For hardened Lightroom users such as myself, Capture One Pro can feel like a bit of a mystery. What are the advantages and why would you consider changing? Ignoring for a moment the pros and cons of payment models, here are some excellent reasons why Capture One Pro might be worth investigating.
In this detailed video, photographer Eli Infante runs through some of his editing and reveals some of the power that Capture One Pro has over Lightroom, and when it comes to managing multiple layers with more detailed edits, the software certainly looks to have some genuine advantages.
Some other points for consideration: in Lightroom, if you've set up a number of small adjustments using brushes and gradients, it can be hard work to revisit them and give them tweaks. If you've been retouching a model's face, this can get very complicated.
Firstly, there is no means of labeling an adjustment. This means that you have to click through each one, looking at the settings or the mask to figure out what each adjustment does, and this can be hard work. Secondly, there's no quick and easy way to toggle adjustments on and off. In Capture One Pro, you simply toggle the layer with a tick brush which makes comparisons — whether that's before and after, or different versions of the same adjustment — far easier.
Secondly, Lightroom limits you to 16 sliders and a color brush (where is Vibrancy?). You can't make local changes to HSL/Color or Tone Curve like you can with Capture One Pro.
I want to keep playing with Capture One Pro but the 30-day limit makes it tricky as I want to dip in and out whenever I get time. My proposal to Capture One would be to produce a version that only exports low res files, or perhaps doesn't export raw files at all. This would give me time to get used to the software without feeling that trial period ticking away.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Thanks! Good to know. Let's see if I can install a trial on the same machine as I already did with v19...
Edit: that was quick to find out, my trial license has expired and I can't get a new one for the new version.
Drop them an email. They're usually pretty responsive, and they're not a massive, faceless corporation like Adobe so you stand a much better chance of reaching a real person.
Someone really hates Adobe with a passion. I have called Adobe twice on phone and both times I talked to a real person that solved my problem. I have filed a few trouble tickets with PhaseOne and I got a response within 24 hours so no complaints there either.
Imagine the reaction if the headline was: "Why You Should Be Using Sony Instead of Canon". This is an "unbiased" guy who is telling you what tools to use.
Love my Nikons. I use both Sony and Nikon DSLR as they both have their strengths.
I'd change in a heartbeat if they would match Adobe's price at 12$/month, instead of 20$/month. The price makes all the difference.
After several years (versions) of my using LR, Adobe changed it to a subscription. At that point, I moved to Capt One and have not returned. Though Capt One has been robust and satisfying, a feature I dearly miss from LR is the print output with framing and border options. There is no such feature in Capt One nor do I know a means to replace the lost framing/border print output feature.