It may feel like Capture One Pro 8 was just released not too long ago, but Phase One isn’t slowing down the development of their beloved raw converter and photo editing software. Today, Capture One Pro 9 was released and it is their best image processor ever.
With Capture One Pro 9, Phase One has completely updated the contrast engine. The new contrast engine changes the algorithm used for color, saturation, and contrast. On top of the overhaul, there are several new image editing tools that are sure to make their way into your workflow.
New tools include the ability to create masks based on color, more brush options, Luma curves and local curves creation, tethering improvements, and better DNG support.
Along with the awesome new tools are new asset management controls. The keywords tool and keyword library allow you to greater manage your library of photos by adding keywords that can be managed in lists. These keywords are sortable and can be rearranged for single image selections.
Capture One Pro 9 is available now from the Phase One store. New customers can purchase Capture One Pro 9 for $299, or sign up for a subscription-based pricing for $15 per month. Owners of Capture One Pro 7 or 8 can upgrade to this latest version for $99. Owners of Capture One Pro 8 that purchased the software after October 30, 2015 are eligible for a free upgrade to Capture One Pro 9.
More information about Capture One Pro 9 is available on the Phase One website.
Does it support PSDs?
Good question. C1 8 did not and was a major gripe for me. Happy that there is a new keyword tool as the old one was a real nightmare. Have to try it.
Nope. But TIFF files are (be careful not adding channels to them in PS though)
I've used the beta builds for a couple of weeks and just got my hands on the final version today. The beta seemed more stable than the 8 version. As far as speed goes, it seems to be slightly faster for some tasks (especially with files that have many local adjustment layers and resizing when exporting). But it's not a 200% difference ;)
I am trying it out as of today and it seems a little bit faster and definitely more stable than the buggy 8 Version. And has a few really improved features. Luma Curves (enhancing contrast without affecting hue and saturation) and so on. The masking tool reacts better now and the UI is a little improved.
Still only up to 100 (!) spot removals possible. I don't understand why they limit this feature artificially because I try to retouch as much as I can in the RAW development process as I can before I move to photoshop. That way I can export a slightly different version afterwards - if I feel like it - without the need of doing retouching again in PS.
e.g. If I do export a slighty different exposure or color balance than all my retouchings in skin are obsolete in PS and I have to restart again.
In PS this has never been a problem because I start with a smart object and retouch a lot of skin before in the smart object RAW already.
I wish PS would make skin look like in COP. That is the only reason I use COP. The skin tones are so much better.
I must admit I'm loving it so far. I use a lot of curve layers and have often found myself battling against saturation levels creeping up. That new Luma curve seems great from the tests I'm trying here.
I wish raw editors like C1 and LR had full masking capabilities like a pen tool and the ability to make channel seps and perform calculations. While the color masking tool may be handy, I just can't see why these programs can't just allow full precision masking. This especially so for Phsse One, who don't sell an image editor.
the only improvement this app missing is that it needs to start using already a superb windows file system. I personally hate those weird and unnecessary catalogues and I believe many photographers do too.
Give sessions a try, no need for catalogs ;) I personally have never used catalogs with C1 until lately for archiving purposes.
I always use sessions, let me give you an example of how i do that.
I always use y/m/d in front of the name of the project i'm working on. In this case the date will be the 25th of januari 2016 and the project name we'll call fstoppers.
So then the session will be named 160125 fstoppers as you can see in the first image.
By doing this all my projects (sessions) will be placed in chronological order as you can see in the second image.
If you shoot tethered in this session all the shots you make will be stored in your capture folder, if you didn't use tethered shooting simply copy the files from your memory card to the capture folder and open the capture folder in your session. (image 3)
By using sessions this way i never get images mixed up through strange catalog and/or library f*kups, which always takes me way too much time to fix.
I love this! There are quite a few improvements and it's worth the buy/upgrade. And there's a 10% off code AMBJOE right now!
i love it
Any ideas why i don't have existing keywords in Keyword list?
Moved to 9 from 8 C1.
I am surprised there is not more information about advanced searching feature on windows. I dealt with the support team for over a month because you can't seem to search multiple files on windows. It took me over a month to get them to test it themselves and then they realized I was right. From what I understand this basic feature is still not corrected in version 9.
Would love to hear from other Windows users if this works for them or if they have found a way around it. It's a very important part of my workflow that unfortunately is keeping me from switching to capture one.