Shooting in JPEG is like driving a Ferrari stuck in first gear the whole time - if you're serious about getting the best out of your camera and software you must shoot in raw!
“probably one of the most powerful features of capture one is simply opening a raw file in the main viewer”
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To my way of thinking the software should give you ease of access and localized storage, have a gentle to the eye user friendly interface and be a one-stop shop for all your post processing needs. It should be versatile enough to cover fields from portrait to landscape and everything in between. A very tall order for any vendor to attempt , Jumping from one program to another to access specific features to achieve the required result does nothing for a smooth workflow besides the costs incurred of multiple programs. It can be done this way but at what cost including productivity.
Admittedly my first reaction on installing and opening this photo editing package was to be honest... A little daunted, with so many exposed menus, pallets and Windows all of which can be customised several different ways. Using the video tutorial by a Mr Peter Eastway included when you first open capture one... Was of surprising quality and clarity and his easy style and manner put my mind to rest ... This prompted me to tackle this review in an easy to understand format for reasons outlined below.
There seems to be a maze of reviews out there on the net, aimed at the advanced professional photographer...leaving the majority lost in a sea of jargon and buzzwords with little hope of understanding without diligent research word by word and a dictionary in hand.
So let's jump in
The download and then install went as it should... Seamlessly... for this review I'm using Windows 7 home premium on a quad core rig, four Meg of RAM and ample storage as well as a modest laptop. The only glitch I had was capture one requesting the serial number for a second time to activate the prompted, recommended online update. But as I've heard no other reports of this happening with single licensed users, one can only put this down to the multiple license corporate copy I received for review purposes. Registration fields are required via e-mail activation which is becoming a pretty standard security feature with most software vendors.
Funnily enough , probably one of the most powerful features of capture one is simply opening a raw file in the main viewer. It was quite by accident that I noticed that opening a single, same image file in capture one and then in Adobe Photoshop produced two very different side-by-side results .
Now I'm not taking anything away from Photoshop, I'd be lost without it and being the backbone of photo editing for 20 odd years it does a masterful job if you spend enough time with a given image. Where’s capture one is built from the ground up for professional photographers who need to turn out high quality images in the least amount of time , and this is where it absolutely shines.
First look!
The first thing you'll see is the default workspace which gives you all the bells and whistles at your fingertips literally, on a lovely black background which is very easy on the eyes and which is colour customisable for those that are comfortable and familiar with this or a similar workspace window. For the newbie’s there is a simplified workspace accessed by the main menu which hides some of the more advanced features but still allows you to turn out top quality work quickly and easily , in fact there’s a choice of several more presets or you can jump straight in and customise your own window depending on your level of expertise. With this feature all the functionality still remains accessed by drop-down menus.
Capture one doesn't force you to use a-proprietary folders as any file or folder on any drive can be used , or for that matter CF , SD and several other card formats can be used, even drag-and-drop functionality can be accessed by dropping files on the capture one icon on your desktop before the app is even open....cool!
There is also a very handy auto (“A”) function button feature giving you access to exposure, white balance and HDR adjustments (Pre-sets) which pleasantly surprised me to be remarkably quick and very accurate, these features can be accessed individually or concurrently from the main menu toolbar on the left of the screen.
As said earlier where this software really shines is workflow, being able to process single or multiple images and seeing real-time live view changes in my workspace is a pleasure to work with.
Making changes to a single photo and applying these changes to multiple images is seamless and easily accessible again by menu commands. Tethered camera support in both Windows and Mac is probably the backbone of Phase Ones Professional market penetration.... That is, the ability to connect your camera to a PC or Mac in real-time studio applications, even camera settings can be manipulated on the PC screen in real time and it can only be a matter of time before a wireless feature goes mainstream.
Camera-back photography although alien to most... plays a vital role in the advanced professional photographic field , it goes without saying that the feature enhancements both new and enhanced in capture one 5 pro makes it imperative for the pro photographers already using this software to put a bit of time into looking at the new improvements and totally new features to improve Quality , workflow and efficiency still further. As the featured enhancements in this latest version seems to have leapfrogged a couple of generations.
A full list of supported cameras tethered or otherwise is outlined below, this is the latest list that I have access to but I'm sure by the time you read this there will be yet more added to the list.
Who would use Phase One Capture One 5 Pro???
Capture One 5 is primarily designed for the pro photographers who need to process large volumes of high quality images in a fast and efficient workflow environment. Batch processing one of its seriously strong features... although its ability with single images.... Not many single apps come even close in this feature rich environment.
Users include: fashion, sport, event, portrait and wedding photographers; product, landscape and architectural photographers; fine art, food and art reproduction photographers as well as passionate photographers who aspire to achieve the same superior image quality as the pro photographers. Again I must place an emphasis that this is a serious piece of kit for the portrait or wedding photographer in single or batch mode and tethered studio work would take some beating with other software on the market to date.
To date present Cameras supported
Capture One 5.1 / 5.1 PRO supports RAW files from the following DSLR cameras/digital backs:
Canon: 1D Mark IV, 1Ds Mark III, 1D Mark III, 1D Mark II N, 1Ds Mark II, 1D Mark II, 1Ds, 1D, 7D, 5D Mark II, 5D, 50D, 40D, 30D, 20D, 10D, 500D/Rebel T1i, 450D/Rebel XSi, 400D/Rebel XTi, 350D/Rebel XT, 300D/Rebel, 1000D, D60, D30, Pro 1, G11, G10, G9, G6, G5, G3, G2, S90
Epson: R-D1s, R-D1
Fuji: S5 Pro, S3 Pro, S2 Pro
Konica Minolta: Alpha 5 D / Maxxum 5 D / Dynax 5 D, Alpha 7 D / Maxxum 7 D / Dynax 7 D, A1, A2
Leaf: Aptus II 10, Aptus II 8 (preliminary), Aptus II 7, Aptus II 6, Aptus II 5, Afi II 10, Afi II 7, Afi II 6, Aptus 75S, Aptus 65S, Aptus 54S, Afi 7, Afi 6, Afi 5, Aptus 75, Aptus 65, Aptus 22, Aptus 17
Leica: M9, M8, D-LUX 4, Digilux 3, Digital Module R for R8 and R9 cameras
Mamiya: M31, M22, M18, DM22, DM28, DM33, DM56, MZD, ZD Back
Nikon: D3s, D3X, D3, D2Xs, D2X, D2Hs, D2H, D1X, D1H, D700, D300s, D300, D200, D100, D90, D80, D70s, D70, D60, D50, D40X, D40, D5000, D3000, P6000
Olympus: E-620, E-3, E-520, E-510, E-450, E-P1, E-P2, E-420, E-410, E-500, E-1, E-10, E-20, E-30, E-330, E-300, E-400, C-7070, C-8080
Panasonic: G1, GH1, GF1
Pentax: K20D, K10D, K7, KX, K200D, K110D, K100D Super, K100D, K2000/K-m, *istDL2, *istDL, *istD, *istDS2, *istDS
Phase One: P 65+, P 45+, P 40+, P 30+, P 25+, P 21+, P 20+, P 45, P 30, P 25, P 21, P 20, H 25, H 20, H 10, H 101, H 5, LightPhase
Sony: DSLR-A900, DSLR-A850, DSLR-A700, DSLR-A550, DSLR-A500, DSLR-A380, DSLR-A350, DSLR-A330, DSLR-A300, DSLR-A230, DSLR-A200, DSLR-A100, DSC-R1
Adobe: DNG (raw DNG support only). The DNG support is not optimized for specific cameras
Tethered supported cameras to Date.
Capture One 5.1 PRO/DB has tethered capture support for the following digital backs/cameras:
Phase One: P 65+, P 40+, P 45+, P 30+, P 21+, P 25+, P 20+, P 45, P 30, P 25, P 21, P 20, H 25, H 20, H 101, H 10, H 5, LightPhase
Mamiya: M31, M22, M18
Leaf: Aptus II 10, Aptus II 7, Aptus II 6, Aptus II 5, Afi II 10, Afi II 7, Afi II 6 (all preliminary on Windows)
Additionally Capture One 5.0 PRO has tethered capture support for the following DSLR cameras:
Leaf: Aptus 75S, Aptus 65S, Aptus 54S, Afi 7, Afi 6, Afi5, Aptus 75, Aptus 65, Aptus 22, Aptus 17 (all preliminary on Windows)
Canon: 1D Mark IV, 1Ds Mark III, 1D Mark III, 1D Mark II N, 1Ds Mark II, 1D Mark II, 5D Mark II, 5D, 7D, 50D, 40D, 30D, 20D, 500D/Rebel T1i, 450D/Rebel XSi, 400D/Rebel XTi, 350D/Rebel XT, 1000D/Rebel XS
Nikon: D3s, D3X, D3, D700, D300, D300s, D200, D90, D80, D60, D5000, D40x, D40
Note!
The extent of tethered capture support will vary depending on the camera back/camera connected. In particular, Live View/Preview is only supported on selected Phase One and Mamiya backs.
Conclusion
If you haven't guessed already I'm rather taken with this software...For a while now I've been using Sony's picture motion browser or PMB but I find myself using capture one pro 5 more and more because it saves me time, but more importantly the initial picture quality is higher, quite often requiring no other post processing other than simply opening the file in pro 5and saving to my finished output folder.Special Images that are passed on to photo shop require far less processing and I find myself getting through more images for a given session. The focus mask and clarity tool deserves a special mention, the ease of use and speed of these utilities is remarkable even right down to the vignette and watermark tools. Phase One Capture One seems to have hit its stride putting so many quality features under one bonnet. Phase One will definitely continue to be the leading player in the decade to come with the rest of the field playing copy catch up.
Realistically I've probably only covered about half of the features that need to be talked about but as a reviewer the points that I have covered are a very compelling argument to go out and buy this software if you're passionate about photography or just want to produce the highest quality images in the shortest amount of time.
Phase One’s capture one pro 5 is available as a 30 day free time trial with full functionality, the video tutorial I mentioned earlier fires up when you first launch capture one and is more than enough to get you going with little or no experience. just a camera and computer.
Ease-of-use....................................................................7.7
Desktop work space......................................................9.3
Features.........................................................................9.5
Compared to similar software....................................9.6
Value.............................................................................8.7
Total.............................................................................9.04
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And as a”9” or higher , it receives the “Camera Heaven Gold Award” to add to its long list of industry awards and recommendations.
