Capture One

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.

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 Unlike Luminar or Adobe, it doesn't use AI for a better and more intuitive look which makes it feel outdated.

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.

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.

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.

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.