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Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

oguruma
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

I'm interested in learning about Capture One as an alternative to Lightroom Classic.

After playing the Capture One free trial, I am can say that I like the C1's UI a lot more.

The one major downside I see would likely be the cost, at least if I went with the monthly/annual subscription of C1.

I'd need to purchase at least 2 licenses, and I'd likely still need photoshop for some stuff, which means I'd be keeping my LR CC Photography subscription (and the cost of it) even if I did switch...

Jul 23, 2023 at 01:10 PM

tcphoto
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

I tried to like LR but have been a C1 user for a decade, I have the PS/LR bundle but am happy with C1.

Jul 23, 2023 at 02:56 PM

Abbott Schindl
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

oguruma wrote:
I'm interested in learning about Capture One as an alternative to Lightroom Classic.

After playing the Capture One free trial, I am can say that I like the C1's UI a lot more.

The one major downside I see would likely be the cost, at least if I went with the monthly/annual subscription of C1.

I'd need to purchase at least 2 licenses, and I'd likely still need photoshop for some stuff, which means I'd be keeping my LR CC Photography subscription (and the cost of it) even if I did switch...

Re licenses: Are you aware that a perpetual license allows for 3 simultaneous installations, vs 2 for subscription?

I've been a C1 perpetual license holder since v8; their UI customization options and color management won me over initially, and the program's added enough capabilities that I rarely have to use anything else. I use Affinity Photo (similar to PS) as a complement on the rare occasions when I need it (mostly compositing and complex retouching).

I used to upgrade to each version, which was annual. However at this point the program is pretty complete for me (I'm on v22, aka 15) and I've skipped the 23 versions. That's one thing to think about: do you really need the latest release? If not, then a perpetual license that you upgrade every couple of years may be the way to go; it's what I'm doing now. At this point, barring significant feature additions/refinements, the main reasons I'd have for upgrading are that I get a new camera that my current version doesn't support, or I upgrade my OS to one that the C1 version I have won't work with.

Depending on what you do, you might trial Affinity Photo. Their trial period is pretty short, but between that and watching some of their tutorials (Affinity Revolution has some great ones as well), you should be able to get an idea of whether AP could replace PS for you. AP's a perpetual license with a lot of flexibility on how many and what kinds of platforms you can install a license on.

An important consideration re subscriptions: with Adobe, you still have access to viewing and printing images in your LR catalog; you just lose the ability to edit. With C1, everything dies when the subscription expires. The good news is that C1's current policy is that after you've subscribed for 5 years, they give you a perpetual license for free.

Jul 23, 2023 at 03:26 PM

oguruma
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

Abbott Schindl wrote:
Re licenses: Are you aware that a perpetual license allows for 3 simultaneous installations, vs 2 for subscription?

I've been a C1 perpetual license holder since v8; their UI customization options and color management won me over initially, and the program's added enough capabilities that I rarely have to use anything else. I use Affinity Photo (similar to PS) as a complement on the rare occasions when I need it (mostly compositing and complex retouching).

I used to upgrade to each version, which was annual. However at this point the program is pretty complete for me (I'm on v22, aka 15)...Show more →

So with a perpetual license, I can install C1 on 3 devices and use it simultaneously on all 3? Or does it work like LR/PS CC where you have to "deactivate" one of them?

Jul 24, 2023 at 10:48 AM

Abbott Schindl
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

oguruma wrote:
So with a perpetual license, I can install C1 on 3 devices and use it simultaneously on all 3? Or does it work like LR/PS CC where you have to "deactivate" one of them?

3 concurrent devices. I have C1 installed on a MacBook Pro and 2 Mac Pros, and I've launched it simultaneously on 2 of the three at times (usually I'm on the MBP or a MP).

The license is for a single user, which I am. Also, it covers Mac/Windows, but not their newer iPad/iPhone apps (those are subscription only).

Have a look at their website; it's all described there.

Jul 25, 2023 at 09:09 AM

jwpstl
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

3 activations but only 2 concurrent:

"A single-user license is for one individual to install and use only. The single-user license may be used on two computers at a time..."

Jul 25, 2023 at 10:23 AM

Abbott Schindl
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

Good clarification. I've never tried running C1 concurrently on my 3 activated machines; usually only need it on 1-2 of them.

Jul 25, 2023 at 10:45 AM

bjhurley
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

I switched three or four years ago mainly because in more than 20 years of using Adobe products I never once had a satisfactory customer experience and didn't want to give them any more of my business. It had nothing to do with subscriptions; I subscribe to a lot of software and generally support that business model.

I'm pretty happy with C1 as it meets my needs although sometimes I look longingly at some of the features in Lightroom and Photoshop. If Affinity ever comes out with a DAM (digital asset management) add-on to Affinity Photo, I'd strongly consider it. That's the main thing missing from the Affinity suite; Affinity Photo is a reasonably good alternative to Photoshop but not Lightroom.

Jul 25, 2023 at 12:38 PM

leethecam
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

jwpstl wrote:
3 activations but only 2 concurrent:

"A single-user license is for one individual to install and use only. The single-user license may be used on two computers at a time..."

Now I'll add that I haven't updated for quite a while - BUT...

When I signed up for C-1 it was quite some years back. I can have C-1 open on 3 computers simultaneously. I'd heard that they'd changed licencing so that only 2 computers could be used, so I emailed them to ask about it.

They said that as I'd started with a contract that said I could have 3 simultaneous computers, that they would honour that as and when I ever upgrade.

Time will tell to see if they are true to their word.

(Note: For me, 3 computers is very useful. I have my main office system but I use a laptop for location tethered shooting, and I always bring a backup laptop. So if I need to use the backup, I can just open it up and start without needing to either fart around changing authorisations - and I may not have decent internet access, OR remember to change permissions when I leave for a shoot.)

Jul 25, 2023 at 02:46 PM

Gregory Edge
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

I tried Lightroom years ago alongside Aperture. I hated the user interface on Lightroom and could not get used to it so I settled on Aperture.

Then Apple abandoned Aperture and I was again looking for a solution. I went to Lightroom as they were the big kahuna. Again I could not get used to the interface. I tried C1 and found it much easier and intuitive. The catalog features and speed was not terrific but I put up with it because I liked the interface and the customization I could do to the layout.

Over time Capture One has gotten faster. Probably both software and hardware had something to do with it. I am running it on a Mac mini M1 with 16gb of RAM. Not an especially fancy computer and it runs fine.

I only shoot for my enjoyment and I am not into post processing. I try to get what I want in the camera. I mostly crop, keyword and tweak exposure. I do touch up blemishes and things like that but I don't come close to using all the features.

I wished someone would have cloned Aperture or Apple would have turned it into Photos.

Jul 25, 2023 at 06:31 PM

oguruma
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

jwpstl wrote:
3 activations but only 2 concurrent:

"A single-user license is for one individual to install and use only. The single-user license may be used on two computers at a time..."

Does Capture One verify the number of activations via the internet every time you open the application the way Lightroom CC does?

I remember a few years back I was on a 10+ hour flight to Europe. I brought my laptop so I could do some editing on the plane, and realized I wouldn't be able to launch LR because I couldn't deactivate the other machines without an internet connection.

Jul 27, 2023 at 11:40 AM

leftymgp
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

I've been using Capture One since the beginning of the year. I'd been using a very old version of LR and was content with it. However, after purchasing a new camera, I needed something that could read in its raw files.

I did like LR, but I also don't like the software subscription model they enforce on people these days. If something works for me, I'm happy to use it for 5-10 years.

I tried quite a few of the raw capable photo editing apps out there. It came down to DxO and C1. I really wanted to like DxO more, but I found that I could extract better results in less time with Capture One.

Aug 06, 2023 at 05:45 PM

Newenglandrocks
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

Abbott Schindl wrote:
Re licenses: Are you aware that a perpetual license allows for 3 simultaneous installations, vs 2 for subscription?

I've been a C1 perpetual license holder since v8; their UI customization options and color management won me over initially, and the program's added enough capabilities that I rarely have to use anything else. I use Affinity Photo (similar to PS) as a complement on the rare occasions when I need it (mostly compositing and complex retouching).

I used to upgrade to each version, which was annual. However at this point the program is pretty complete for me (I'm on v22, aka 15)...Show more →

This is so well written and also perfectly describes my experience and recommendation. Thank for the excellent write up and saving me the effort of writing it myself!

Aug 06, 2023 at 06:35 PM

EB-1
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

leftymgp wrote:
I've been using Capture One since the beginning of the year. I'd been using a very old version of LR and was content with it. However, after purchasing a new camera, I needed something that could read in its raw files.

I did like LR, but I also don't like the software subscription model they enforce on people these days. If something works for me, I'm happy to use it for 5-10 years.

I tried quite a few of the raw capable photo editing apps out there. It came down to DxO and C1. I really wanted to like DxO more, but...Show more →

Does C1 have better NR than the DXO DeepPrime and DeepPrime XD? The Abode workflow is terrrible for me, but DXO is just OK other than the NR that I need for the super-noisy a7RIV and a7RV.

EBH

Aug 06, 2023 at 09:35 PM

ruthenium
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

EB-1 wrote:
Does C1 have better NR than the DXO DeepPrime and DeepPrime XD? The Abode workflow is terrrible for me, but DXO is just OK other than the NR that I need for the super-noisy a7RIV and a7RV.

EBH

When dealing with "super-noisy" images, the approach that works for me is to apply DeepPRIME XD, export the image(s) as TIF, then feed the TIF to Topaz Photo AI, denoise there and produce the final JPG. The product JPGs are 100% noise-free and often display some added fine detail recovered (or invented?) during the processing in Topaz. This approach works well on everything except human faces. The latter typically suffer irreparably at high ISO.

Aug 06, 2023 at 11:10 PM

myotis
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

EB-1 wrote:
Does C1 have better NR than the DXO DeepPrime and DeepPrime XD? The Abode workflow is terrrible for me, but DXO is just OK other than the NR that I need for the super-noisy a7RIV and a7RV.

EBH

For high ISOs the NR in C1 is no where near DXO.

I round trip from C1 to DXO PL6 as a first stage in processing. The linear DNG from DXO appears to be identical to the original raw file in C1 (except for the lack of noise and slightly better lens correction and using the linear curve in C1). This gives me the noise and lens correction benefits of DXO plus the colour and workflow benefits of C1.

Up to about 5000 ISO with a lot of work e.g. selective noise reduction and sharpening, I can get decent enough results from C1 on it's own, but it's so much easier and consistent with DXO. I think the noise reduction in C1 is probably a bit better than the old noise reduction in LR, but no where close to the new adobe AI noise reduction. I still find DXO better than the Adobe AI option.

I only use low levels of noise reduction in DXO (maximum of about 20%) low levels of sharpening or none at all and I have the DPXD model set at minus 20. I then finalise both noise and sharpening in C1. I might also round trip to Photoshop and use Topaz in layer for some additional tweaking, but normally if I'm only using PS anyway or/and I feel the subject movement tools in Topaz might be useful.

This approach is evolving, but I find that by splitting these things between the programs helps avoid artefacts, over sharpening and excessive noise reduction.

I've also found that DXO works better for me than the new Adobe AI noise feature.

However, I have learnt that a) everyone has different ideas on what is an acceptable balance between noise and detail, b) the AI denoise programs seem very image and sensor dependant. The program that gives the "best" result with one file, might not be the one that gives the best with another, and c) there is absolutely no point in making comparisons using a programs default settings.

Having said that I'm pretty confident that if you a have a noise "problem" C1 isn't going to compete with DXO. At least not at the moment.

Aug 07, 2023 at 05:58 AM

bemei
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

In our studio we are using C1 Subscription (single license) concurrently on 3 machines without any problems and have been doing so for the past 1.5 years.

Aug 07, 2023 at 07:54 AM

leftymgp
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

EB-1 wrote:
Does C1 have better NR than the DXO DeepPrime and DeepPrime XD? The Abode workflow is terrrible for me, but DXO is just OK other than the NR that I need for the super-noisy a7RIV and a7RV.

EBH

The noise reduction in C1 doesn't seem particularly advanced. It's effective, but I definitely wouldn't say it's impressed me. That said, I didn't really find the NR in DxO to be all that game changing, maybe my expectations were overly inflated.

In the end I'm happy with the noise reduction in C1, but I'm also not a perfectionist from a NR point of view.

Aug 09, 2023 at 08:55 PM

tommmi
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

I used Lightroom for years and really loved the whole workflow from photo import, organizing, adjusting, etc. to final photo jpg export, but after Adobe decided to drop the perpetual licensing schema, I was really dissatisfied with the annual subscription plan, where you had only a short time window to cancel your order for next year and you had to buy a whole year at a time. Another thing that bugged me was that it was a "photographer bundle" with Photoshop, as I only needed and used Lightroom.

Then I discovered Capture One and the quality and detail of final exported JPG's stunned me. They were like decade ahead of Lightroom JPG's. Especially that time when I was using X-Trans sensor Fuji bodies. I jumped to Capture One train while they still had the perpetual licenses, but nowadays they have moved to the same annual subscription plans as Adobe. One thing I didn't like with Capture One was the library features and organizing photos. I was hitting the brick wall again when upgrading my camera bodies which my old Capture One version did not support and was forced to either stop using it or subscribe for annual plan (or move back to Lightroom, but that subscription too).

I was forced to look for other photo developing software and I tried a bunch. One stood over and shined over there others. I had the same kind of "Capture One" enlightenment when finding out about Iridient Developer, a simple looking yet feature-rich photo developing software from a small company. The demo version has all the features and you can use the software like you've purchased it, except when exporting the final JPG, it adds a watermark to the photo. The quality, the detail, the overall look of the files it produces excels CO JPG's like night and day - just like CO back then swept the floor with LR files - so it was no brainer to me to buy the license. Only problem was that it is "just" the developer, and I also need a software to organize photos. At the moment, I'm using freeware XnView, which I use for importing new photos and then organizing them. You can easily launch Iridient from the XnView and my workflow is pretty smooth with these two applications.

There's no looking back to any subscription plans. Some parts of the workflow, Lightroom and Capture One does better than my current combo, but the final photo exports are so much better with Iridient that I can happily live with the minor limitations of XnView and Iridient.

Aug 16, 2023 at 01:58 AM

leethecam
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Those that switched from LR to Capture One, why did you switch?

Capture One still does perpetual licences. They made a pig's ear of it when they marketed the subscription model and it got everyone confused (including me).

But the perpetual option is still very much there.

One caveat though... There are no incremental, discounted upgrades on the perpetual licence. You buy it and it is what it is. If you want to upgrade at any point then it's a brand new perpetual licence at full price. But that suits me as I tend to upgrade only to cater for a newer camera.

Aug 16, 2023 at 05:26 AM

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