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Capture One Pro as an alternative/upgrade to Aperture
- Thread starter VirtualRain
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C1 is a great piece of software, its UI very flexible, though I prefer what LR gives you. Many of my fellow Aperture users went on to use C1 over LR, as they feel its the closest to AP and the transition was less rocky. I will say the RAW rendering was better in C1 then LR. Since both have trials, definitely give it a go.
My anecdote on price is that I have access to Adobe CC through work, so LR comes free for me... and I still prefer C1.
The cost of C1 is not cheap, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to what I spend on computer and photography gear.
My anecdote on price is that I have access to Adobe CC through work, so LR comes free for me... and I still prefer C1.
I'm a hobbyist, and my needs fluctuate, its hard to justify spending a lot on it when I have family needs
If I felt C1 provided an advantage to my workflow, I would have taken the plunge, but LR seems to be fitting my needs better.
After being away for a couple of weeks, I just spent some time with Capture One Pro today, and wow, I love this app. It's such a pleasure to work with now... especially since 8.2 really improved the performance on 4K displays for me and made brush work a lot smoother. I really don't see using NIK anymore, and I couldn't fathom having to go back to Aperture. Sometimes you don't know what you're missing.
Here's an image I worked on today that likely would have to be discarded in Aperture...
In Aperture, set the black point to zero and start from there. Levels will get you further than highlights and shadows.
Agree C1 is easier once you're in the flow. But that shot is classic Aperture overkill on the shadows.
Just downloaded C1 this morning and am going to install and trial it after I get home from work. I have not used it in many years, and was very pleasantly surprised that a license key I have from a 2005 purchase is STILL eligible for an upgrade price to the new version for $99!
Anyway, one question for those that have been trying it with Aperture. In reading the early docs, and watching a video, it appears C1, initially, leaves photos IN the Aperture library and allows you to work with them? I also get the impression that eventually I can MOVE them from within the Aperture library to a C1 Library\Catalog so as to free myself fully from Aperture in the future. Am I correct on both of these?
Anyway, I'm looking forward to this. I tried out LR just last week and was not happy with the interface, or the way it imported my Aperture library. It left a mess of my keywords and highly organized project, album etc. system when it was done. I wound up deleting it all last night.
Anyway, one question for those that have been trying it with Aperture. In reading the early docs, and watching a video, it appears C1, initially, leaves photos IN the Aperture library and allows you to work with them? I also get the impression that eventually I can MOVE them from within the Aperture library to a C1 Library\Catalog so as to free myself fully from Aperture in the future. Am I correct on both of these?
Anyway, I'm looking forward to this. I tried out LR just last week and was not happy with the interface, or the way it imported my Aperture library. It left a mess of my keywords and highly organized project, album etc. system when it was done. I wound up deleting it all last night.
Well, theoretically your images (jpegs, RAW, TIFF, whatever) are just stored in the Aperture library as individual files. If you are able to navigate to them with the C1 importer then I suppose you could do that. It would be terribly cumbersome and I sure wouldn't want to do it. Perhaps I'm missing something? You're C1 edits will not be read by Aperture though unless you've exported as a jpeg or tiff or something. The more I think about it this seems like a really bad idea
. If C1 has some capability to use the Aperture Library as a catalog then I totally missed that one.You certainly can move your images from Aperture to C1. You can use C1 to import your entire Aperture library or you can manually export sets of images (originals and variants) and then import them into the C1 Catalog structure at your own pace. That's what I'm doing so I can clean and organize as I go. You will, of course, lose your Aperture edits on any RAW files so if you want to keep that version then you'll need to export a version to save those particular edits. In C1 you'll end up with the original RAW.
Well, theoretically your images (jpegs, RAW, TIFF, whatever) are just stored in the Aperture library as individual files. If you are able to navigate to them with the C1 importer then I suppose you could do that. It would be terribly cumbersome and I sure wouldn't want to do it. Perhaps I'm missing something? You're C1 edits will not be read by Aperture though unless you've exported as a jpeg or tiff or something. The more I think about it this seems like a really bad idea
You certainly can move your images from Aperture to C1. You can use C1 to import your entire Aperture library or you can manually export sets of images (originals and variants) and then import them into the C1 Catalog structure at your own pace. That's what I'm doing so I can clean and organize as I go. You will, of course, lose your Aperture edits on any RAW files so if you want to keep that version then you'll need to export a version to save those particular edits. In C1 you'll end up with the original RAW.
Thanks for the reply. The info I was referring too can be found in the video section linked below under the "importing a lightroom or aperture catalog" area, Maybe I'm just watching it wrong, but it does sound like it would pretty much do the things I'm looking for. Will know tonight when I first try it out. (Also sounds like it will in fact read aperture edits etc. albeit maybe not perfectly).
http://www.phaseone.com/Imaging-Software/Capture-One/Tutorials.aspx
Only on import. Once imported Capture One will only record its own edits, not any you make in Aperture. I have binned my Aperture library now so can't test for you, I did an Export Projects to Folders from Aperture, then reprocessed in Capture One on import. I also move to a hybrid catalogue, 1/1/2015 are in as managed files, 2004-2014 from Aperture are left as referenced. All seems to work fine.
Thanks for the info. Once I actually import I don't plan on doing any further edits in Aperture anyway if I'm happy with C1. So far just testing C1 with some exported pics to get used to it.
From what I see so far, I like it MUCH better than when I test out Lightroom. Just could not get used to the interface.
Yeah, the LR interface either works for people or not. I'm in the latter camp. I especially like that I can customize the C1 layout, tool tabs, and keyboard shortcuts. If there's something that doesn't seem right, chances are you can change it.
As for importing from Aperture, unlike many, I've opted not to import any historical Aperture libraries. The number of times I've reworked an old RAW file is rare, so if I find myself in that unusual situation, I'll reimport the original and start over on it. All my RAWs are in DMG backups of my CF card right out of the camera organized by date/event stored on an external. And all my finished photos are on Flickr and well organized by event there. I honestly value the management of my finished photos more than my RAWs, and Flickr is great for that. I'm probably a bit unique, but it's nice not having to look back and be tied down by year's worth of Aperture legacy Libraries and just keep moving forward.
I'm not importing my Aperture library either. I'll just start fresh with C1 and build it up from there. If I need originals, which I doubt, then I can get them from my Aperture library later. Or on the important stuff I have the original RAW files both on cards and on an external HHD.
I thought, given the hype, that I owed Darktable another shot. It certainly has proponents.
To use a food analogy, it is like when your wife makes that special dish for your anniversary, but it is just bleeding awful. You want to like it. You want to love it. You really do. But the truth is, you can just barely choke it down with a 55 gallon drum of drink and so buried in pepper in looks like a volcanic island.
Good lord. Seriously? Crash every time you try to geo-tag multiple images? That's handy. Batch processing just doesn't happen. Import and Export file requestors have to be sweet-talked and seduced into finding folders, and I still couldn't get it to find the USB drive.
And this was for 143 lousy images. No way I would throw gigabytes of data at this thing.
To use a food analogy, it is like when your wife makes that special dish for your anniversary, but it is just bleeding awful. You want to like it. You want to love it. You really do. But the truth is, you can just barely choke it down with a 55 gallon drum of drink and so buried in pepper in looks like a volcanic island.
Good lord. Seriously? Crash every time you try to geo-tag multiple images? That's handy. Batch processing just doesn't happen. Import and Export file requestors have to be sweet-talked and seduced into finding folders, and I still couldn't get it to find the USB drive.
And this was for 143 lousy images. No way I would throw gigabytes of data at this thing.
Well, I gave Capture One a good try and although I loved the image quality it produced, I never quite got my head around the interface and navigation by the end of the trial. I found it a little slow on my machine too. I then tried Lightroom and by the end of the trial I found I was (mostly) whizzing around, although overall I still prefer Aperture's way of working. I have been very happy with the image quality of Lightroom (C1Pro and Lightroom have both made me realise what I've been missing by sticking with Aperture for so long). Long story short, I purchased a Lightroom licence yesterday.
My feedback to C1Pro - set up the application so that it requires less initial customisation, make the price similar to Lightroom (standalone and subscription), and make it easier to navigate between images using the arrow keys when viewing an image in the edit module (dual screen setup). This last point may be possible but I didn't get my head around it, and that I guess is the main point I'm trying to make. Reduce the initial learning curve to ensure people persevere long enough to get the hang of the program and subsequently stay with it before defecting/defaulting to Lightroom.
I'll going to keep reading this thread as new posts appear as I'm interested in people's thoughts and experiences of the program, and I'll certainly try the next version of C1Pro when t is released.
My feedback to C1Pro - set up the application so that it requires less initial customisation, make the price similar to Lightroom (standalone and subscription), and make it easier to navigate between images using the arrow keys when viewing an image in the edit module (dual screen setup). This last point may be possible but I didn't get my head around it, and that I guess is the main point I'm trying to make. Reduce the initial learning curve to ensure people persevere long enough to get the hang of the program and subsequently stay with it before defecting/defaulting to Lightroom.
I'll going to keep reading this thread as new posts appear as I'm interested in people's thoughts and experiences of the program, and I'll certainly try the next version of C1Pro when t is released.
Totally agree with this as all the long suffering people on this site know as they still nurse me through the learning pangs.
Not a complete idiot but if it wasn't for the fact that I jumped in using the monthly payment method I would have given up weeks ago.
My own take on the UI is simple (like me)before anyone else says it.
C1 was written for Phase 1 users, Phase 1 users tend to be pros, ergo C1 is written for pros. using their methods and vocab. as the starting point.
If you are neither a pro or have used another more amicable software for a long time the jump to C1 IMHO is considerably more daunting than other software out there.
Having said that the final results are exemplary and I hope worth the effort.
C1 is not going to work in its present form for a large number of people. Is it worth a C1-non Pro??
Only time will tell if Phase One take the plunge.
Regards
Sharkey
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I agree that C1 takes a bit longer to really feel comfortable with. I've used it for a few months and I'm comfortable with the UI now. Certainly some things are not located or don't work like I naturally think they should but the end result is certainly worth it. I tried both LR and C1 trials and I found the C1 UI more to my liking. I liked that it was more customizable. I'm still discovering new things C1 can do...and then forgetting where they are located later. I still don't use a lot of the importing/exporting and DAM features that C1 has. They are certainly geared towards Pros in that respect and my DAM requirements are pretty simple.
You can scroll through images with the arrow keys but it's aggravating. It's seems to forget that it has that capability from time to time. I'm also still eagerly awaiting the ability to toggle between the original image and the edited version with a single button like Aperture could. I miss that the most, ironically.
Now recovering from the perfect storm. It seems to me that split library would suit be perfectly.
With 2015 onwards in managed and prior referenced. Then moving a year at a time from managed to referenced.
Is that your method?
You know what comes next
How do I get started.
Regards
Sharkey
Finding and forgetting is the bind. I suppose continuos use would be the answer but those days are gone. Crib sheets are my answer from now on + plus a screen shot or two. Titled in my words - not theirs
Regards
Sharkey
Yes that is exactly the way I have it setup.
First I "Exported Projects as Folders" from Aperture, that gave me my referenced files structure.
Open C1, Select the File menu, then Import Images. In the Importer window that opens, in the "Import From" section select the Folder or Drive that you exported the folders from Aperture into. Make sure "Include Subfolders" is checked. Under the "Import To" section, select "Current Location" is selected. Under "Naming" I just use the Image Name, I don't add anything under Metadata.
I do have selections under Adjustments as I have C1 Styles I have created that I apply as desired on Import.
When Ready hit "Import All" in the bottom right of the importer window.
When done, under the "Library" tab You should have the Folder or Drive that you exported from Aperture to - with the subfolders under it as per the Aperture export.
Hope that helps.
For those wrestling with the interface, what you want, is a pre-built simplified "Workspace" if you find the UI intimidating or too complex. These are under the "Window" Menu, Workspace. There are pre-built variations that you can choose, or you can save your own as required.
Personally I found the transition from Aperture really straightforward, I hid unfamiliar UI tools etc via a custom Workspace, then added back those tools as I learn them...YMMV but that worked for me.