Capture One makes it easy to reliably tether my cameras to a computer and have images reviewed by clients in real time.
PROS
Capture One works very well for tethered shooting on photo sets. It is responsive and works smoothly. I appreciate how Capture One renders colors and skin tones of raw files.
CONS
I feel like it's a bit expensive, and wish that I could export my raw edits easily to other applications like Adobe Bridge.
Reason for choosing Capture One
Lightroom is the professional standard for a reason, nothing else worked as smoothly for long days on set or made editing as easy.
Ankur
Media Production, 1 employee
Used daily for less than 2 years
Reviewed January 2023
Best for Fujifilm Users
If you're invested in Fujifilm System, don't want to spend monthly on an Adobe subscription, and/or want software built for tether shooting, you can't look past Capture One. If you want close based service through which you can edit while you travel on your iPad/Smartphone as a content creator, Adobe and its ecosystem is the smarter choice.
PROS
As a Fujifilm Camera System user, it is one of the rare software which allows proper compatibility it lacks Adobe Lightroom to use the Fujifilm Film Simulation, one of the significant reasons to invest in Fujifilm system which can't be achieved unless using JPEG. While editing RAW photos, those essential "Fuji" colors were lacking, but switching to Adobe Lightroom was an instant game changer. Colors were more vibrant, they had that Fujifilm look, and instead of presets, we could use Film Simulations and go from there to our heart content while editing.
CONS
There are too many tabs and they're not quite easy to understand in the development module. Export & Import time is quite long while Fujifilm offers an additional benefit, with Sony it doesn't offer anything special. With Adobe Lightroom being a widely used software, the lack of preset is another major lockdown for Capture One. Unlike Luminar or Adobe, it doesn't use AI for a better and more intuitive look which makes it feel outdated.
Reasons for switching to Capture One
Lacks Fujifilm Film Simulation and lackluster tether performance.
Anonymous
1 employee
Used daily for less than 2 years
Reviewed May 2022
Tethered Shooting & Editing with Capture One
My experience was good, and the software is very high quality, the comparison to using Lightroom vs. Capture One made me cut out Capture One. However, I would stress that this decision was based on what type of work I was doing at the time. If I had a full studio and did ONLY Studio work, I would probably re-investigate purchasing a subscription again. But as I said, the learning curve is steep!
PROS
Capture One is a very robust piece of software, to say the least. It drew me in primarily for the tethered shooting capabilities and the applied editing upon import. At the time I was using the paid service for this software, Adobe Lightroom did not have much in terms of competition. Capture One was more advanced.
CONS
While Capture One was more advanced, it has a very steep learning curve. It is well laid out for the most part, but it is a very complicated software to learn. Ultimately for the cost + the time needed to invest in learning how to use it, to justify the expense, I decided to move away from it. Not to say that the software is not good, it was just too expensive to keep using it. I use more Adobe Products and was not willing to pay for both.
Reason for choosing Capture One
I was using both software brands for different things. I simply went back to Lightroom for everything. Also, Adobe has upgraded its tethering features a lot since I left Capture One for tethered shooting.
Mikko
Photography, 1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
Reviewed September 2021
Brilliant photo editing, RAW conversion and photo library software
It is relatively easy to achieve understanding of the basic features of Capture One, however fully understanding and learning powerful editing tools takes time and practise to master, so there is a learning curve, but it is rewarding to see how much editing can be done already at this non-destructive stage. Because brush and mask tools in Capture One are so comprehensive it has become rare occasion or need to do editing with Photoshop. One can even use/launch some of the plugins [Topaz/On1] straight from the C1, but without exception files are converted to TIFF format and no longer RAW files when returning to Capture One. From the start I liked interphase and features better than Lightroom or CamereRaw and I also preferred how C1 handles Sony and Nikon RAW files as compared to LR.
PROS
One of the key features that stands out in Capture One is its multiple ways of editing colours. There is even a special feature for fine tuning skin colours, but it can be used for all sorts other colour edits. Two other highly useful tools are ability to do edits in layers and use masks for targeted editing. One can build masks from colour selections into separate editing layers with ease. Program is highly customisable to better suit own needs and editing workflow. One small feature that I really really like is an ability write annotations or small notes into photos/files. These are priceless when there are several weeks in between edits, I mean it is easier to remember where the edit was left and what was planned do for it, if there are some instructions written in photo etc. and those notes/annotations do not show in final exported version of the photo. Ability to duplicate files and copy/paste settings to multiple files are also great feature.
CONS
Camera specific ICC profiles [i.e Portrait, Landscape etc.] are missing for Sony ARW RAW files in Capture One Pro 20, instead there is only a generic camera profile for a camera say for A7RIII. For Nikon NEF RAW files such camera specific ICC profiles are there and they are many times much easier & convenient starting point for edits. Maybe version 21 of C1 Pro have fixed this and problem might be at the Sony end of things. Another annoying thing is very limited amount supported lenses for lens profiles. Here however latest Sony GM glass is well supported. Software is quite expensive and one has to purchase styles separately [and they are expensive as well] if that is something you might consider as important. There are some basic styles included, but not very many.
Reason for choosing Capture One
After trying C1 out I just liked end results, features, controls and workflow better.
Reasons for switching to Capture One
I still have Lightroom, but rarely use it as a desktop app [I use mobile app from time to time]. The way one can do quite complex non-destructive edits in C1 using layers is just much more flexible workflow than what used to be in LR. I also like colours and quality of files that I can get out from CaptureOne better compared LR. However, I must admit that roundtrips to Photoshop are easier to do with LR. Plus one is not forced into subscription model with C1 [but must say that upgrades are rather expensive with Capture One versions as well].
Rigger
Design, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
Reviewed February 2020
capture a new target
I used other photo editing software but decided to take a chance and switch to Capture One. Its simplicity helped me adapt although I miss some functions of the programs I left.
PROS
The interface is very simple, minimalist. It has more advanced functions than competing software, even integrates functions of several of these software
CONS
You still need to incorporate some functions of other photography software, and as for the default developer settings, it is still in diapers
Reason for choosing Capture One
by references
Reasons for switching to Capture One
I read good references of the program and decided to change, the program I used did not dominate it completely
Vendor Response
Thank you for your review and your recommendation. Please also be aware that the Capture One Enterprise version has Enterprise features only e.g. Barcode scanner integration, workflow support etc.
Replied March 2020
Anonymous
1 employee
Used monthly for more than 2 years
Reviewed December 2022
Get better colors for your RAW
Easy manage my photos.
PROS
I could get better colors for my RAWs by default. I could restore the shadows from night images. Also, the interface it's more intelligent organized than other software.
CONS
Managing the library with tags is very basic. I would like to have better copy/paste options like other competing software.
Reason for choosing Capture One
Price structure and quality of the processing.
Reasons for switching to Capture One
Quality of the revealed image of the RAWs and price.
Aaron
Retail, 2-10 employees
Used weekly for less than 6 months
Reviewed April 2022
Capture One is a go-to replacement for Lightroom [for me]
I think Capture One may be my favorite photo editing software. There are others that have better features, but none of them do everything as smoothly and as well as Capture One. It's a Jack of All Trades, so to speak.
PROS
No more monthly subscriptions. Buy it once, own it for life. Performs just as well, if not better than Lightroom on my mid-range PC. Also works really well for Fujifilm raw files without any artifacts.
CONS
Hard to come up with things I don't like about Capture One. They even have an Express version that you can get for free and try before you buy the full version.
Reason for choosing Capture One
It runs the best on my PC and does everything at a reasonable cost.
Reasons for switching to Capture One
tired of the Adobe monthly subscription.
Xinyi
Computer Hardware, 10,000+ employees
Used weekly for less than 12 months
Reviewed April 2022
Great alternative for Lightroom
I used to use Lightroom, but that subscription service is a little expensive for me because I'm not a professional photographer. Then, I found Capture One. It provides all features I need, and it's free. I love this software.
PROS
This software provides most features you will need for photo editing. If you are using Sony or Fujifilm camera, you can even download capture one express, which is free!
CONS
The required catalog file is pretty large and occupies some space. Also, unlike Lightroom, Capture One doesn't have Photoshop, so it might be harder to collaborate with Photoshop.
Reasons for switching to Capture One
The subscription of Lightroom is too expensive for me and doesn't provide free version.
Anonymous
1,001-5,000 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
Reviewed July 2023
Capture One Pro in eCommerce Photography Studio
Capturing a high volume of model imagery along with naming product being photographed.
PROS
Capture One can handle a large volume of images in one session and qucikly loads previews when launching the program. Has a feature to colour tag images to highlight favourite shots or can star imagery to highlight.
CONS
Imagery cache can build up resulting in program getting slow. Manaul deletion of cache is require to resolve issue.
Patryk
Photography, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
Reviewed November 2021
[almost]reliable software
In my opinion, the program does the job, although I also believe that there should be more options [eg export].
PROS
As a user, I like the speed and stability of this program. I had no problem with slow loading of thumbnails, even with thousands of files. During the time I have been using this program, it has never stopped working unnoticed.
CONS
The program does not support hdr stacking and panoramas [yet]. There's lack of plug-ins at current time, and only few export options [jpg, tiff, png].
Reasons for switching to Capture One
I needed reliability.
Anonymous
1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
Reviewed January 2023
the king's return
I have been using Capture one for many years. I worked a lot with the competitor software Adobe lighroom. The latter remains far behind Capture One on almost all points. The main difference in favor of Adobe Lightroom is that it has a cataloguing function. However, thanks to its layers, which remain unmatched in the most recent versions of the competitor's software, Capture One remains the one and only serious and professional solution for the development of digital photography.
PROS
Capture one remains the best solution for analyzing, developing and working with .raw files, as well as for studio photography in connected mode. The software is powerful, easy to use, once you have its logic and terribly customizable, which allows it to adapt to any user configuration.
CONS
Perhaps the most disturbing point is the force of habit. Like any new software, we have to get used to the UX/UI couple. Once this small effort is made, the software fully deploys all its quality and efficiency.
Bernard
Photography, 1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
Reviewed June 2023
Powerful and always improving
Makes post production efficient and productive
PROS
Workflow management using sessions makes the process of editing easy to manage. The editing tools are incredibly powerful and with practice become easy and quick to use.
CONS
The iPad and iPhone versions of the software are promising but need further development.
Reasons for switching to Capture One
Better compatibility with Fujifilm cameras.
erick
Photography, 1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
Reviewed July 2022
really the best app
amazing, really easy to use and with incredible results
PROS
the way the app see the colours, the way the app its organized its incredible, the multiples options the program gives me to do what i need to, its really fast to work with it and i really love the app because i can reach colours i can't reach with other apps
CONS
actually, only the price sometimes makes me sad, but its not the worst, because the app has its value
Reasons for switching to Capture One
the way the app read the raw archive
Fernando
Real Estate, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
Reviewed October 2022
Wow! This is the best RAW editing tool!
For many years I've used Lightroom, but Lr has many problems with color management [even for Canon cameras] and too much use of CPU that makes the exports very slow and burns the computer.
PROS
Color correctionNoise correctionIncredibly fastDark and brightest areas correctionEfficiency Librarys and sesions
CONS
The price is higher than Photoshop+Lightroom, but, believe me, it is worth it to use Capture One and Photoshop!Is not very intuitive at first use, but Capture One has many tutorials to leave Lr and start using this fantastic tool.Believe me: you won't regret the change.
Reasons for switching to Capture One
Mentioned above
Andrew
Computer Hardware, 1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
Reviewed August 2023
Capture One there is no better software for Image Capture and processing
Capture One is a solid piece of software, that gets the job done, when photo professional need to get their projects completed on time.
PROS
I've been using and training photo professionals on Capture One software since its beginning, and there's no better image capture and processing software in the market today or in the past for that matter.
CONS
None that I can think of, Capture One continues to keep up with all the latest professional camera files formats and computer OS upgrades.
Reason for choosing Capture One
None
Richard
Photography, 1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
Reviewed September 2023
Plantage incessant
PROS
Dés l'utilisation des outils des calques, le logiciel rame et se plante sans arrêtj'ai pourtant en ma possession deux tours très puissantes et c'est le même souci
CONS
Ses plantages qui me font perdre de nombreuses minutes
Reason for choosing Capture One
Livré avec ma Blackmagic 6k Pro
Anonymous
11-50 employees
Used weekly for more than 2 years
Reviewed October 2022
Un software che non può mancare in uno studio fotografico.
Mi sono trovato molto bene con Capture One anche se ultimamente gli preferisco Lightroom che trovo già pronto nell'Adobe Creative Cloud.
PROS
Capture One Pro è di gran lunga il miglior software per la gestione e il fotoritocco professionale. L'elaborazione dei .raw è semplicemente eccezionale. Oltre a questo offre un'ottima catalogazione di immagini, di regolazioni locali e globali, di regolazione del colore, di maschere e di livelli e uno straordinario numero di altre utili funzionalità che non possono mancare in uno studio fotografico. Con Capture One puoi anche scattare in tethering cosicché le tue foto risulteranno immagini già catalogate e sviluppate. Un gran bel risparmio di tempo.
CONS
L'interfaccia utente di Capture One è senza dubbio migliorabile e il software sicuramente non è economico.
Anonymous
10,000+ employees
Used weekly for less than 12 months
Reviewed April 2020
Capture One Software Review
I've been using Capture One for quite a few months now, after switching from a similar photo editing software. I love the highly customizable user interface, which made using this software a lot easier for me as a new user. I'm happy I made the switch to Capture One with its many great features.
PROS
You can add searchable keywords, tags or ratings to images, which makes organising and looking for images very fast and easy. Capture One offers a broad range of tools, manual as well as automatic ones, to adjust color gradients, correct potential lens defects and fix exposure issues. The interface is highly customizable, which is particularly practical for beginners. You also get a choice of either an ongoing subscription to the software or a perpetual license, which many other programs do not offer.
CONS
Capture One only offers limited support for older, lower-end and less popular cameras. The level of performance regarding image previews and final versions is also lower than that of similar softwares.
Vendor Response
Thank you for your review and your recommendation. Please also be aware that the Capture One Enterprise version has Enterprise features only e.g. Barcode scanner integration, workflow support etc.
Replied April 2020
Hristo
Photography, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
Reviewed May 2020
After you get accustomed ,using it becomes second nature
PROS
The setting seem pre-tailored to my lens and helped me drastically improve the quality of my images . The folder organization within the program is neat and you can easily maneuver and drastically reduce the time you spend on non-essential tasks . It is very sensitive to the different needs of different camera types and supports all of them [ at least all of the ones I have tried ] .
CONS
There was definitely a learning curve to overcome at the beginning . The price can also be discouraging for small businesses. But after a while you find it was well worth it .
Andrew
Photography, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 6 months
Reviewed June 2021
Trialling C1 and impressed thus far
We're just trialling Capture One at present but are impressed with its features.
PROS
Styles stack, works wonders for applying different elements instead of overall presets and they're extremely flexible. It has non-destructive layered editing which is more complex than LightRoom but a lot more dynamic.
CONS
It's VERY complex. Coming from LightRoom to C1 is a big jump in UI/UX. There's a lot of learning to do but the results speak for themselves.
Reason for choosing Capture One
Better licencing options. Better features.
Reasons for switching to Capture One
Cost of Adobe CC is difficult to stomach. Features are a bit lack lustre.
Slash
Business Supplies and Equipment, 1 employee
Used weekly for less than 12 months
Reviewed June 2021
excellent tool for photography
With this program I felt more comfortable working and I got used to it and its benefits, it has a very good graphics engine and its tools are advanced but easy to use.
PROS
is a program that runs smoothly and that features many tools that make working on photos easier.
CONS
It is not cheap and buying the latest version every year can be expensive and the latest updates have been reducing the brightness of the program.
Reasons for switching to Capture One
the issue was whether to make a single purchase or pay a subscription and also capture one is more fluid in the equipment I have.
Muegbeyogho
Photography, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
Reviewed March 2020
The best Raw processor software ever
Its worth every dime spent.
PROS
the color science, The ability to stack layers and build effects, the icc profile etc.
CONS
It lacks camera calibration sliders like Lightroom does have.
Vendor Response
Thank you for your review and your recommendation. Please also be aware that the Capture One Enterprise version has Enterprise features only e.g. Barcode scanner integration, workflow support etc.
Replied March 2020
Joseph
Photography, 1 employee
Reviewed September 2022
Could be great, if you started there
I wanted to stay with it, but I just couldn’t. As a small creator, I don’t have the funds to have both Adobe [for photoshop] & Capture One. There is a lot of promise here though.
PROS
The flow of the program, Layers, tethering & the catalogue
CONS
No presets. Coming from Adobe, I love my presets.
Reason for choosing Capture One
I wanted to try the product. Ultimately, I stuck with LR
Reasons for switching to Capture One
I wanted to try something different
Jacopo
Marketing and Advertising, 1 employee
Used weekly for less than 2 years
Reviewed January 2023
Ottimo software di fotoritocco RAW avanzato
Uso saltuariamente il prodotto in alternativa a Lightroom, finora si è rivelato veloce e di semplice utilizzo generale. Qualche noia in accelerazione hardware con processori AMD Ryzen
PROS
Interfaccia utente, controlli HDR, esportazione
CONS
Un po' macchinoso su alcune funzioni e importazione immagini, problemi con accelerazione hardware AMD
Reasons for switching to Capture One
Costo inferiore
Nantenaina
Computer Software, 1 employee
Used daily for less than 2 years
Reviewed December 2022
Avis Capture One
Capture one m'a aidé d'être plus productif une fois la prise en main maitrisé.Il m'a rapporté plus de qualité de livrable pour mes clients.
PROS
Ce qui m'a plus touché c'est la gestion de la colorimétrie qui est très riche. Mais aussi la gestion des calques qui m'aide beaucoup à revenir à des problèmes de retouches.
CONS
C'était la prise en main qui m'a donné un peu du fil à retorde car beaucoup de menus ou de fontionnalités à apprendre.
Does Capture One work with Sony cameras?
With cabled tethering built-in, Capture One Pro is the industry standard in remote camera control complete with live view for a wide range of Sony cameras. Simply connect the cable that came with your camera and enjoy unparalleled control over your camera's settings.
What are the disadvantages of Capture One?
Capture One Pros & Cons.
Is Capture One Pro better than Lightroom?
In summary, I find Lightroom to be less demanding. Its operation is easier and quicker to learn. On the other hand, Capture One is a tool for the more advanced user, catering to those who know precisely what they desire from a photo editing program and who have a well-defined workflow.
Is Capture One worth buying?
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.