Capture One is a buggy program. It has always been a buggy program. I hate buggy programs, and I hate being interrupted in a shoot because the tech says we have to wait on or reboot C1. For my tastes, it happens way too much to tolerate. But every leading advertising photographer in NYC and L.A. tolerates it, and they've been tolerating it since 1998, when it was called Portrait One. Toleration probably has something to do with Capture One's relationship with the medium format camera community, the software's pioneer tether capability, and the critical acclaim of their RAW processor.
On the other hand, if you even suggest shooting tethered to Lightroom, your $1500-a-day tech guy will look at you with crossed eyes, and you'll notice steam coming out of his ears as he shakes his head screaming, "NO WAY." Either he doesn't have a clue how to run Lightroom (yet, he uses it at home), or he can't believe you even suggested using Lightroom on a "professional" shoot.
It's a bizarre phenomenon. Every million dollar photographer I know is a tool snob yet they tolerate an utterly buggy tool for their million dollar photography campaigns.
Many leading professionals, the serious money makers, swear that the C1 RAW processor is the best. For some, this is the only reason to stay loyal to the program. Pros say they tolerate the bugs because their medium format images jump off the screen and strangle onlookers into viewing ecstasy. And some of C1's tools, like: controlling the camera and lights from the software, Pick Color Correction, Keystone Correction, etc., have grown into truly useful gems, unique enough to keep loyalists devoted.
Some leading tech assistants will admit privately that Lightroom has improved since its debut in 2006. But in the same breath they will complain that Adobe did not include tether capability from day one, and accuse Adobe of abandoning the pro community by turning to the mass market, the i-Phone/Flickr/Facebook photo takers, to sustain and finance their future. Nobody wants to see Adobe die but pros have touchy egos.
Pros in advertising want their own tools. This is no secret and it's always been this way. They don't want to be seen in important settings using something that every other Tom, Dick, and Sally are using, no matter how great it is. Some say Adobe made a big mistake by not creating two Lightroom programs, one for professional tethered users and one for everyone else.
What does the future hold? If the economy improves and the medium format camera industry grows, Capture One could find funding for better engineers. There isn't much money in serving the software needs of the professional community but at least Capture One continues to try.
