Is Capture One worth having?

[rogerxnz]

I use Leaf Capture mainly for adjusting the develop curve and sharpening. Then I go into ACR for more adjustments including chromatic aberation and I finish in Photoshop. I have an Aptus 75 which I use with Hasselblad 500-series bodies including a Flexbody.

I see that Capture One 6 is being offered for 40% off (ends 1 July).

Would getting Capture One, be worth having?

Would it improve or shorten my workflow?

What are the main benefits or additional features I would get from having Capture One?

TIA
Rogerxnz

[MrSmith]

the quality of the files (canon/nikon/phase/leaf) from c1 is very good, it's quite a powerful tool with the colour editor and variants. personally i wouldn't use anything else, i find it easy to tag/rate/sort images and then make final adjustments. i can see why some people who shoot high volume use lightroom for the library based archive but that's of no use to me. the tethering to canon is very stable too.

[dizzyg44]

I liked running LC in the background with LR set to auto import for tethering until I tried C1 Pro, much better experience and light years better file output....

My only real gripes (minor) is that C1 pro doesn't yet support my X Pro 1 and LR is much better for upload management to various websites/social media but that's to be expected since C1 pro isn't really meant to be a DAM.

Lately, for my other cameras I use C1 Pro for all my raw developing and final output, then import the final files in their current location in LR for upload management.  If C1 pro could do this or Media pro was stable I'd drop LR in a heartbeat!

[Kirk Gittings]

Has anyone tested a thorough side-by-side comparison between actual files in current versions of LR and C1?

[Doug Peterson]

You should use the free trial of capture one to decide for yourself.

Three (of many) areas to compare, based on your use description, would be:
- using the LCC function to remove dust
- the speed, flexibility and resulting quality of perspective adjustments
- the ease and resulting quality of the chromatic abberation and purple fringing tool

The color editor is also really powerful but the user interface for it is not very intuitive. I'd suggest you do an initial comparison on your own and if you find it worth the money, and more importantly worth the time/effort it will take you to get fully used to a new workflow then I'd add the cost of an online class or two to the software to make sure you get the most out of it:
https://digitaltransitions.com/event/training

[Kirk Gittings]

Thanks I'll give it a try.

[Pingang]

It's been there for so long, and in particular I use Phase backs, Canon & Nikon DLSR and Sony NEX-7 that can all managed within one software for color matching is nice.  To a point, becasue it works, you just keep using it rather than trying around.  It may not do all things best, but overall I certainly think it is worth having. At least for me.

Pingang

I use Leaf Capture mainly for adjusting the develop curve and sharpening. Then I go into ACR for more adjustments including chromatic aberation and I finish in Photoshop. I have an Aptus 75 which I use with Hasselblad 500-series bodies including a Flexbody.

I see that Capture One 6 is being offered for 40% off (ends 1 July).

Would getting Capture One, be worth having?

Would it improve or shorten my workflow?

What are the main benefits or additional features I would get from having Capture One?

TIA
Rogerxnz

[sbernthal]

C1 has two important advantages over LR:

- C1 keeps the adjustments in the images folder - LR keeps them in its own "archives" which I find very inconvenient.
  With C1 your adjustments are kept forever as long as you keep the raw files.

- The levels adjustment is much more convenient in C1.

For Leaf files, C1 gives better results than LR.


The default parameters in LC give better results than the default parameters of C1, but if you adjust them on C1, you will get the same result as LC.

[photo570]

Hi Roger,

I am surprised no one has mentioned it yet, but if you have a leaf back of the right model, then C1 is free. Download it from the website and in the registration window you choose DB instead of trial, and it will develop your Leaf files, and shoot tethered, the camera is the dongle. I am pretty sure the Aptus 75 qualifies, but I am sure Yaya will be able to confirm this either way.

Cheers,
Jason.

[Steve Hendrix]

Hi Roger,

I am surprised no one has mentioned it yet, but if you have a leaf back of the right model, then C1 is free. Download it from the website and in the registration window you choose DB instead of trial, and it will develop your Leaf files, and shoot tethered, the camera is the dongle. I am pretty sure the Aptus 75 qualifies, but I am sure Yaya will be able to confirm this either way.

Cheers,
Jason.

An Aptus 75 (or 75-S) would need Capture One Pro. Any Leaf Aptus-II will qualify for the free DB version. For that matter, any of the Aptus-II versions also will be able to utilize Live View in Capture One for free without the dreaded $1,600 USB dongle of the past. And as long as you have Capture One Pro, this goes for any Aptus as well.

Steve Hendrix

[HarperPhotos]

Hello,

I’m trying out Phase Capture One pro and I can connect my Mamiya RZ ProII with my Leaf Aptus 75 and it works fine as well as the live video using my dongle.

But I connect my Mamiya 645AFDII camera with the Leaf Aptus75 but when I push the shutter button inside the viewer of the camera if comes up with “No DB”

Any ideas please.

Cheers

Simon

[HarperPhotos]

Hello,

Got it working. Learning new software is giving me brain ache.

Cheers

Simon

[Ben Rubinstein]

Capture One takes some getting used to, it's got its own way of doing things, worth watching the phase one youtube videos about C1 to get a good idea, will save a lot of time messing about with it.