No subscription software preferences - Capture One?

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MrProvia

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Hi everyone

I’m an experienced traditional photographer but have zero experience of digital editing.

I’m looking for a no subscription option, initially for editing slide scans that need only modest adjustments, and after that for handling RAW shots from my D750.

I’ll be using a new iMac.

Some of my friends whose opinion I trust have recommended Capture One and are very passionate about it. The price is ok with me and I see that other reviews are generally very positive.

I try to do most of my photography in-camera so I know a lot of products would be more than capable for my modest requirements.

I’d love to hear from anyone who uses Capture One. Will it suit my needs? Is it a steep learning curve? Other options?

Thanks
 
I've used it. I prefer Adobe Lightroom, though.

What a lot of people don't realize is that the RAW conversion software you use profoundly impacts image quality. Color rendering, fine detail resolution, tonal rendering, noise reduction, etc. Capture One is wonderful for shots done at low ISO speeds. Color and tonal rendering are beautiful and image sharpness is good. What's not good is rendering of high-ISO images. Capture One's noise reduction on high-ISO images is not very good and detail resolution suffers. As for ease of use, it is better than a lot of other software, but not as good as Adobe Lightroom.

Most of the other Adobe-alternatives out there are bad. Slow, poor user interfaces, and low image quality (Skylum Luminar has wonderful image rendering, but the software is slow, overly complex and not easy to use).

If you're adamantly opposed to Adobe's subscription service, Capture One is probably the best alternative. I don't consider the $10 a month Adobe charges to be oppressive. Most of those on RFF complaining about it (and this is a frequent topic here) are guys with $20,000 in Leica gear refusing to spend $10 a month for software to edit their images.
 
I use Capture One as a database for film scanning, it works very well and I prefer the color science to Adobe Lightroom (but my files are all at base ISO, so I don’t have experience using it with higher ISO files). The only advantage to using Lightroom for my case is the Negative Lab Pro plugin which is an excellent tool for scanning film. I have been content just manually converting my negatives though. With slides it’s probably less of an issue.
 
Out to Lunch said:
Which one of the two programs is the most intuitive to use?
Click to expand...

It depends on the individual. I have used Lightroom since LR3. I currently use the subscription version of Lightroom Classic. I attempted to change over to Capture One but gave up. Time is limited before I shuffle off this mortal coil, and, for me, it is worth $10/month not to have to learn new software. Anyway, you very well might have a similar experience if you started with Capture One and tried to move to Lightroom, though if you already knew Capture One, the thought would probably never cross your mind.
 
If I could choose again, I would just go with an open source software since I also hate subscription models. Now I am too invested in Lightroom (plus I have a free subscription to Adobe through the university).

Darktable - Lightroom alternative
RawTherapy - Lightroom alternative
Gimp - Photoshop closest program.

If money were not a concern for a one-time software acquisition, then Capture One is a solid choice. A bit more involved than Lightroom and not as nice database integration (when I tested it), but quite powerful.
 
I'd try searching the forum. This has been discussed quite a lot. Bill Pierce has had a few threads on Adobe alternatives.

Here are three open source options that would get you started for free: https://opensource.com/alternatives/adobe-lightroom

I've used LR since the first version and am with Chris. It's about the best ten bucks any photographer could spend -- not just for processing but also file management. That the monthly cost of one roll of film gets you PS and LR is remarkable.

John
 
I dislike the Adobe products, so I’ve been using DXO Photolab, and I quite like it. Very good noise reduction system, if that’s a worry.
 
For digital photos I use Apple Photo for cataloging and basic editing and use the External Editors plug-in to access Affinity Photo for its more powerful editing capabilities when needed.

For film photos I scan the negatives with a Fuji X-Trans camera, convert the RAW scans to DNG with Iridient X-Transformer and edit the DNG files with Affinity Photo.

Affinity Photo is a pixel editor like Photoshop. Very powerful, very well supported with online tutorials, and very affordable.
 
MrProvia said:
Hi everyone

...

I’ll be using a new iMac.

...

I try to do most of my photography in-camera so I know a lot of products would be more than capable for my modest requirements.

...Other options?
Click to expand...

If your needs are modest, then I suggest you take a look at Pixelmator Pro. There is a free trial version. Pixelmator Pro is on the Apple App Store for $40 (non-subscription license).

I find it easy to use. While I use Lightroom Classic/Photoshop (subscription), I use Pixelmator Pro to quickly open images that would otherwise require opening in Photoshop. Pixelmator Pro opens much faster and (for me) is about 1,000 times easier to use.
 
Well that's about the best response a newb could have to their first post! Thanks

Some good stuff here.

I don't have money to burn and competing priorities mean a subscription may go unused for many months (or more) at a time. Plus I figured that my modest requirements would mean I wont be eagerly awaiting new features and updates.

I've never used any Adobe products because I haven't used any products. So I don't have an axe to grind either way. But it does mean that if I go to Capture One, I wont have to unlearn LR. Think I'll download the free trial.

The stuff I shoot is always low ISO so your comments are salient

Cards on the table, I'm totally green about this. Thanks for the handhold.
 
Just get a free and simple program...unless you are really anal about this stuff..there are loads of them out here..Infranview to Gimp..
You need a college degree to run these so called.."pro" programs..
Dont have time for all that..as I'm an old fk like you..and just wanna have some fast fun..
If I wanted slow and complex..or expensive..I would draw or paint..or use LF film..
 
My needs are pretty basic and my discretionary income is very limited right now so I use two free programs: FastStone Image Viewer and GIMP. Between those two I can produce decent quality files for me.
I'm sure there are better alternatives but, in my situation, they are the right price and they work well enough.
Rob
 
When I buy a new iMac I will also buy Photoshop Elements.

My current iMac is too old for most of internet web sites.

Photoshops two primary ingredients are layers and blending.

I currently use an iMac with Photoshop CS-4. It works for me.

At any rate, just my thinking.
 
Although I don't presently use either (I like Aperture), I have tried both. I found the adjustment sliders on Lightroom to be intuitive enough; but I couldn't get my first-version Capture One to do anything. I should probably try again, now that I am (slightly) more familiar with post-processing.
 
+1 for Darktable. Since I ditched Adobe's 'subscription model' I've done most of my digital work with Darktable and Gimp, both free. In my opinion Darktable is superior to Lightroom. Gimp has been around for years and while it was limited in the early years, is now a very capable app. I'm mainly an analogue photographer, but these two meet all my digital needs.
 
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