current version...ie C1 21.
With discount about £140.
If in 3 or 4 years it improves dramatically I can spend another £140 (?) and upgrade to a new version.
It suits me but not really for serious photographers. ;)
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Thats what I was hoping to do, did you come across any issues regarding support so far?
 
Sanjazzy said:
Thank you, yeah ive like C1 , but its the proce thats putting me off , i was hoping to buy it iut right and be happy with it for atleast 3 years but support and bug foxes is a worry
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I am aware of a few people who only upgrade every second year, and I think it depends on how often you change your camera and what new features you want.

Within a version release there are always several point releases that add new features, new camera support and provide bug fixes. For example with version 20 there were nine releases during its 12 month life span, One (or two if you count the initial release) of which brought new features and the rest new camera support, OS support and bug fixes. And there have been some exceptions where they did release a bug fix for an earlier version, because, as I remember, it was a fairly serious bug that should really have been fixed in the earlier version

I've just bitten the bullet and accepted that the annual C1 upgrade and my Adobe sub is just a necessary expense for my enjoyment of photography that I need to budget for (Adobe in September and Capture One in October).

The important thing about C1 is that you can decide whether an upgrade is needed, and just put it off until you feel it's worthwhile. Having said that, the last I saw, the upgrade price increased the further behind you got. Until, eventually you were back paying the full price again. But Capture One have been making a lot of changes in how they do these things, and I don't know what there current policy is.

I'm not overly happy about the annual expense, but just can't bring myself to give up using C1 (or Photoshop), even though I have periods of trying to convince myself I should.
 
myotis said:
I am aware of a few people who only upgrade every second year, and I think it depends on how often you change your camera and what new features you want.

Within a version release there are always several point releases that add new features, new camera support and provide bug fixes. For example with version 20 there were nine releases during its 12 month life span, One (or two if you count the initial release) of which brought new features and the rest new camera support, OS support and bug fixes. And there have been some exceptions where they did release a bug fix for an earlier version, because, as I remember, it was a fairly serious bug that should really have been fixed in the earlier version

I've just bitten the bullet and accepted that the annual C1 upgrade and my Adobe sub is just a necessary expense for my enjoyment of photography that I need to budget for (Adobe in September and Capture One in October).

The important thing about C1 is that you can decide whether an upgrade is needed, and just put it off until you feel it's worthwhile. Having said that, the last I saw, the upgrade price increased the further behind you got. Until, eventually you were back paying the full price again. But Capture One have been making a lot of changes in how they do these things, and I don't know what there current policy is.

I'm not overly happy about the annual expense, but just can't bring myself to give up using C1 (or Photoshop), even though I have periods of trying to convince myself I should.
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Thank you so much, yeah I might bite the bullet too im rocking and xt2 so shouldnt have any support issues for the time being and even then onlu see myself upgrading to xt4 which should be suppprted
 
Sanjazzy said:
Thats what I was hoping to do, did you come across any issues regarding support so far?
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No problem with updates except the latest update has a problem or two so waiting for it to be settled....they have responded to a few posts...which is more than can be said for some companies! ;)....... Capture One Forum.
 
EJB said:
No problem with updates except the latest update has a problem or two so waiting for it to be settled....they have responded to a few posts...which is more than can be said for some companies! ;)....... Capture One Forum.
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Thanks I think ill look into buying it outright rather than yearly , thank you for the link to the capture obe forum
 
Having been a Canon/Lightroom user for many years I recently swapped to the Fujifilm system. I struggled with the LR + Iridient X Transformer solution for processing Fuji files. As a landscape photographer I shoot a lot of foliage and this is the biggest causes of the dreaded worm syndrome and even with X-Transformer or LR's Enhanced Details I was unable to get the sharpening I like without introducing the watercolour effect/worms. So, I tried Capture One Express for Fuji (free) with excellent results.

I'm currently doing the basic post processing in C1 express (applying film simulations and the all important sharpening/noise reduction) and then exporting a TIF along with the original RAW file to LR for final processing (LR/Photoshop) and cataloguing. It's an inelegant solution but in reality it only takes as long as the LR/X Transformer/Enhanced Details process.

The advantages: I can keep the LR cataloguing, don't have to learn a new system, it supports the old Canon files, it's free, I get better results and did I mention it's free?

The disadvantages: TIF files are larger than processed DNG's and it's an inelegant solution.

Overall, C1 Pro is about twice the price of Adobe's photography package as a subscription, C1 for Fuji, although cheaper is limited to Fuji files and unless you bite the bullet and keep both systems, you lose Photoshop. I may in the future convert fully to C1 Pro but that would mean learning to use C1's cataloguing, (which by many people's accounts is not as comprehensive as LR's) and the loss of Photoshop as I can't afford to keep both systems. A difficult decision for sure but I can say that for me, the advantages of using C1 to process Fuji files can't be ignored.
 
MDH6D said:
and the loss of Photoshop as I can't afford to keep both systems. A difficult decision for sure but I can say that for me, the advantages of using C1 to process Fuji files can't be ignored.
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For most people Affinity Photo is a good replacement for Photoshop and it seems to often be on a half price offer at £25.00. I use some Photoshop panels that don't run in Affinity Photo, but apart from that, I would probably be using Affinity Photo.
 
I have tried capture 1, the only thing I did not like was their clarity tool which I use a lot in lightroom. It was enough to make me stick with LR. One one thing that drives me made with LR is I can not assign presets to hot keys.
 
I’m a very messy LR user but I love it, tried Affinity, and others found none compare..better the devil you sort of know! Downloaded the month trial of Capture one and found it very usable but LR and PS are £9.99 per month and Capture one is £24!, no brainier for me.
 
My own preference is probably for Capture One, but many, many years of familiarity with LR result in that being what have ended up using. They're both solid platforms.
 
Ha!! I've been down this tunnel of confusion and have over the past 18 months tried On1 photo raw; DXO; Skylum Luminar: Affinity: and Capture one for fuji and LR photography plan!!! When I was using an Olympus OMD micro four thirds camera I thought DXO was excellent for that system, but I have since changed to Fuji and DXo doesn't support X files. I did not like Skylum Luminar, can't really say why, but I think if I was massively into doing replacement skies etc it is very good, equally ON1 is a complete package, but it had so much I did not use or want and seemed quite a steep learning curve, as does Affinity, which I still have as it seems to do excellent content removal. Since getting a Fuji x camera I bought Capture One for Fuji in the package and do really like how it processes the fuji images, but.... for some reason it does seem to crash out on my MacBook Pro in the middle of editing, not too many times, but enough to be frustrating, and after the last update, it refused to recognise the whereabouts of a previously loaded catalogue on my external hard drive! I did contact their support team but really only got a pointer to a page of their website, which I had already read and the problem was never resolved.

So.... I am back to LR, and although it is a dreaded subscription model, it does offer a complete package, including use on my iPad as needed, therefore I have finally settled with doing most of my work in LR and if needed can edit a file in capture one. I can't tell you how many times I have gone backwards and forwards re this, cancelling the plan and then a few days later re-installing it as I find LR a more intuitive system for me. I am not a pro and don't do massive editing, and am very unlikely to print anything larger than an A3 at most, so the dreaded Fuji/Adobe conundrum is not a massive issue for me. (Additionally I also sometimes take pictures with a Panasonic compact camera and an Olympus Tough, so I have always needed something that could open all three files, which of course the specific Capture One for Fuji cannot.)

What a lengthy response, but it shows the ridiculous time and effort (not to mention pennies) I have spent on this!!!:eek:
 
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