Why I switched to Capture One (comparision to Adobe Lightroom)

Lightroom or Capture One? Where do I see the advantages and disadvantages of each RAW converter? And what would I choose today?

[class_a]

Good discussion of the pros and cons. I think you should have managed that LR has (now) better mask management, i.e., one can add masks or subtract them from each other. C1 also used to be way better regarding colour editing tools, but LR caught up. Sadly, C1 lost its way recently with many features not implemented well (panorama, HDR), some worse than they were before (export dialogue <- has been undone, though, after a huge uproar in the community), appealing to novices/masses rather than experts, and letting their mobile version influence the desktop versions (leading to worse tool icons). There are still good feature additions now and then, but these are far and few between all the stuff that is either useless for me, or even worse than before (the export dialogue is not the only example, there are a number of other aspects in which C1 has become worse for me). Unfortunately, Capture One (the company) has now decided to push their customers into the subscription model. Perpetual licences are still available but the conditions have been made worse than they used to be (much more expensive to keep up with bug fixes and to keep a "loyalty"-status that qualifies one for discounts). I used to recommend C1 to people but cannot do it with a good conscience anymore. Very sad.

[odarrien]

I liked your honest reflection/discussion on both.

[krimke]

Same reason I still are looking for alternatives. The management features in LRc are just above everybody else. I need to have a proper catalogue.

[avoututu]

Smart Previews in LRC?... I think COP always works in a similar fashion: we can perform some functions and edits offline, thats why COP seems to take longer importing and building a catalog, what it does is what LRc do when you turn on the option to build Smart Previews. If we make that comparison, making LrC work in a similar way as COP does, we can see that the import time and the size of the two catalogs+previews is roughly equivalent. If i'm not correct, I apologise. Have a nice 2023. Cheers.

[RingWraith]

Capture One's push towards subscription recently and their upcoming changes to perpetual licenses, pushed me to look for an alternative from C1. I'm now using DxO PhotoLab 6 and couldn't be happier.

[KoenKooi]

I continue to use LR for its asset management capabilities, I used to export TIFFs from DPP4 to get a much better raw conversion and resentful switched to using DxO PL6 for raw conversion, optical corrections and noise reduction. All other edits and masking is done in LR, the new AI-assisted masking is like magic. For photo’s that don’t need superior sharpness or noise reduction, I just import the raws straight into LR.
I’m also using custom camera profiles from ColorFidelity since the Adobe profiles for the M6II and R7 turn my skin into zombie grey.

[desertoo]

Very nice video! I tried Capture one for a few days and although I didn't use it for a long period of time I found lightroom's still better for me. In addition, Capture One perpetual license doesn't include new software only bug fixes and stuff like that and we are talking about 1.631 US dollars.

[truthsayers]

im on LR 5.71. my daughter and wife have the 2 licenses in my LR 6. i just bought C1 23 (before it goes to subscription) because if im going to have software for any length of time, its more cost effective to have the old style.

ill be trying the C1 here in the near future...

[Aladdin_TV]

Same as you, I don't like the subscriptions, mostly because I am out of internet most of the time, at least any good internet as I use satellite internet. Anyway, now my LT 6 is not working with windows 11, I think this is the reason. It starts and close down after a few seconds. So I really appreciate this review and I think I will go for the Capture 1

[FJWoods]

I’ve used most of the commercial and freeware converters. They all have advantages and disadvantages. I still prefer C1 for portrait work for clients. The workflow of C1, especially if you use multiple computers, is hard to beat. That said, I think LR is a better overall converter that works well in most situations. The $10/mo (in the US) is a great deal.

[bioliv]

Lr Cloud with 1TB storage is extremely easy to learn!

[fgb]

Hi Fabian, not ever having heard of Capture 1 I was hoping that it was the kind of post-processing program I have been seeking: that is, a program between my current Canon Digital Photo Professional 4 and Lightroom 6. I've never been able to get into Lightroom, it's just too complicated. So I've stayed with my trusty DPP 4. But obviously there is more that I'd like to be able to do with my photos. Surely someone will develope a process like what I'm after: more sophisticated that DPP but not as damned complicated as Lightroom. (By the way I bought Lightroom 6 which I still own; I saw that subscription rip-off coming and did something about it. Not having ever used Lr I certainly did not need anything more "up-to-date" than 6!)

[frits]

Does C1 replace LR + PS? As LR+PS always come togerther.

[sh]

Does Topaz software work (as a plug-in) with C1?