The list of monthly subscriptions photographers are pressured to keep up becomes longer every year. From Dropbox to Pixieset, Adobe to Honeybook, and Shootproof to Fundy, photographers' monthly bills multiply annually. Now, Capture One wants a piece of the pie, and its community is not happy about the announcement.
What Capture One Announced
Capture One has just announced changes to their licensing. C1 users received an email outlining some of the upcoming changes:
From 2023 we will no longer be tied to an annual cycle for major releases. As a result, there will not be a Capture One 24. Instead, we will continuously release new tools and features on a rolling basis throughout the year.
Alongside this, we will also be making changes to our perpetual licenses from February 1, 2023. Here’s what’s changing:
- New perpetual licenses will include updates with bug fixes until the next version, but new features released after purchase will not be included.
- Upgrade pricing will no longer be available and will be replaced with a new loyalty scheme. More details will be announced on February 1, 2023.
No specifics were given on what the details of this "loyalty scheme" will be. Instead, they will be announced by February 2023.
Image provided by Ali Choudhry
In an article on their support page, Capture One clarified:
Capture One offers perpetual and subscription licenses for users. The difference between those is the term of validity. A perpetual license is everlasting (for life, providing that you meet the minimum system requirements), while with a subscription plan you have to make regular payments to keep the license active - but you always have access to the latest version.
The overwhelming majority of comments from the community ranged from feeling mislead to outrage.
So, if I understand correctly, that means that those of us who used to regularly upgrade (upgrades that went from $99 to $199 over a few years already) their perpetual license will now have to buy a full license each time there is a partial release? That is a clever move to go to a subscription only model without saying it.
Many responded with comments about what they felt like was disingenuous marketing language:
I'm really disappointed by this move. Don´t try to sell it as doing what 'many of you told us'. This is strictly about optimizing your profit and NOT in the best interest of your customers! Rolling out constant updates only to your subscription-based customers and leaving the perpetual licenses as a choice would be the way to go if you really cared what your customers want or need.
Hi C1, This hurts and is clearly about to anger the community. Pls. cut the marketing speak and be honest of what is happening.
The readers collectively were impassioned.
This hurts...
I feel like I was mislead...I'm very disappointed...
I feel betrayed...
I'm feeling super screwed at the moment...
I feel so f*cked...
Capture One in suicide mode...
They totally lost my trust...
This is deeply exploitative...
This feels and smells like blackmail and extorsion...
Merry Xmas, bye and all the best for your future...
A minority of commenters welcome the change and see it as an industry standard.
Personally I don't see what's wrong with this move. It's industry standard to withhold feature updates to the next major release. Many software companies do it the same way. If you don't need the new features, nobody is forcing you to upgrade. You only upgrade when you need it. So, I'm not sure what's the fuss. Please enlighten me if I miss something.
What Did Capture One Have to Say About It?
Capture One hopes this new subscription basis model will offer the upgrades when they are needed, not on a forced annual timeline. When I asked Capture One if they had a comment for the piece, Mariann Eliassen, PR and Editorial Manager, noted:
Just to be clear, we are not ending perpetual licenses. We know that this option is important to some of our customers, and we are committed to keeping this available for them. Anyone who has bought or will buy Capture One 23 before February 1, 2023, will still enjoy the same benefits as they would with any previous version of the software. After this date, everyone will still be able to buy a perpetual license and fully enjoy the features that come with it in perpetuity.
My initial inquiry included the question, "Many users expressed feeling misled in the sales of the perpetual licenses, without any note or warning about the changes just around the corner. Would you care to share your perspective or contribute a quote on this?" This question was not directly addressed in the response.
Why Are So Many Upset?
The readers' frustration came with the fact that they purchased the C23 upgrade but wished they would have been informed of the upcoming choices available to them. Skipping the end-of-line C23, they would have preferred to find out about the newly announced "loyalty scheme" and wait for that information before making purchases. One reader noted on the matter:
The current 30% discount to upgrade ends at the end of Jan. But they won't tell us what the new 'Loyalty Program' is until Feb 1st. So purposely denying customers the ability to know what is the best route. For all we know, the 'Loyalty' prize could be a box of bananas and a cheesecake. Hardly being transparent, is it?
Will This Make Them Lose Their Edge Over Adobe?
Both pieces of software boast impressive performances; however, many Capture One subscribers have favored not having to dish out monthly money if they were content with their software. Now, keeping up with the software upgrades will require a subscription to their Loyalty Scheme.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Is Capture One simply falling in line with the industry standard, or are they losing their customer-pleasing point of differentiation?
The Filmic Pro thing did seem unnecessary and a little too pricey for what they were offering.
They need to make money.
Think about what's happened over the past 10 years:
-The camera market collapsed
-Competition in software is RISING
DUH.
How do you think they will fare again Adobe entering this new model?
You're right, but I never really understood why they're not choosing the path of selling more licenses by reducing the cost? I don't have the numbers but it looks like Adobe is outselling them by a huge margin
Given the rather niche/weak updates recently, I feel like this is a last-ditch effort to get money as their upgrades are not enticing perpetual users to buy upgrades. So, if they can push people to a subscription model, they can at least guarantee revenue without having to compete with "themselves" (i.e. their past perpetual licenses). IMO, it's a bad sign for users when a company needs to force users into a subscription model [when there is no outside, real-time advantage -- like weather information -- being added]. It means they are unable or unwilling to invest in their product but still feel entitled to your business/money.
As a developer, I like JetBrains model. They offer a subscription *at a great price* that gets you all updates (features and bugfixes) over the entire year. At the end of the subscription, I can decide if I want to continue on or cancel *and keep the last version released during my subscription.* This gives JetBrains the yearly revenue and me the latest product. It also motivates JetBrains to continue developing and adding value so that I want to remain a subscriber! Both me and company win this way.
In the future, I will be evaluating other options. If I ultimately have to go to a subscription model, I feel like Adobe LR+PS has better value (and, currently, price) than CPO's subscription -- not that I feel any loyalty to CO after this fiasco. For now though, I will stick to COP22 and ride that out as long as I can. (Personally, I decided to skip COP23 - first time since I bought COP10 - as its updates don't offer enough for me to pay the incredibly high upgrade cost.)
Interesting addition about JetBrains. I'll have to have a look at it. It will be interesting to see how everything unfolds in February.
It is overall a bad anti-consumer move. In the past a perpetual license wod grant you a full version number, and then you would get intermediate updates for that version. This often meant minor feature enhancements, patches, and various maintenance updates.
Their new business model would be like selling a full prices game, e.g. Think Cyberpunk 2077, and then not offering updates or enhancements via the patches unless you buy a new copy (thus none of the improved NPC spawns, and improved police behavior in the game, or improvements to the edgerunners lore.
Or imagine buying windows, and not having windows update, but instead a Microsoft store link to buy a new serial that will qualify you to get all of the updates up until the point of purchase of the new license.
Perpetual licenses along with bug fixes and enhancements to make the app version more desirable during its primary market cycle is the norm.
For example, here is the free update history of a popular (non-live service/ non-pay to win) game.
https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Category:The_Witcher_3_patches
https://www.dexerto.com/gaming/the-witcher-3-next-gen-update-free-dlc-co...
It is done because it builds good will, thus ensuring longer term success when customers are well taken care of.
it also encourages people to buy older releases who may have skipped the application before.
That's a great example with the Wimdows comparison
Lol that made me remember when Apple used to charge every time they made a new version number and also every .5 version number
Ah ! Did they ditch the word "scheme" . Im glad that they are listening to their customers feedback
I've not bought the 23 upgrade. I'll continue using versie 22 until it won't work anymore. I'll never buy into renting software. Not with Adobe not with C1.
It's not the first trick - we'll see them scramble if we postpone spending tons of money. Just don't pay - let 'm be a bit scared. And this time i want long time garantees and no jokes anymore. They did that before when changing the upgrades - i switched to the Sony version - that got scratched - i switched back to the full - and now they're aiming for my pocket again.
No dear C1 enough is enough. No more money unless you agree to offer more continuity. Let's be honnest - the stitching in version 22 wasn't worth the upgrade (too much bugs to be perfect)... So i didn't want to buy version 23 and i'm i happy i didn't waste that money!
That seems to be the sentiment of many which you expressed greatly
I was paying for a Nikon user only and had my account renew on 12/5 for $103, on 12/6 they released the news statement regarding a change to their policy. I just bought the A7RV last week and transitioned over to Sony fully..... I wasn't able to change my "camera brand" and was forced to acquire another subscription for $176 in order to access my Sony files. Adobe still doesn't offer anything to view RAW files on their software... safe to say I'm pretty disappointed as I've been a C1 user for 5+ years. I sent them an email and hope they refund my payment made one day before their announcement
What happens if you switch the license but still need to go back and work with a few older Nikon raw files that you have already taken?
Great question - I guess I'll need to cross that bridge when it comes. I still haven't received a response from them via email. I imagine they got an influx of emails with the recent stuff they announced..
I don't remember when they merged all camera brands into one app, but, if you have a pretty current C1, it'll work with older Nikon raw files. I download Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Olympus, etc raw files from time to just to see the difference. They open just fine.
cc: Derek Johnson
I wonder how they will respond to that request? What do you mean about the Adobe comment? Bridge, Camera Raw and LR?
Last time I tried, Photoshop & ACR were not supporting the new A7RV files which forced me to pay for the upgrade to C123. I did update Photoshop last night but haven't checked to see if it brings support for the A7RV
I'm not a fan of the subscription route so im probably not updating my C1.
But facts are facts:
They DO (or did) keep supporting their release for atleast a year - they even sometimes came with major update like the magic select a month or two prior to a new version - and last C1-22 update was 16 days ago.
The new camera and lenses argument/issue - only an issue if you constantly buy newly release cameras and lenses but haven't bought/renewed software for more than a year prior to buying equipment,
The best example (not perfect) of a perpetual/subscription i have seen was the fxhome hitfilm where a purchase gave you 12 months of update, and if you did not pay for more you kept your final version
Link to update changlog for C1 so update arguments has facts instead of feelings
https://support.captureone.com/hc/en-us/categories/360000430178-Release-...
Yes, let's do that. Let's discuss facts:
--- "They DO (or did) keep supporting their release for atleast a year…"
They support the current release, once a new one is out, they abandon the previous one. If you click on Check for Updates, they'll push you to update to their latest one. You don't get an option to stick with the current version even though there's an update for it. In this example, instead of giving you the option to update to 15.4.3, they only offer 16.0.1, which you will have to pay for.
https://i.imgur.com/ym9AOVv.png
.
.
--- "they even sometimes came with major update like the magic select a month or two prior to a new version"
You apparently didn't read anything. If you had, you'd known they specifically state no more feature updates as of Feb 2023. Go re-read the 2nd paragraph of this article, specifically, the 1st bullet point. And, if you're a visual person like me, from C1's FAQ page :)
https://i.imgur.com/ubcRuhY.png
.
.
--- "and last C1-22 update was 16 days ago."
--- "Link to update changlog for C1 so update arguments has facts instead of feelings"
Dude, calm yourself. That "Updated" wording in the release notes is when they updated the document, not when they released the version. For instance, I downloaded v23 on 11/8 (35 days ago). So, at minimum, it's been available for over a month. However, their release notes show it was updated 19 days ago. Clearly, that's not when they released it.
https://i.imgur.com/502GXRq.png
After a few nightmare experiences with Capture One some years ago, I threw in the towel, ignored all the hype and returned to imperfect old Adobe, but a lot of peace of mind. I should have known better than to fall for marketing strategies in those days that were basically aimed at slagging their opposition mercilessly. That's always a bad sign. That was followed by the "wow, look who's using Capture One!" campaign .... I'm too old and much wiser now not to fall for that
I certainly hope that a least it has developed from when I was using it, especially in terms of customer service and back up.
I'm with you on the Adobe train. I always am surprised when companies do those influencer "you can be cool like..." campaigns. It reads as cheap and manipulative to me.
The thing that really pissed me off was how they recently had some seemingly great promo offers THEN came out with this news (I had 21 and they had an offer before 23 was released where you could purchase 23 but get 22 in the interim). Say all you want about needing to make more money, competition, wanting to offer updates more immediately, blah blah blah. This most recent promo just seemed maniacally deceptive and greedy. C1 has never been great about adding new Raw camera support in a timely manner (see Z9) and I’ve sometimes found their customer support to be unresponsive with a tone of snarkiness and irritability at my question, but this takes the cake.
This well-worded summary seems to be how most people feel
When I first moved to C1, I think it was version 7, the upgrades used to be around £80-£100 a year with loyalty discount. Back then I would just do it, the feature updates were okay but the price was worth it as it was comparible with Adobe subscription and I knew I always got to keep the last version if I chose not to upgrade.
Then they started to increase the upgrade pricing, so I was more hesitant so would usually wait til the sales.
Then they removed the ambassadors discount codes which made it even less appealing and increased the prices again whilst releasing mediocre updates. At this point I moved to skipping a version, so effectively they were still only getting the same amount of money from me but I felt I was bundling the updates so it made it more appealing to me to do it that way.
I'm note sure if others have done the same but their efforts to squeeze more money from me in the last few years hasn't worked, I've spent roughly the same but I've gone from being a C1 advocate to being a disgruntled customer. I've bought 23 in the sales as I skipped 22, it's likely this will keep me going for a few years but once I upgrade my cameras again then it may be time to have another look at the software market.
What makes the whole thing worse is that there are still so many bugs that have been present for years now and hardware acceleration still doesn't work reliably so it's not like I have faith they have any real interest in making a stable product any more, they just want to focus on half baked "feature upgrades" to keep people buying new versions
Indeed. Bugs and poor customer support. I've had issues with unresponsiveness for 5 months now (in addition to the perennial unresponsiveness when searching/filtering). Current support status: "our engineers still working on this case". A typical example of unresponsiveness, 48 seconds, when switching tooltabs – on an MBP Max M1 64 GB: https://imgur.com/CG3Me9O
I was welcomed with the wow we are the new kids on the block and we are cooler than the other stuff and then the bugs started and wow we are right behind you and yes there were great follow-ups until the bugs returned and then I got messages like "your computer is not compat......."... what? My computer? Then it was the problem with "MY" drivers and then ... well.... hello....? Are you there....? they just disappeared.
At the time I had my first Wacom tablet and it was much the same. Great ideas when they worked but fundamental problems.... upgrades rushing to keep up with or pass the competition but never really fixing the basics... Wacom drivers are still terrible. Capture One once advised me to remove me ant-virus protection.
The funniest that I saw was when a number of top guns were evangelized and radiant in their glory explained how that had found God in the form of Capture One and how could they ever have lived without it????.... so obviously it was top shit man....until one day in a round table I saw two of these luminaries explaining how they had outsourced all their editing for years so they could concentrate on clients and photography...
Ironically, by trying to emulate Adobe but at an ever higher price, what they will achieve is drive more customers there, and themselves out of the market. This happens when companies become too financially focused and lose common sense and customer focus...
I'm harsh on these subscriptions. I simply don't cough up the money. Something told me the investment in version 23 wasn't a good idea. Am i happy not to have forked out that money. Bye Bye Capture One. It'll be more difficult to persuade me next time to pay! The quality of the add-ons added to version 22 where not production ripe (e.g. the stitching features leaving green blobs that's not acceptable) - that led to me deciding to skip version 23. If they don't return to the older system of five years ago - i won't pay anymore. It's as simple as it is.
I'm a tough beast to crack and i have many software solutions.
Now C1 lost a customer that forked out every year his contribution. And reading the comments i'm not the only one.
I don't buy subscriptions - i'd rather eat my own money. It started with Adobe - they didn't receive a single eurocent from me since that moment.
It's sad because i like the way C1 works - it's good software, but it's not working under wine/linux so i'm not that sad either... There are still options enough on the market.