Railfan Technology > Capture One software for photo editing and noise reduction ??

Has anyone out there tried Capture One from Denmark - photo editing package I just found out about?  The webpage is very enthusiasticallly written, of course; would like to hear from anyone with real-world experience with this product.

Thanks in advance,
HRGXguy.

I've been using Capture One on a Mac since January of 2020.

It's a solid performer, relatively uncomplicated to use, and I love it, really. That's not to say it's perfect, but it suits my needs well.

I had been an Apple Aperture user, but I was left searching for something new when Cupertino got out of the pro photo software business. After some searching, I settled on Capture One. I'm not a big fan of Lightroom, or Adobe in general.

I use Capture One in the Catalog mode, where the raw files are stored in a library file. Adding photos is simple, and allows for saving a backup copy of each file to a backup drive, which I do.

You can organize files in the catalog in whatever way you wish. I create an album for each calendar day that I took pictures. There are a ton of options for file sorting, and searching, too

Users can customize the tools and so forth to suit their needs. That works pretty well.

Tweaking the levels, highlights, saturation, and so forth is simple, as is exporting. The panorama stitch function added a couple of years ago works great.

Capture One has a lot of functions I don't use.......like camera tethering for studio work. It's also big on using "styles," of which there are many. They're basically a bunch of presets. I don't find them useful. I prefer to adjust photos manually. Capture One is relentless trying to sell users more styles.

Over the years they've changed their pricing model a few times. Used to be buy and own, use until whenever, with updates ending after a new version comes out. I finally bought into their subscription model — pay an annual fee of somewhere shy of $200, and always get the new version and updates. Not my preferred method, but I do it. That includes three licenses, which is handy for me. I run it on two desktops, and one laptop.

I probably don't take full advantage of the editing tools. Or maybe I need to spend more time learning some of them. I haven't had a big need.

I have a friend who was likewise looking for something after Aperture, and I recommended Capture One. He found it far too complicated for his abilities. Your mileage may vary.

As for library size, I typically let my Capture One libraries reach about 500gb in size before starting a new one. Your situation may vary depending on the computing power and storage you have available.

I have previous libraries on a disk, and it's simple to switch to an old one if you need something.

One feature I used today for the first time was the file renaming feature. I wasn't sure how it would work, but it worked perfectly.

Long story short, last time my camera rolled over 9999 I assigned a new three-letter prefix to the next rotation. Being the idiot I am, I was 4,000 files into the new sequence before I realized I used the wrong letter combination, which would have created a duplicate file nightmare. (I should have used DD6, but instead picked D6D, which I had already used.)

I was able to easily rename the 4,000 files already imported into Capture One. (I renamed the files in the backup drive, too, but that didn't involve Capture One.)

I think they offer a 30-day free trial. If you haven't already done so, take it for a test drive.

I use the Mac version. I can't speak to the Windows version.

 

C1 is the standard in my corner of the commercial photography world. If you show up on a set with something else you are likely to be sent home.

Capture One has a lot of feature parity with Lightroom these days. Most of the adjustments available in one application can be done in the other. They differ in how they refer to those adjustments, but if you put in the time to learn a new interface I doubt you will feel limited by the tools available.

C1 has become a standard in the commercial world for its excellent suite of tethered capture tools. Whether those tools have any value to you will depend on what kinds of work you do. But if you ever find yourself in need of them, they are the best in the business.

Since I switched from Lightroom I have adopted the Capture One method of working in sessions. With sessions each photo shoot is compartmentalized and all of the images, metadata, edits are housed within the session. C1 does offer the option to work in a catalog a la Lightroom if you prefer that method of organizing.

Happy to answer further questions if you have them.

Posted from iPhone

Ben Kuhns
Salt Lake City, UT
Ben Kuhns dot Com