The Reasons Why I'm Switching My Photo Editing Software: Adobe Lightroom vs. Capture One

Is it time to switch away from Adobe Lightroom? Over the past year, I've been trying Capture One as an alternative to Lightroom for my Photo Editing. In this video, I talk about 5 reasons I'm making the switch and 5 things I miss about Adobe.

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Table of Contents:

0:00 - Intro
0:54 - Speed Between Capture One & Lightroom
1:41 - Using Layers In Capture One
2:55 - Skin Tone & Advanced Color
5:04 - Catalogs And Sessions
6:40 - Capture One Tool Functionality
7:16 - Lightroom is More Widely Used
7:48 - Lightroom Presets
8:25 - Price Comparison
10:25 - Super Resolution
10:55 - HDR & Panorama
11:35 - Bloopers

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[SamNewton]

I’m just popping in to touch on how legendary that thumbnail is

[metalmikebot]

I switched from the Adobe workflow to Capture One + Affinity and it has improved my photos, allowed me to discover new techniques totally on my own, and cut my editing time down dramatically.

[SwanSycorax]

After 5 years with Adobe Lightroom I switched to Capture One (December 2020) and most definitely won't be switching back. I am 100% a Nikon user and the annual subscription for the Nikon only version of C1 is less than the combined 12 month subs for the Adobe Suite. I have been impressed by the panorama stitching facility in C1-22. I have compared it against the same files in Lightroom and found the C1 version to be quicker and either given identical or better results. I also like the customisable user interface in C1 which is so much more flexible than Camera RAW or Lightroom. I do very little HDR work but I have tried a few files in both LR and C1-22. Once I had learned hoe to get the best from the C1 version I got better results than I had in LR. All round C1 is the better solution. I agree with your comments that there are many more tutorials out there on LR than for C1, however, quantity doesn't mean quality and I have found the quality of the Capture One sessions on YouTube to be superb, particularly those by Paul Reiffer and David Grover.

[vasilios]

I switched to Capture One 3 years ago when I was shooting events. So much faster than lightroom, especially when you take 50k photos in a weekend. Even better for me since I ended up switching to fujifilm, and at the time lightrooms compatibility with fuji was awful. Haven't looked back since.

[briandecasa]

I left adobe 3 years ago, switched to Davinci Resolve and C1. I dont regret it one bit. C1 was easier to learn and much smoother, also more control with color manipulation. The new magic brush is a game changer

[christinacooperfilm]

As a fujifilm shooter I also tried out Capture One for a year. I loved the Sessions options. How neatly everything was organized. I also loved that my 'recipes' would stay linked to my photos whereas in LR it would only give the option for the film simulation. That really took away a lot for me. I also like that if you still need to use PS for any reason, you can click to edit in PS as you would LR. Currently I still use both - LR for weddings.. C1 for everything else. But I am looking forward to being able to do all in C1.

[AmaraARW]

I think I was sold on Capture One the first day I used it lol. It's layers and mask tools for me make it so that I don't often feel the need to export my photos to Gimp/Photoshop afterwards. Also for anyone thinking about buying Capture One, they often have discounts. I think I bought my license at 40% off.

[BrentODell]

I've been using Capture One for about a year, and watching this gave me ideas on how to improve my workflow. Great video!

[bhovis]

Thanks for this video. I've been straddling Lightroom and C1 for almost 3 years, and while I prefer C1, I've been using Lightroom since v.2 (and Photoshop much longer) and have trouble letting go, even thought I probably should. One thing that annoys me is that the Adobe CC app sits in the background on your computer, and that Lightroom is a tremendous resource hog. You mentioned that you prefer Lightroom's implementation of presets, but the fact that C1 allows you to put a style on it's own layer (with opacity control) adds a lot more flexibility, IMO. And while C1 is certainly expensive initially (too expensive), after that you can just purchase the new version every year - IF you choose - and at a discount if you buy it early. But the one thing that keeps me using C1 most of all is that I like the look of my images better - I've done a lot of comparing, and I consistently see more detail/resolution in C1 RAW development, and it's not just sharpness or contrast - I cannot duplicate that look in Lightroom by moving sliders, changing profiles, or any other way. I'm convinced that C1 extracts more information from the RAW file (or does more with it) and it shows in the image.

[thedadceo]

"So I've got a decent machine." LOL!!! Meanwhile I feel like throwing mine out of the window.

[psoet]

So good 👏 Literally all the reasons why I switched to Capture One a year ago. The biggest reason for me was how FAST Capture One allowed me to "copy & paste" color corrections to other images. Lightroom lagged too much.

[mrccurri]

Got out of the Adobe ecosystem a couple weeks ago! Lightroom to Capture One, Photoshop to Gimp, and Premier to DaVinci Resolve. Haven't tried Resolve yet but Capture One has been an absolute joy.

[devondesroches]

I made the move to C1 about a year ago and haven’t looked back. Having layers and the incredible flexibility with color editing without having to move into photoshop has been such a blessing. At first I definitely missed LR presets, but once I learned how to create and use styles, it really liberated me from the whole LR preset culture that surrounds LR and forced me to develop my own style. While I wish some plugins were/were better supported, I’ve found denoise to be the main one I used the most in workflows. I subsequently opted for DxO PureRaw as the start of my workflow so i generally cull > dxo pureraw for prime denoise + optical corrections > capture one to edit.

Overall, I’m super happy with my decision, and I get the results I want which is all that really matters. Use the tool that works best in your hands.

[DanuteP]

When I finally started shooting raw I tried LR/PS and was overwhelmed. It might be a great product but I didn't "get it". I tried C1 and was off & rolling quickly.
Being a fairly new program I think the tutorials you find online for C1 are more useful. Look for help with LR and you are wading through a decade of cr*p before you find the video that actually helps you. C1 & their ambassadors put together some really great tutorials that are easy for newbies to follow. But then that's my .02 :-)
Yes, C1 is more expensive but it works for me, they are always updating features and they listen to their user base.

[showdaKOs]

One thing that was not mentionned : there is a free version of C1, of course stripped down, without most of the fancy options of Capture One, but this way you can try it, no charge. And, if you're like me (shooting Fuji so jpegs mostly and having to process only a few raws a month) you may not need more than this !

To be fair, the free version of Capture One is so different of the normal one that it feels like a different software... But it has its advantages as it is very easy to understand and work with.

[markshirley]

I find using Capture One faster and better than Lightroom. My Nikon files always look great in Capture One.

[ruperthitchcox]

Hi Dunna,
Great balanced video.What you also may not know is the colour science is better in capture One, , Colours are more accurate.
I know a lot of pro photographers like my self who have switched.

[winngh]

Welcome on board, was editing with capture one whiles this video was recommended. Jumped ship years ago and don't miss lightroom, at least I have photoshop for a reason. 😜

[EdwardBliffin]

For my Work Lightroom has everything I need, I may pop over to Photoshop every now and then, but the Largest part is the 1TB of storage, my edits are all in the cloud, how easy it is to share the album, no other platforms needed, and now you can create multiple portfolios ..no to mention the client can like the photos they want the most, you can edit those and be even more efficient

[darrylbrooks]

I own Capture One 12 and used it for quite a while. There was a lot to like about it, but the downside to me was how it managed metadata. Keywording and descriptions are crucial to me, and there are too many things about their metadata panels that I didn't like. Great video though, I'm always looking to bail on Adobe.