Jump to content

Stick with LR or switch to Capture One?


Recommended Posts

Hi all,

I’m a very keen soon to be Fujifilm owner! I’ve had an entry level Canon DSLR for years but will be getting an XT30 next week 😀

I’ve always used Lightroom to edit my RAW files but have read that it doesn’t handle the Fuji RAW files very well and Capture One does a much better job. I’ve seen YouTube videos where the Fuji files look horrible in LR and it seems like a mission to get them looking decent, never mind doing the edits you want. 
I’m not great with LR but can do basic edits and don’t like to spend hours editing photos. 

I can’t afford to pay for both software packages so I’m looking for some advice as to what may be best. 

At the moment I’m keeping my Canon just as another option but if it turns out I never use it I’ll trade it in. 
 

I keep my RAW files stored on an external hard drive and they’re all organised into folders. In LR they’re organised into collections but I’m not sure if Capture One has this option? I have the LR app on my phone and iPad but don’t use it much. 
 

If anyone can offer some advice that would be great. 
 

Thank you 😊 

Link to post
Share on other sites

This has been discussed many times already. You could read up on how to adjust sharpening in LR to get much better results with Fuji files than you get with default settings. But most people, me included, would say it is better to switch to C1. It is easy to learn, they have good tutorials. Have a look. The results with C1 are great. You will never want to use your old Canon camera, the difference in IQ is big. Try the free version of C1 for Fuji, then buy the Pro version with layers and enjoy. You can use it for your Canon files too. 
Tips: you can move the sliders with the scroll wheel on your mouse, double click a slider to return it to the default value, click on the name of the slider to temporarily see it at default value. Hover the cursor over film simulations in their scroll-down menu to see the effect instantly. Be sure to learn how to make intelligent selections with Luminosity etc. 
Switch to C1. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi,

Thank you for your reply. 
 

Ive watched a quick video about how to use Capture One and it looks intuitive and user friendly. 
I think I’ll download their free version to see what I think first and can compare the files to ones opened in LR. 
Ive seen some videos where the raw files look horrible in LR and others where they look fine  🤷‍♀️ 
 

If I don’t use my Canon again I’d be more inclined to switch as I would probably get the Fuji version of Capture One for cost reasons. 
 

I’ll see how I get on, thanks again ☺️

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I went through the look see process, but I have so many pictures in Lightroom (over 200,000) that I didn't want to switch. I came from Aperture on a Mac and switched to LR went Aperture was discontinued. Rather than switch to Capture1, I went to importing my RAW shots with Iridient X-Transformer into DRG files, and then imported the into LR. What a difference! Iridient is about $40 one time purchase, and now I have all of LR and Photoshop available. I love the sync ability of my photos with my iPad and iPhone, and have even edited some of the pics on my iPad with great results.

Anyway, if you have concerns about leaving LR and shots you have already stored there, try Iridient for your fuji shots.

Link to post
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, jwascher said:

I went through the look see process, but I have so many pictures in Lightroom (over 200,000) that I didn't want to switch. I came from Aperture on a Mac and switched to LR went Aperture was discontinued. Rather than switch to Capture1, I went to importing my RAW shots with Iridient X-Transformer into DRG files, and then imported the into LR. What a difference! Iridient is about $40 one time purchase, and now I have all of LR and Photoshop available. I love the sync ability of my photos with my iPad and iPhone, and have even edited some of the pics on my iPad with great results.

Anyway, if you have concerns about leaving LR and shots you have already stored there, try Iridient for your fuji shots.

Thank you, that’s interesting. I haven’t heard of Iridient before. 
 

From what I’ve seen it looks like you need to do a lot of faffing with sharpening in LR before you can get started with the editing you want to do. 
 

I only do basic editing on LR and the less faffing I have to do with pictures the better, hence considering Capture One. 
The downside is if I switched to Capture One Fuji then I’m not sure how I would open and edit my Canon raw files. 🤔 I don’t have that many and none are that great as I’m very amateur so it’s not a major concern.

I’ll look into Iridient but it adds another step which could be avoided I think. I’d like to keep it as simple as possible. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

C1 comes in three flavours: C1 Express for Fuji, which is for free but lacks some advanced stuff like layers and the color editor. Then there's C1 Pro for Fuji which is a full version but only works with Fuji cameras. Finally there's C1 Pro which works with all supported cameras and has all features. For all paid versions you can buy them as life long license or monthly subscription. You can download the C1 Pro versions as 30-day trials before you have to pay. The catalogue migration from LR to C1 is quite good in the new C1 20 version.

I've switched 2 years ago and never looked back. I find C1 even more intuitive since you can customise as you want. The RAF-files look better in C1 compared to LR. I've set a number of sharpening and NR profiles and use these all the time. Next to that I also noticed my Canon files looking 'better'. More contrast and slightly more saturated colours. Of course you can dial-back if you don't like them.

Link to post
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Herco said:

C1 comes in three flavours: C1 Express for Fuji, which is for free but lacks some advanced stuff like layers and the color editor. Then there's C1 Pro for Fuji which is a full version but only works with Fuji cameras. Finally there's C1 Pro which works with all supported cameras and has all features. For all paid versions you can buy them as life long license or monthly subscription. You can download the C1 Pro versions as 30-day trials before you have to pay. The catalogue migration from LR to C1 is quite good in the new C1 20 version.

I've switched 2 years ago and never looked back. I find C1 even more intuitive since you can customise as you want. The RAF-files look better in C1 compared to LR. I've set a number of sharpening and NR profiles and use these all the time. Next to that I also noticed my Canon files looking 'better'. More contrast and slightly more saturated colours. Of course you can dial-back if you don't like them.

Hi,

Thank you so much for your reply.

At the moment, I have the Capture One Express free version.

I tried it yesterday with some Fuji RAW files and they definitely look much better initially than they do in LR. They did take a long time to load though and I didn't have that many images so not sure why that was. 🤔 I also struggled with exporting them to JPEG as the file sizes were absolutely massive. I had to read an article on how to adjust the sizing and then try exporting them again.

I didn't mind the interface of Capture One but prefer LR, maybe it's because I'm more used to it. I was only using the free version of Capture One.

I did check out my Fuji RAW files in LR and if you zoom in to the detailed areas the 'worms' are so horrible and the file didn't look as good. I have watched a video on YouTube explaining how to adjust the sharpening in LR and the results looked good, but the image used was a portrait shot. I'm not sure if the same technique applies to other photos, like landscape, for example. I haven't tried it out yet but will give it a go and see if it helps. 

So far I'm still torn between sticking with LR or moving to Capture One. LR seems better value for money as you get the whole Creative Cloud for £9.99 a month and it includes apps for your phone or iPad. As far as I'm aware the subscription version of Capture One for Fuji is the same price. Buying the full version may be more cost effective in the long run but it depends how much upgrades cost and how frequent/necessary they are.

Thanks again for your help. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

There's a lot of install-specific optimizations you can do on C1 to improve performance and optimize file sizes. I've found it to be significantly faster than LR overall once setup correctly, but out of the box it can be slow. The biggest wins are GPU acceleration and selecting an optimized preview size (should be 1 step larger than your monitor resolution). 

There's definitely a learning curve for C1 and it's a desktop app, not a mix of desktop & mobile apps. I honestly pay for both in order to get the LR mobile apps (useful on the road) and PS. LR Classic is just an occasionally-used bonus for me in that package (I absolutely despise the new LR Cloud desktop app, it's trash IMHO)

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I use Capture One 20 for Fujifilm. I bought a license (not subscription) with Professional Styles Kit (110 Styles in 8 packs). It was 64% saving when I bought the application. It is Capture One 20 for Fujifilm version 13.1.1.31 I use.
It is amazing what You can do with RAF (RAW) files in this application. Maybe little unusual graphical user interface (GUI) but I will probably get used to it after a while. It is amazing (to me) what You can do with a RAF file that do not look so good to start with, like dark for example and You think the photo is not much to work on. I just use the application for fun, I'm not professional photographer. I use a Fujifilm X-T4 camera with lens XF16-80mm F4 R OIS WR. So much settings in this camera...
I did not want to pay for subscription so that was why I did not want to get Adobe Lightroom. I have used Photoshop and Photoshop Elements for many years.
/Bo

Edited by bem
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

After purchasing X-T1 and X-T3 and realizing Lightroom would not process RAF files out of the X-T3, I tried C1 Express and was so impressed, I bought the Fuji license version with styles kit. At this point I am thinking of going all the way to Pro version so I  use Canon files as well. The fact that they have excellent training tutorials and the system is a joy to use has me convinced. 
Adobe made a big mistake for me when eliminating the perpetual license version. Not going to be locked into paying for years. 

Edited by Cramden
Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm still using LR as if I leave early I have to pay almost £60 so stuck with it for now. I've managed to adjust sharpening so that artefacts etc. aren't too bad on my Fuji files. I have used the free version of C1 but need to look more into how to use it properly and think about getting the full version. I have everything all organised into collections in LR so it'll be tough to switch to C1 at first I think.

Link to post
Share on other sites

On 6/19/2020 at 2:14 AM, teaandcake said:

Hi all,

I’m a very keen soon to be Fujifilm owner! I’ve had an entry level Canon DSLR for years but will be getting an XT30 next week 😀

I’ve always used Lightroom to edit my RAW files but have read that it doesn’t handle the Fuji RAW files very well and Capture One does a much better job. I’ve seen YouTube videos where the Fuji files look horrible in LR and it seems like a mission to get them looking decent, never mind doing the edits you want. 
I’m not great with LR but can do basic edits and don’t like to spend hours editing photos. 

I can’t afford to pay for both software packages so I’m looking for some advice as to what may be best. 

At the moment I’m keeping my Canon just as another option but if it turns out I never use it I’ll trade it in. 
 

I keep my RAW files stored on an external hard drive and they’re all organised into folders. In LR they’re organised into collections but I’m not sure if Capture One has this option? I have the LR app on my phone and iPad but don’t use it much. 
 

If anyone can offer some advice that would be great. 
 

Thank you 😊 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

From the start of LR in 2006 I used LR for my Nikon's etc.
Two years ago I changed from Nikon to Fujifilm X-T20 as a try-out, never made a better choise.

The colors out of Fujifilm are not verry good in LR.
The best at this moment are Exposure.software and Capture One pro. If you want to use the software for your Canon and your Fujifilm camera Raw's then you have to choose Capture One pro which is more expensive than the versions for just one brand.

I use Exposure for a few years now, it gives perfect colors for my Nikon and specially for my Fujifilm raws. Besides this its verry fast, has verry good support and the next version X6 is outstanding, you can use layers as well, which is not possible in LR, Pricewise its from 129,00 to 149,00 dollars now. You can use a trial version for 1 month and if you want some more time you can sent a mail and they'll comply. Exposure works with your RAW's from your HD and keep your edits in a separate file, so your RAW's are save. This is a honest advice nothing more than that, I don't earn money from them.

Capture One pro is verry good in colors and tech's, but it's more expensive and needs a verry long learning time.

If you want to know more or whatever mail me at roeland3006@gmail.com 

B T W I don't why that underling started 🙂

 




 

 

Edited by Roeland
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies. 
 

I’ve checked my Adobe account and currently stuck in a subscription for a few more months. 😩
 

I’m strongly considering purchasing C1 for Fuji outright and using that instead. The 21 version looks very good with a lot of useful features.  
My only concern is my laptop may struggle. At the moment it can run Lightroom but the RAM is almost maxed out and it’s quite slow. When I bought my laptop I wasn’t interested in photography so didn’t think much about RAM and processing power. I’m loathe to upgrade as it’s so expensive and my laptop is fine for all other tasks, just not photo editing! 
 

I love my Fuji camera and can’t see me moving from it any time soon. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve viewed my Canon RAW files since I’ve had my Fuji and I think my Fuji photos are much better anyway. 😛

I’ve been looking on YouTube for C1 tutorials and have noticed some good ones by pal2tech. I’m aware it’s quite different to LR in terms of interface but it looks like C1 have their own tutorials and there’s also a lot on YouTube which should help me get to grips with it. 
 

Any tips or advice welcome!

Link to post
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, teaandcake said:

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies. 
 

I’ve checked my Adobe account and currently stuck in a subscription for a few more months. 😩
 

I’m strongly considering purchasing C1 for Fuji outright and using that instead. The 21 version looks very good with a lot of useful features.  
My only concern is my laptop may struggle. At the moment it can run Lightroom but the RAM is almost maxed out and it’s quite slow. When I bought my laptop I wasn’t interested in photography so didn’t think much about RAM and processing power. I’m loathe to upgrade as it’s so expensive and my laptop is fine for all other tasks, just not photo editing! 
 

I love my Fuji camera and can’t see me moving from it any time soon. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve viewed my Canon RAW files since I’ve had my Fuji and I think my Fuji photos are much better anyway. 😛

I’ve been looking on YouTube for C1 tutorials and have noticed some good ones by pal2tech. I’m aware it’s quite different to LR in terms of interface but it looks like C1 have their own tutorials and there’s also a lot on YouTube which should help me get to grips with it. 
 

Any tips or advice welcome!

As for laptop performance I only have experience with macOS. On my macbook C1 seems to be a bit faster than LR and it is certainly coded with more efficiency in mind. Most Adobe products are very memory intense and make less use of multicore processor capabilities on the macOS platform. I also have ON1 Photo Raw 2020 installed and however that doesn't work with a catalogue, it seems much slower and processor intensive than C1. I'd recommend you download C1 and start a trial subscription first.

As for tutorials, C1 has an excellent support section with lots of good videos. Very practical are the 'edit with...' videos. If you're familiar with LR, you'd quickly understand the logic of C1 too. Next to pal2tech, I can also recommend the channels of Scott Detweiler and Thomas Fitzgerald. Thomas also has nice Styles (C1 language for Presets) available for download and sells an excellent guide on how to handle Fuji RAW files in C1.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks @Herco for your really helpful reply. 😊
 

I have a MacBook Pro so I’m pleased to hear C1 isn’t so memory intensive! The plan is to cancel my Adobe subscription when I can do so penalty free, and then download the trial version of C1. If I like it, which I’m sure I will, I’ll then purchase C1 for Fuji. 
 

I think I already follow Thomas Fitzgerald on YouTube, but will check out Scott Deweiler too, I haven’t heard of him before. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, teaandcake said:

Not entirely sure what DAM means, I'm not very techy. 😬 Is it photo organisation? I just use catalogues in LR and I believe you can set these up in C1 too?

DAM stands for Digital Asset Management and is indeed the Library/Catalogue function in LR and C1. LR has indeed some advantages here for users who seek very detailed filter and keyword features.

However, C1 comes pretty close for most users. You can migrate your LR catalogues to C1 and it retains all keyword and album functions. For the very large catalogues and advanced filter options Photo Mechanic is a very good addition.

When you work in projects (like most professionals do) C1 has another option which is called Sessions. I suggest to view the online C1 tutorial Catalogues vs. Sessions first before setting up C1. That should give you an idea which one to go for. You can also use both depending your workflow. For my personal work I use Catalogues (coming from LR). My paid work is in Sessions (incl. mostly tethered shooting).

Link to post
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Herco said:

DAM stands for Digital Asset Management and is indeed the Library/Catalogue function in LR and C1. LR has indeed some advantages here for users who seek very detailed filter and keyword features.

However, C1 comes pretty close for most users. You can migrate your LR catalogues to C1 and it retains all keyword and album functions. For the very large catalogues and advanced filter options Photo Mechanic is a very good addition.

When you work in projects (like most professionals do) C1 has another option which is called Sessions. I suggest to view the online C1 tutorial Catalogues vs. Sessions first before setting up C1. That should give you an idea which one to go for. You can also use both depending your workflow. For my personal work I use Catalogues (coming from LR). My paid work is in Sessions (incl. mostly tethered shooting).

Thanks again for your helpful post!

I'm very much a hobbyist so catalogue is probably a fine option for me. I just have the photos in different folders and this works for me in LR. I've never used key words or anything like that before.

I'll have a look at the Catalogue vs Sessions video though, thanks.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I will look for other threads on this topic also. I'm fairly new to the Fuji ecosystem - had an x-t3 as a backup to my Nikon D750. Then, got the x-t4 and the Nikon is gathering dust. Long time user of LR & PS. BUT, now I want to do tethered shooting with the camera pointed down at flat lays. By the time it is all said and done, the camera is on the tripod on a bracket well above what I can see to control. The tethering cable plugs into the x-t4 on the left side in a position that renders the flippy screen difficult to see. (FUJIFILM - please fix the inputs panel and the stupid little doors). 

Now, I'm looking for a way to control the camera remotely - not just a remote shutter, but most of the common settings. One solution is CamRanger 2; another one appears to be TetherTools Air Direct (another expensive wireless gizmo) and possibly Capture One. I can't quite figure out from the Capture One website if that's true or not. Would I have to buy or subscribe to C1 Pro in order to get that functionality??

Thanks for any advice -- and if there are threads already on the site that would help me out, please point me there. I'm new to the site and just starting to search.

Link to post
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, dearnold said:

I will look for other threads on this topic also. I'm fairly new to the Fuji ecosystem - had an x-t3 as a backup to my Nikon D750. Then, got the x-t4 and the Nikon is gathering dust. Long time user of LR & PS. BUT, now I want to do tethered shooting with the camera pointed down at flat lays. By the time it is all said and done, the camera is on the tripod on a bracket well above what I can see to control. The tethering cable plugs into the x-t4 on the left side in a position that renders the flippy screen difficult to see. (FUJIFILM - please fix the inputs panel and the stupid little doors). 

Now, I'm looking for a way to control the camera remotely - not just a remote shutter, but most of the common settings. One solution is CamRanger 2; another one appears to be TetherTools Air Direct (another expensive wireless gizmo) and possibly Capture One. I can't quite figure out from the Capture One website if that's true or not. Would I have to buy or subscribe to C1 Pro in order to get that functionality??

Thanks for any advice -- and if there are threads already on the site that would help me out, please point me there. I'm new to the site and just starting to search.

I’m not much help I’m afraid as I don’t tether my camera. 
 

However, I believe the new version of Capture One is out today and on their website you can get a free trial to see if you like it. So I would use the trial and see what you think. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

My plan at the moment is to stick with Adobe until my subscription ends. I thought I just had a few months left but they recently renewed it for another year and didn't tell me! 

I would like to move to C1 Fuji and just buy the software as I have no plans to change my camera for a while.

However, I'm also looking into upgrading my MacBook in the future and I'm wondering if C1 will support the new M1 chip or if I'll have to upgrade from the software I purchased?

I've had a look on the C1 forum but it was mostly people complaining about a lack of transparency from C1 and poor customer support which was a bit off putting 😬

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi All, 

I have an XT-1 (not sure what version )- I want to tether directly to my adobe lightroom Classic in my mac. But realized I need to buy the LR Fuji Plug in or CR  - Before I commit to a plug-in that may or may not work, can you share your experiences with connection XT-1 To Adobe Lightroom Classic with LR Fuji or CR?

Does it work if I don't have the latest version FUJI XT-1?

Thank you!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...