Workflow with Capture One - Topaz - Qimage One

[cortlander]

Greetings:

I am using printing software Qimage One - latest version running on MacBook Pro Max 16 w 64GB.
I have an Epson SureColor P800
I process images from Canon EOS R5 on Capture One latest version.
From there I do noise reduction and/or sharpening in Photo AI.
Next I export to a TIFF file usually with profile set to Prophoto.
Then I open the photo in Topaz Gigapixel and size it to a resolution of 720 ppi
before opening it in Qimage One, using an ICC profile to match the paper.

The part that I am confused is:
1. When exporting from Capture One to a TIFF, if Prophoto profile OK or should I be using something else.?
2. In Qimage One does "Printer manages Color" automatically select the right profile or should I manually choose the correct paper profile?

Thanks.

[cortlander]

I did get a response from Qimage - superb support.
The answer was that Prophoto is fine, but AdobeRGB will be adequate as well.
And always better to choose the profile manually rather than printer driver manage it.

[TheNinth]

ProPhoto with 16 Bit color depth will for sure give you the most room to play with. Also, modern printers like the P800 and also wide gamut monitors in some areas already exceed Adobe RGB. Will you notice that in actual print results? Probably not or only if you compare test images side by side. But on the other hand there is no real drawback of going with ProPhoto, so why bother with Adobe RGB?

I have done some testing and writing on the topic, if you are interested check it out here:

https://www.the-ninth.com/blog/prophoto-for-image-editing

[cortlander]

Thanks Ninth, a very interesting article. I agree that with better equipment and cheaper storage there is no reason not to use ProphotoRGB.
I use capture one and I have a choice of Prophoto and Prophoto22 (in addition to Prophoto22D65 and ProphotoD65 which I presume is for 6500K)
What is the difference between the two?

I use a MacBook Pro Max which has an M1 chip and an Apple XDR P3-1600 nits. They also have some presets which include several for Photography and Print. The Preset have not worked for me, I have found them too warm. But the jury is still out. I have not figured out the ideal settings. I do calibrate my secondary monitor with an i1-profiler, but I have not messed with the MBP as Apple usually does a very good job of calibration out of the box.

[GST]

Hello,

I´m quite baffled with your workflow.
- quite sure there is nothing better than Capture One to remove noise while get best sharpening and color out of RAW photos. Maybe Lightroom is up to that.
- never found better algorithms for scaling up/down and get best sharpness than the ones used in Qimage. It talks directly to the driver and will get perfect resolution and color matching that way.
My bet: Reducing your workflow to just these two tools would result in a much simplified way of processing, less errors and even better results.

regards

[Ernst Dinkla]

Hello,

I´m quite baffled with your workflow.
- quite sure there is nothing better than Capture One to remove noise while get best sharpening and color out of RAW photos. Maybe Lightroom is up to that.
- never found better algorithms for scaling up/down and get best sharpness than the ones used in Qimage. It talks directly to the driver and will get perfect resolution and color matching that way.
My bet: Reducing your workflow to just these two tools would result in a much simplified way of processing, less errors and even better results.

regards

+1,  and what I actually use.

Ernst, op de lei getypt.

[TheNinth]

I use capture one and I have a choice of Prophoto and Prophoto22 (in addition to Prophoto22D65 and ProphotoD65 which I presume is for 6500K)
What is the difference between the two?

ProPhoto normally uses Gamma 1.8, I‘d assume that ProPhoto22 refers to a variant using Gamma 2.2. I have not used Capture One, so not sure what this actually refers to, the generated files or the display. In any case, as long as proper color management is in place it should not make a real difference, so if your files are ProPhoto with Gamma 1.8 and your monitor is calibrated to 2.2, the files will still be displayed correctly. So, if in doubt, I‘d stick with standard ProPhoto instead of that 2.2 variant.

[cortlander]

Hello,

I´m quite baffled with your workflow.
- quite sure there is nothing better than Capture One to remove noise while get best sharpening and color out of RAW photos. Maybe Lightroom is up to that.
- never found better algorithms for scaling up/down and get best sharpness than the ones used in Qimage. It talks directly to the driver and will get perfect resolution and color matching that way.
My bet: Reducing your workflow to just these two tools would result in a much simplified way of processing, less errors and even better results.

regards

Thanks. I too am a long time user of C1 and Topaz. I love C1 but in my experience noise reduction tools of Topaz give far better results than C1 for high ISO images. I will drop Gigapixel in normal workflow as you guys suggest. Q1 support suggested doing a 'baseline' with just Q1 and see if adding other tools make a difference.

[Mike Dale]

Hello,

I´m quite baffled with your workflow.
- quite sure there is nothing better than Capture One to remove noise while get best sharpening and color out of RAW photos. Maybe Lightroom is up to that.
- never found better algorithms for scaling up/down and get best sharpness than the ones used in Qimage. It talks directly to the driver and will get perfect resolution and color matching that way.
My bet: Reducing your workflow to just these two tools would result in a much simplified way of processing, less errors and even better results.

regards

I take it you've never used Topaz DeNoise or Topaz Photo. If you had you would find there is absolutely no comparison between C1 and Topaz.

[GST]

looks like one needs to do serious pixel-peeping to see the "no comparison" thing?
Want to share a sample?

[Mike Dale]

looks like one needs to do serious pixel-peeping to see the "no comparison" thing?
Want to share a sample?

Not really, it’s not me that needs convincing. Download a Topaz free trial and see for yourself. Take a few shots at 12,800 and see for yourself.

[GST]

dont need to be convinced either, thanks

[Lewando_Images]

Hello,

I´m quite baffled with your workflow.
- quite sure there is nothing better than Capture One to remove noise while get best sharpening and color out of RAW photos. Maybe Lightroom is up to that.
- never found better algorithms for scaling up/down and get best sharpness than the ones used in Qimage. It talks directly to the driver and will get perfect resolution and color matching that way.
My bet: Reducing your workflow to just these two tools would result in a much simplified way of processing, less errors and even better results.

regards

I've used Capture One for a long time off and on and love it at times for some raws. But really Capture One isn't even close to the best tool for noise reduction.

[cortlander]

A Topaz PhotoAI review and several samples done by Martin Bailey. He seems to be thrilled with the results.

https://martinbaileyphotography.com/2022/11/11/try-again-topaz-photo-ai-review-podcast-795/