Anyone who "converted" to Capture One?

chris_weinert

Hello all,

I'm using Aperture for managing my files and also for the non-heavy-retouching work, and I do like it for what it does (i.e. the shadow/highlight algorithm is so much better than the one Adobe's using in LR and PS/Camera RAW). But I hate it for what it doesn't do. Actually that's not true it just sounded more dramatic. But I do miss a couple of features that I want to be able to use non-destructively and hence: not with plugins. Those are lens correction, angle distortion correction, gradient masks, and the like.

I started looking at Capture One, and so far I really love both the quality of the algorithms they use (seems to be different since version 7), and as well the overall feature set as far as I could check it out. Looks like it's also pretty customizable.

Does anyone have experience with the thing, or more specifically, with switching to C1? One big, big obstacle is of course that I would lose all my non-destructive editing information from Aperture 3. I have lots, not so much for my RAW files from studio work, but on the JPEG files that I shot on event jobs, and on private "work", like family, friends etc., which is also very important for me. At least, I have always resisted to use Apertures Media Library and have my pictures sorted in my own folder structure, which is a bit of a hassle when importing new files but I guess for a switch it's a good thing.

Anyone using C1 in here? And if so, do you have any advice? A good choice? And any tips on the whole switching process?

Thanks in advance,
Chris

Gab

"the shadow/highlight algorithm is so much better than the one Adobe's using in LR " LR4/CR7 has class leading performance in those areas, what version have u tried? O_o

About C1, I've tested the trial version extensively. The color rendition is interesting, sometimes I struggle with Nikon colors in LR and C1 gets the colors right (for me) right away with its default settings, although it's not exactly natural or life like. The highlight recovery is better in LR3, than in C1. The interface and tools are not that good. A possible workflow I found for the times when I cannot get those "crazy awesome" colors right in LR alone is to batch convert my nefs to tiff with C1 & then load it in LR and fine-tune them. Overall it's not so bad, but it has a long way to go until I would consider using it on a day to day basis.

I recommend you to download the trial as well and try it out.

chris_weinert

Thanks for your answer, and yes, I wasn't even aware of the rehaul of Adobe's Camera Raw engine, since I'm using CS5. I never need all the features of the updates, so most of the time I update for other reasons only. Good to know. I just downloaded LR4 and yes, the highlight rescue looks very good, a big difference vs. the old engine.

I had downloaded the C1 demo, of course, but it's always good to hear some other opinions.

I've just rethought the whole thing, though. Both Capture One and LR4 don't offer a regular channel mixer for b/w conversion, but those strange +/- faders. I'm a big fan of anything that I can understand from my analog lab times, and b/w conversion is just a too important thing for me to leave it up to a "black box" that I can't intuitively work with...

So I guess I'll just wait if they do update Aperture this year, and if not, I'll dive into all those digital mystery faders and convert to LR.

Thanks for your hints!

Ade

Chris if you're serious about B&W conversion you might want to check out Nik's Silver Efex Pro. Absolutely heads & shoulders above everything else. They have a 15-day free trial. I currently use it in conjunction with Aperture (as a plug-in) and also from Photoshop.