This Is Why I'm Switching (BACK) To Adobe Lightroom from Capture One.

I'm saying goodbye to Capture One to switch back to Adobe Lightroom again! Here's Why.

Table of Contents:
0:00 - Switching Back To Lightroom From Capture One
0:45 - Quick Disclaimer
1:19 - Masking
2:55 - Copy/Paste and Syncing Edits
3:42 - AI Denoise
4:45 - Calibration Tools
5:22 - Presets
6:05 - Ease Of Use
7:14 - Photoshop Features Trickling Down
8:07 - Layers In Capture One
8:52 - Skin Tone/Advanced Color
9:28 - Sessions and Catalogs
10:00 - Sessions Workaround For Lightroom

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[BlackZEddie]

With Capture One's release of 16.3.4 around Jan 19, when you use the Subject and Background AI's and copy to other images, it now recalculates the masks.

[JackieDElia]

I’m sticking with C1 as someone who loved Photoshop but never used LR (used Apple Aperture) I migrated to Affinity years ago and chose C1 last year for the catalog and organizational capabilities. I’m not a pro photographer just an enthusiast that shoots Fujifilm, so for me C1 made sense.

[skrockisports]

who's here after the news of adobe stealing creators content for their AI?

[petemellows]

I’ve been using C1 since 2016. I chose it because it was the closest in ease of use to Apple’s Aperture.
The colour control and RAW translations are second to none. Even with the odd niggle, I could never consider any other software. My partner uses Lightroom and I do shake my head at what’s missing.
Having said that, I believe we should all use the tools that work for us. If LR works better for your work, that’s awesome.
Again, nicely scripted and presented Dunna. I’ve used your videos to help me create my own on my new channel. 🙏

[ErnestStevenson-bonk]

As a live music photographer the denoise feature in LR has been a game changer. I can really push the ISO and still come up with an incredible photo.

[rigo.garcia]

Stick to Capture for pro work. I work in an advertising agency we 💯 prefer capture.

[fewsangre]

I guess we will see you back in CaptureOne in two years.

[SwanSycorax]

I have both packages but switched my main editing to Capture One in December 2020. Periodically I carry out some back to back edits using the same RAW files. For me, the results i get from Capture One are always better with more pleasing and natural renders than I get from LR and, at the end of the day, it is all about the quality of the final image, not necessarily how you get there.

[djmunich]

I used Lightroom until Adobe decided to offer only the subscition model. I switched to Capture One and Affinity Photo.

[keithpinn]

Hi: Thanks for creating and sharing this video. I was previously a LrC user but I migrated over to C1 last summer. I shoot on an Sony A7Riv and I find that C1 simply renders the RAW images better. Think that fact the C1 does a much better job on properly matching the Camera/Lens profiles to the image vs. LrC's awkward process of having to download individual Camera RAW profiles. Cheers, Keith

[royprasad]

Apologies in advance for a lengthy post, but others may find this useful. I have been searching for precisely this kind of commentary from people who are used to both LR and C1. So I appreciate this video – thank you for publishing this.

Having used LR since version 2.x, five years ago I switched to Capture One. Much has improved in C1 over the years, but I have been looking for reasons to switch back to LR for 3-4 important reasons. First, even using C1, I can't be completely stop using Photoshop, and if anything, over the past couple of years, my use of PS has gone up. And as you pointed out, many PS features, especially masking, AI denoise, etc. have been trickling down to LR. LR makes it more harmonious between my PS and LR usage, and Adobe, which is a 100x bigger company and a technological powerhouse, and I'd rather be on the Adobe technology roadmap than C1. Second, in part related to resources, C1 is always behind LR in supporting lens profiles, sometimes by YEARS. I use many lenses that I can't find profiles for in C1. LR is not 100%, but far more extensive than C1. Third, as you say, there are more creature comforts in the LR that make it easier to use. And last but not the least, in order to use PS, I have to subscribe to it, and the basic $120/year sub also includes LR. In contrast, with its price increases a little over a year ago, a C1 subscription now costs $180/year, which is very hefty in terms of value. In essence, I already have LR since I subscribe to PS, so C1 is an completely additional $180/year overhead. So I have been looking for reasons to bail out of C1 and go back to LR.

My biggest problem with LR is file management. I exclusively use sessions in C1, never catalogues. So all my raw files, including Extended NR versions and TIF files from Photoshop, are all in folders, each folder has its Capture / Output / Select / Reject folders, and I can always see the files. My sessions are always named "YY-MMDD Subject", which therefore become folder names. My files are always named "YY-MMDD Subject-#### (Camera, Lens)". [I use multiple cameras and lenses.] So file management, search, archival and back ups are all hugely simplified and robust. I cannot do this simple thing with LR. I have tried creating a multitude of catalogs in LR that correspond to my sessions in C1, and I have tried to create an LR-version of my C1 set up. BUT... I have no idea where LR keeps my raw files after an import. I see the thumbnails but on many photos, when I click to process them, I get a sinister "The file could not be found" message. That is very scary to me. I can't entrust my files and many hours of editing to a program that suddenly throws up its hand and says it has no idea where my photos are. That is a disaster.

So if there's some light you can shed on how to essentially create a C1-Sessions environment with LR (Classic), and precisely know and see where all the raw files are, that would be most helpful. I'm sure a lot of other C1 users would be interested in it, if you could create a video on this. Thanks in advance and cheers, Roy

[misterfister]

Number one reason not to go back to lightroom: LR catalog system. Working with file based sessions is just the better and more logical way for me. Easy to do backups, no bloated database is one of the main reasons to use C1 over LR. And, as mentioned in the video, for a portrait photographer at least, the color editor with skin tone editor has just become an essetial tool. Also C1 AI masking is much superior to LR and works better for me. Btw in the latest version you can copy AI masks for Background and Subject isolation :)

[johnwuk]

having used Lightroom since v1 and moved to capture one end of last year.
Capture one finally puts the enjoyment back into photo editing. Lightroom just became slow and cumbersome to use.
Once I’d learnt Capture one shortcuts I was flying. It’s helped by having a great support and community. I contacted them at first on a few issues and had respondes from the dev in a few hours who actually knew what he was talking about and wasn’t an automated response .
Imagine that from Adobe, being helpful. Doesn’t happen.

[johnneiberger]

I'm a bit confused about the comments regarding C1 Styles vs LR Presets. The workflow is nearly identical, expect C1 gives you the additional capability to apply it as a layer with its own opacity and ability to edit further. But if you want to apply a style directly to a layer or your background image, you just click on it exactly like you would in LR. I do agree about the UI of LR, though. It's a lot easier to use than C1. I'm torn. I like features of both and I really need to pick one. Like you, I *really* miss the skin tone cool from C1 when I'm using LR. And I also miss the layers. However, all that capability is a two-edged sword for me. In C1, I tend to over-edit my photos because it's so incredibly easy to do it. I sometimes end up losing depth to my photos in a way that's hard to describe. It just ends up looking flattened somehow and my only guess is that it's due to over processing and messing up contrast or something. I do this much less often if I stick to LR. In both cases, I still also need to make a round trip through Photoshop anyway. I seriously need to just pick one and streamline my workflow.

[EvanWasHere]

The one thing I can't live without is the similar image culling option in capture one. Having all the same photos grouped together saves sooo much time. I can find the best pic of a shot and then move to the next scene.

[mr_mr]

I literally just watched the old video and didn't realize until halfway through that it was 2 years old. I filtered the results and here were are. Thanks for sharing the journey

[sam]

I switched back to LR too after more than 3 years with C1. I think the PE firm who bought Phase 1 have squandered any advantage C1 had over LR. It will be interesting to see if C1 even survives. They just announced they were making significant employee layoffs.

[beraruvalentin]

I have worked in lightroom for over 14 years and for two years I have been working in capture one, which I think is better for color grading, the recoveries on highlighs are much better on capture one and in general it gives a different look to the pictures compared to lightroom. I still try to edit the same photos in lightroom and capture one, and although in lightroom I have a lot of presets, I still end up editing the photos in capture one, because I like the colors more, I like the skin editing options, the recoveries on highlights and shadows are better. For selections, layers, more complex work that requires professional editing, I use photoshop in the end.

[jessmather]

Hey everyone, Im just starting out as an amateur music gig photographer and am trying to figure out the best editing software for me. Lightroom and Capture One seem to be the most talked about so I found this video super helpful 👍

[stevepalmerphotoart]

For me the massive LR catalog is still a deal killer. The portability of C1 Sessions makes working as a traveling photographer so much easier. Add to that the advantages of managing storage and cloud synchronization with smaller logical units of work (Sessions) and I decided about 6 months ago to stay with C1. But I agree with the functional advantages you pointed out for LRCC. I also don’t trust Adobe to keep LRC. I think they will push us all to cloud based.