Capture One 23 Review: It’s Time to Switch for Good

Having used Capture One for a while now, I came to understand that I never gave the software a proper review. Not an article that talks about tips, or one that only talks about the positive, but a proper in-depth review. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Well, here is my review of the latest version of Capture One.

Introduction

Capture One is regarded as the software to use if you are a professional photographer working with big clients and big budgets. Being software designed primarily for full-time pros, there are features such as tethering and batch exporting, which may not be found in other photography software. The latest iteration of Capture One also introduced Capture Pilot, which allows you to share your images with your clients for preview and selection. This, and so much more, is why you should switch to Capture One 23 now.

Key Features

Let's talk about some of the things that make Capture One 23 stand out for photographers. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, it shows some of the latest features that made my workflow much smoother.

Smart Adjustments

I use a bunch of different custom presets. That speeds up my workflow by a lot and lets me keep a cohesive visual style to my images and work. One problem with using presets, though, is that if your image is not properly exposed, it won’t work as well, and you’d have to go and make each individual adjustment. As I like to color grade and then cull images, it is important for me to see the final product. The main difference between smart adjustments and simply copying and pasting settings is that when I work on location, my lighting might change quite a lot depending on weather conditions. As this messes with exposure, I can't simply apply a style. Smart adjustments have sped up my editing by quite a lot, and unfortunately, I don’t know of other software that has this feature.

Culling

I used to select images simply from the editor window. Although it was pretty fast and there were no problems with it, I always felt that something was missing. There just wasn’t enough speed in the selection process. One other thing that was missing is the ability to check focus at the culling stage. Sure, you could zoom in on every image, but imagine how long that would take if you have more than a thousand images to get through before a tight deadline. The cull view solves those problems really well, allowing you to both select images without having to wait for the file to load, but it also has another incredible feature: face focus. I can’t say enough how great it is. It automatically detects the subject's face and shows it in a separate box. It is so good it detects reflections of that same face as well and obviously works with multiple faces too. This saves time and allows you to spend less time in front of the screen. One negative thing is that you can’t view your images with adjustments on them at the culling stage. It would be great to enable that as well, as many photographers like to view the adjustments already at the culling stage.

Layers

While the core layers functionality has been around for a while now, with the new update, you are able to stack your presets as layers on top of one another. For example, suppose you have either bought or made yourself (slower but more fun) a series of presets that control the overall grade of the image. As such, it can make the whole photo warmer, colder, redder, or bluer. Then, you also have various color grades that control things such as contrast and curves. By stacking various styles on top of one another and changing opacity, much like in Photoshop, you can have even more flexibility and fun in your workflow. Another reason this is so great is that you can save styles for each set of tools, such as curves or color editor. One can control the color grade, while the other can control contrast.

Capture One Live

Capture One Live is a whole new thing in itself. It is somewhat like the old app Capture One had to share images on the same network, enabling people with the app installed to view the images without having to run to the tether station. Now, this has been made even better, as Capture One Live allows you to upload a low-res preview to the cloud, which is then shared with the client, who is able to rate, color tag, and comment on the images right away. The files upload fairly quickly, depending on the internet connection. Once the client rates the images, those ratings will show up in your editor, meaning no time wasted whatsoever. This is collaboration on the next level. I spent far too much time inputting individual filenames into Capture One. This alone is once again enough reason to love Capture One 23.

Tethered Capture

This deserves a special mention, as it is one of the reasons I went to Capture One initially, and it’s superior to any other software. It supports most full frame cameras; however, issues creep in once you switch from full frame to medium format. While Phase One is seamless (duh), switching to a different brand may bring in issues. I could not get a Fujifilm medium format camera to tether to Capture One 23 Pro. It only worked after getting the Fujifilm Acquire software. Another stupid one is lack of Hasselblad support. While I understand that it’s a competitor, I feel Capture One is losing way more money by removing any support for Hasselblad files and tethering. It’s a little sad, too.

What I Liked

• Smart Styles
• Capture One Live
• Layers
• Culling view

What Could Be Improved

• Hasselblad tethering
• Pricey compared to other software
• AI tools such as masking

Closing Thoughts

Costing at $300, Capture One is the same price as a cheap light or a tripod. You could even get a used lens for that money. Alternatively, you can sign up for a subscription, which is between $14 and $20, depending on what option you pick. Lastly, there is now Capture One mobile, as well as Capture One for iPad, which is a useful tool for those of us who might not want to bring a laptop on set. That said, seeing somebody tether into a phone made me smile a lot.