Update: MJ Antes Up and Buys In

Well that was fast! Without even waiting for the 30-day trial period to expire I actually went ahead and bought Capture One 20 for Fuji only (let's call that C1-20F). It's $129 plus tax, which seemed reasonable.

A couple of nice points for Fuji shooters:

• For any given picture you're working on, C1-20F automatically recognizes which Fuji lens you used, and of course it knows the aperture you shot the picture at, too, so it automatically applies specific lens corrections for your lens at that aperture. I believe DxO pioneered this capability, back in days of yore, and I was always fascinated by it and attracted to the idea.
• Moose was talking about noise reduction the other day, and I rather cheekily answered that I like noise. But this is nice: the engineers at Fuji and the software developers at Phase One put their heads together and gave C1-20F default noise corrections for all the different Fuji cameras at every ISO. So C1-20F knows I'm using an X-H1, and if I took a certain picture at ISO 1600, the software knows how much noise reduction such a file taken with my sensor is likely to need, and it goes ahead and applies that as a default. Way cool. (Of course you can customize it from there if you wish or even change the default, to taste.)

It's beginning to seem to me like C1-20 for Fuji should be thought of as an accessory for a Fuji camera. Something that goes along with it and complements it. I may never set noise reduction myself again.  :-)  I'm being tongue in cheek, but in principle I'm perfectly copacetic with deferring to whatever Fujifilm and Phase One agree is appropriate. I'm sure they know better than I do. I never know how the heck much noise reduction to apply when I do it myself.

Another thing I'm sold on is Capture One's level of support. There are plentiful videos and webinars on various topics, and the online User Guide is great, mainly in that it goes into enough detail but not too much. That's a tough balance to get right: so many instructional guides just load you up on useless and semi-useless detail which you then have to wade through (think swamp, muck) to retrieve the information you need. So tiresome*. On the other hand, oversimplified information doesn't have enough content and sometimes doesn't contain what you need. From what I can tell so far, Phase One's Capture One User Guide gets that elusive balance right: enough, but not too much. And, not too much, but enough. Both are critical!

No fingers pointed, but that is gold sez me. Gold.

It's a fair analogy for C1 itself, actually. It's pretty much just for photographers—let's say "camera users"—and doesn't do all the rest of the graphic arts and prepress etc. etc. etc. stuff that Photoshop does. Of course it does support tethering sessions, which is its "legacy" function.

Luma Range
By the way, in case you're wondering what "luminosity masking" is—a couple of people in the Comments were talking about it—it's been in Capture One since v.12, and it's hiding out under the Exposure tool tab:

Exposure Tool Tab in Capture One 20

Look for the words "Luma Range" once you open up a new Layer.

It allows you to selectively apply a mask based on tonal values in an image. Here's an excellent tutorial on it by Kasia Zmokla of Digital Art Classes. (I dig Kasia's accent. Anything that makes tutorials more engaging is good.) The really cool thing about Luma Range masking, as it's called in C1, is that once you set the parameters, you can apply it with zero extra work to other poses taken under the same lighting. That's the real time savings it offers. I'm sure you can do something similar in other image editing programs too if you know how.

Update upshot
So anyway, now my diddling around has ratcheted up and become an order of magnitude more focused, because I've dived happily into C1-20 tutorials and guides and so forth.

Don't know how the fire got lit this time around, but at the moment it seems like a program I can wrap my head around, and that does everything I need it to do. Like I say, one that might be considered an accessory for my Fuji. As always with these things with me, only time will really tell.

Mike

*It's a time-honored tradition in instructional books to include a lot of filler on basic camera or darkroom or digital (or whatever) technique, just to increase the page count and make the product seem like a decent value for money. I hate that. Even camera manuals used to do it! Long, long ago, sort of at the end of my "sponge" period with photography, I read yet another entire instructional book and it hit me: I realized that there had been only about four pages in the entire book that contained information I didn't already know. From then on I kinda had a dim view of instructional books, and approached them with skepticism. The books I liked along the way were the ones that actually had something in them I could learn. Those exist, but as you learn more and more they become relatively few and far between.

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Comments

[Kodachromeguy]

Oh, oh. Problem, Mike: You have become distracted from you film program, especially from using the fantastic Rollei 6008.

[Suspended due to pandemic. See here:

https://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2020/04/my-film-project-suspended-.html

--Mike]

[James Weekes]

OK now you seem to have all your ducks in a row. You have the exact camera you want, good and great lenses to go with it and an app to process your pictures that suits you. As far as I can recollect, you have a very good Epson printer and some paper. I also remember you saying that you still think the print is what finishes the process.

So, get to work on making some files. Process them as you see fit and print them! I can highly recommend Image Print, a great program that will make that process much smoother. Download a trial version once you have some finished product. Then fall in love with printing again.

[William Lewis]

After reading this post I went to their website. As a Nikon shooter, I'd have to buy the full pro package and I can't even think about affording that right now. I'm not even going to download the demo because if I did like it that would be too anoying after the demo period ended.

I am glad that it is working for you and look forward to seeing what you learn to do with it. But for me? I guess I'll stick to Photoshop CS2 & Silver Efex or even simply OOC jpgs.

[Guy Couture]

Impressionnant...Mike, within 2 days you became a software geek!!

[Gordon Lewis]

Jeez, just when you think you know someone, they go off and pull a crazy stunt like this! What next, Mike? Cheeseburger recipes? Posts on the joys of bowling? How can I tell what's real anymore?

Seriously though, I'm starting to think that if even a hidebound traditionalist like you feels motivated give Capture One 20 for Fuji a try, why can't I? (That's a rhetorical question, by the way. No need for a cheeky answer.)

[Joe]

>> Even camera manuals used to do it!

Which is why, whenever I buy a new camera, I automatically buy a copy of Thom Hogan's Complete Guide for it. Worth every penny. No fluff.

[Dennis]

I tried out C1 for Sony (C1 Lite ? Can't recall) a couple years ago. What I recall was that despite it being new (I'd been a LR user for years) it generated very nice images by default. I might be tempted to try it again, but at the time, there was going to be additional expense to get a version that handled more than just Sony cameras and I wasn't interested in investing time in moving to something new.

[Bruce Alan Greene]

Just a thought...
Be careful applying lens corrections. They tend to remove a bit, if not most of the lens “character” :)

[Andre Y]

James's comment on printing reminds me: I don't use C1 because it doesn't have great printing features. I'm not even sure I know that it can print now that I think about it ...

Lightroom's printing module is very usable, but if you're outside of the walled garden, QTR's Print Tool works very well with good layout tools and works well with color management (ie. it can use custom color profiles). It's also cheap, but only works on Macs.

I use C1 mainly for tethering, for which it works very, very well.

[Kjell]

I've used LR for a very long time now, since version 1 I think. Several times, for various reasons, I have tried to get away from it. I had a fling with Aperture, I tried, oh I can't remember which one, I bought ON1-2019, and two weeks ago I downloaded the trial version of C1-20. Some times it is due to some odd bug in LR that I get tired of, then it is the subscription model, and lately it has been due to Fuji anxieties. But every time I try to change, I find that I get no added value from the other tools, only extra cost in time and money. And then I bend my head down and head home to the tried and trusted LR. Not necessarily the best, not the most sexy, but it is there for me. I am beginning to understand why the old photographers bought up a couple of lifetime worth their favorite printing paper when the manufacturer discontinued the product. It's just too hard to start from scratch again.

As for the Fuji files, I don't really get the problem. I know some people are quite vocal about it, but I can't help thinking it must be very closely related to the personal style of post processing. To get the dreaded "worming effect" in LR, I need to up the sharpness and clarity to what I think is uncomfortable levels. And I am also capable of creating equally mushy results in C1 as I am in LR. Bottom line is that I make better images in LR because I know it well, even if other tools are supposedly better.

[Yep, I sure understand. That's pretty much where I ended up yesterday: "My idea after all this is that intimate familiarity with an image editor is probably more important than the choice of which image editor to use." --Mike]

[Moose]

"I realized that there had been only about four pages in the entire book that contained information I didn't already know. From then on I kinda had a dim view of instructional books, and approached them with skepticism."

I've heard endless complaints about how cameras no longer come with full, printed manuals. I have the opposite take. I Love PDF manuals.

I can find what I want far faster and more easily with the search function than with physical, inevitably incomplete, printed index. And I put them on my phone and tablet, so they are also available whenever I'm using a camera.

[Tex Andrews]

I'm glad this looks to work out for you, Mike. I'd be interested in C1, except for one big thing: no support for Pentax's medium format cameras. Not an accident, either. But then, when Fuji comes along they wise up and support Fuji. But still not Pentax.

I get it that Pentax is a competitor in the camera department with Phase 1, which is related of course to C1. But so is Fuji. I think this is fundamentally unfair, and so I'm boycotting them.

[PDLanum]

As a long time user of Capture One (version 7.1.4 in 2003) and a Pentax shooter, here is my put.

Phase One does not support Pentax in the same manner as any other brand. There are areas where Capture One just misses the boat on metadata extraction that are standard features with non-Pentax branded bodies/lenses. With the introduction of the Pentax 645Z, Capture One explicitly said that they will not support that body. I have a message from them stating that they fully support Pentax 35mm bodies (this was before the release of the K-1 series of bodies). This statement is just not true.

However, after all that venom, Capture One v20+ is supposed to support any image from any body using DNG. I do not own a Pentax 645 D or Z both of which can shoot DNG so I can not comment on whether or not Capture One v20+ supports the Pentax 645Z.

I will say one more thing. I have basically stopped using Adobe LR except when I am using my old laptop while I am on vacation. On my primary desktop it is Capture One with short periods of Affinity Photo (photo stitching and adding text for Christmas cards) and Pentax's supplied software for Pixel Shift. I print from Capture One and after working out how to get it to work, it is nearly as easy as the older versions of LR. Capture One - beats LR and ACR with a stick - in my not so humble self serving opinion.

[Stephen Scharf]

Congrats! Welcome to Capture One.

(told ya it was good...keep with it...it rewards the time put in to master it).

[KeithB]

Canon manuals might be too dense. You have to read them *very* carefully, there is not a wasted sentence. There is a *lot* of info in the "notes" and important stuff is easy to miss.

The C Programming Language by Kernigham and Ritchie is the same way. It is a "small book for a small language" to paraphrase the preface. Most other C books are far, far thicker, but not any better.

[Brandon P]

One thing I find frustratingly interesting is that many of Capture One's lens profile adjustments don't match up with Fuji's adjustment to the JPEG. You can actually set it to match the JPEG (just choose manufacturer profile in the drop down), but it irks me because I want to know why Fuji and Capture One differ so much on how to correct the lens.

[chris]

How does one make a panorama inside Capture One?

[SteveW]

Sounds like you chose Capture One for some of the same reasons I enjoy Dxo Photolab (for Nikon, I don't know why, but DxO does not support X-Trans sensors).

I shoot RAW only so as to not crack my brain in half comparing RAW images with out of camera JPEGS. They are not the same, however very close. For me, DxO does a better job overall, and so I just roll with it, and certain things are better working wit a RAW image.

Also, while using my camera I don't like being burdened with worrying about JPEG settings, it makes shooting easier, and now that I'm up the learning curve with DxO, there is no difference in time processing images between RAW or JPEG for me, so RAW it is.

That all said, between DxO and Nikon I feel entrenched, and have no interest in starting new learning curves with gear or software. I'm well within the "good enough" zone for the stuff I do, which is old dawg hobbyist.

[-et-]

By the way, in case you're wondering what "luminosity masking" is . . . it's been in Capture One since v.12, and it's hiding out under the Exposure tool tab

As a minor amplification, luminosity masking is not only available on the Exposure tab. It is also available on the Color tool tab and on the Details tool tab.

Presumably you have already been exploring the Capture One Resource Hub at learn.captureone.com

However, in case you have not noticed it, a new webinar recording was added yesterday (Friday). The primary subject is Layers, but there is also some very useful discussion of luminosity masking, IMO.

- Tom -

[PDLanum\]

Answer to Cris:

You don't do panoramas in Capture One. You use another program to stich the appropriate images - that is all you do. You then export the stitched image into Capture One and edit as necessary.

I use either LR which allows me to export the stitched image as a DNG. Or I use Affinity Photo which unfortunately does not allow for the export of DNG so I use either a PSD or a TIFF.

[Jim K]

I miss LightZone...

[Andy F]

luminosity masking is not only available on the Exposure tab. It is also available on the Color tool tab and on the Details tool tab.

To expand on this a bit, luma masking is part of the Layers took, and while by default it appears on those tabs, you can fully customise C1’s UI to put any tool on any tab, or even have tools on several tabs at once, or have them floating independently. It’s one of my favourite things about C1 – I can have all the tools I most often use in one place.