Adobe or Capture One

greggebhardt

greggebhardt

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I am a long time user of PhotoShop but have always wondered about the Capture software that came with my M8 and 8.2

Which do you prefer and why?

What advantages does it offer over Adobe?

Thanks in advance
 
I could never take a shine to the original version of Capture One LE that came with my M8.0. It had (to me) a confusing interface, and sharpening that either couldn't be turned off, or else I never managed to understand how to shut it off. Also in the beginning I was shooting everything @ ISO 160 and "pushing" it in the raw developer, and C1-LE had less stops on the slider than ACR. So for quite a time I used ACR. I still have CS2, but probably will upgrade to CS3 (I don't mind to stay one generation behind and save myself $$$$). It worked very well, better for me than C1-LE.

Then I happened to attend a get-together sponsored by Dale Labs, the Hollywood, FL Leica dealer, and Dave Farkas showed me some stuff he'd done, urged me to do the free upgrade to C1 v4, and downloaded me his M8 profile that he made in his studio. Also I started following Dan States' advice in re: noise reduction settings, and stopped shooting everything @ 160 and pushing. So as of now I'm back to C1 (v4) and rarely ever touch Photoshop for M8 files.

I know there are many opinions, and a lot of people seem to use Lightroom and (I guess the Mac guys ?) Aperture. So perhaps it's like lens choices, you really can't rely entirely on others' opinions, you need to use what suits you.
 
Thanks Ben,

You first paragraph had me knowing that I should stay with ACR. Then I got to your last part of your message and makes me what to try C1.

I am not even sure what version of C1 my M8.2 came with but I will check it out tonight. I only want to do some prelim adjustments most of the time, it needs to be easy and fast. Maybe I am asking too much! <vbg>

Thanks for your reply!
 
C1 V4 is surely more useful in processing a large batch of DNG files out of the M8. Photoshop, of course, can read DNG too but I haven't figured out its batch processing capabilities yet.

I wish C1 were able to see and drive my Canon printer. If it can, I haven't figured that out yet.

Therefore, I use each for different things.

-g
 
greggebhardt said:
Thanks Ben,

You first paragraph had me knowing that I should stay with ACR. Then I got to your last part of your message and makes me what to try C1.
Click to expand...

Glad I could clear things up for you :D If your M8 came with C1-LE you can upgrade for free, so don't worry about what version you've got now, just get the latest one.
 
ACR still has the more user-friendly interface and controls and integrates really well with Bridge and Photoshop (CS3 in my case, Like Ben I see little advantage in shelling out huge amounts for relatively small improvements), but C4 shows superior results in the image, more resolution, cleaner and better handling of microcontrast.

So if I am in a hurry and want to process a mass of images for private consumption I will use Bridge>ACR>CS3, if I am interested in doing my best images really nicely I will use C4>CS3.

An added disadvantage of C4 is that if one of the files you want to process is a Jpeg, it will refuse to process it and you will have to move out of the program to open it.
On the other hand, the CS3 version of ACR will not open the files of the D-Lux 4 unless they get run through the stopgap of the DNG converter, and C4 can handle them just fine.
 
M8 profile

M8 profile

Ben Z said:
I could never take a shine to the original version of Capture One LE that came with my M8.0. It had (to me) a confusing interface, and sharpening that either couldn't be turned off, or else I never managed to understand how to shut it off. Also in the beginning I was shooting everything @ ISO 160 and "pushing" it in the raw developer, and C1-LE had less stops on the slider than ACR. So for quite a time I used ACR. I still have CS2, but probably will upgrade to CS3 (I don't mind to stay one generation behind and save myself $$$$). It worked very well, better for me than C1-LE.

Then I happened to attend a get-together sponsored by Dale Labs, the Hollywood, FL Leica dealer, and Dave Farkas showed me some stuff he'd done, urged me to do the free upgrade to C1 v4, and downloaded me his M8 profile that he made in his studio. Also I started following Dan States' advice in re: noise reduction settings, and stopped shooting everything @ 160 and pushing. So as of now I'm back to C1 (v4) and rarely ever touch Photoshop for M8 files.

I know there are many opinions, and a lot of people seem to use Lightroom and (I guess the Mac guys ?) Aperture. So perhaps it's like lens choices, you really can't rely entirely on others' opinions, you need to use what suits you.
Click to expand...


How bout sharing the M8 Profile with others?:angel:
 
jaapv said:
An added disadvantage of C4 is that if one of the files you want to process is a Jpeg, it will refuse to process it and you will have to move out of the program to open it.
On the other hand, the CS3 version of ACR will not open the files of the D-Lux 4 unless they get run through the stopgap of the DNG converter, and C4 can handle them just fine.
Click to expand...

The solution exists. With V 4.7 they introduced processing for JPG and TIFF files.
 
I just bought version 4.7 as well. Now that I'm used to the interface, I like the results much more than from the photoshop raw converter. I would also like to get a good M8 profile. How can I get a copy of the one you mentioned?
 
I'm a Macbook, Aperture user. I never even down loaded Capture One mainly because I also use a Canon G9 and 40D albeit much less since picking up the M8.
 
I regret it that i spent the money for the lightroom 2 upgrade. In the meantime I do all my processing of my Canon and M8 in C1. I like the results (sharpnes, details, colours) much more. I hope that they will introduce some picture management in C1 Version 5.
 
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