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Capture One vs. Lightroom

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Robgo2 said:
Robgo2 wrote:
Robgo2 said:
miketuthill wrote:
Robgo2 said:
Robgo2 wrote:
Robgo2 said:
miketuthill wrote:
Robgo2 said:
Robgo2 wrote:
Robgo2 said:
miketuthill wrote:
Robgo2 said:
MikeFromMesa wrote:
Robgo2 said:
miketuthill wrote:

If you look at this page you'll find a discussion of the Photoshop plugin and it sounds good to me.
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Thank you. That article clarified a lot for me.

I was hoping to be able to use PhotoNinja as the base editor and call CS5/6 via some kind of external editing but, as you said, it is the other way round.
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The way I interpret it, you will use it instead of ACR and then finish off with PS however you will also have the option to return the image to PN for additional adjustments. I can live with that as long as it's fair seamless. Ultimately I would like to be able to do everything right up to and including printing right within PN but I'm guessing that won't be realistic for quite some time and I'd rather see them work on the performance issues in the meantime.

I installed the 1.04 beta today and haven't encountered any issues other than my laptop heat increasing 20+ degrees celcius temporarily when I paste settings from a completed image to a new image. I sent them an email about that and got a response (but not a solution yet) pretty quickly. I don't recall version 1.03 exhibiting a heat increase to this extent.
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I have grown very fond of using Photo Mechanic in conjunction with Photo Ninja. PM is like Bridge on steroids. What I would like to know is whether I could continue to use PM with the Photo Ninja plugin, or will I be forced to use Bridge. That is, will Photo Mechanic be able to access the plugin directly? Somehow, I suspect not. I would be just as happy using PN as a stand alone program, if they create an option to open a processed image directly in Photoshop. For the past several years, I have been using raw convertors that are not fully integrated with PS, so I think that I can easily live with it.

Rob
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Good questions. It would be nice to be able to beta test future versions as that would give one some influence, maybe, on how the software evolves.

I have done some limited testing of using PM with PN and have a question for you. Do you do your printing in PM? I've never used the PM print function and wonder how it is compared to Lightroom's print function which I find very nice.
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No, I finish off images in Photoshop and print with ImagePrint. It turns out that using several different programs for different stages of image processing is not very difficult or time consuming. I say that as an amateur enthusiast who has more than enough time on his hands (I'm retired). Working professionals may feel that every second has a monetary value. However, the time that I spend in Photo Ninja to get an image nearly perfect is far less than what I have to spend in ACR or C1 to get inferior results.

Rob
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I spent some time browsing with PM and then doing raw conversions with PN followed by any fine tuning needed in PSCS6 and it does work pretty smoothly once you get the hang of it. For the few images that I do end up printing it would be no big deal to fire up Lightroom for that (or PS for that matter).

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I agree that it is not really a big deal, but some people insist on working within a single program, which has its advantages, but also its disadvantages. It means missing out on other programs that may perform specific functions better than an all-in-one program.

Rob
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Good news from Picture Code's tech support about the upcoming plugin. The Format plugin will be directly accessible from Photo Mechanic, so one will not have to use Bridge. I think that this will make workflow very fast and smooth. They are currently finishing work on the Filter plugin.




Rob
 
MikeFromMesa said:
MikeFromMesa wrote:
MikeFromMesa said:
bigfatron wrote:

Have you tried Capture One (it should work for 30 days on a trial licence) and if so then how have you found it?
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I believe the trial license for CO is for 60 days, not 30. That, at least, is better than either LR's 30 day trial or PhotoNinja's 14 day trial license.
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Yes you're right, it is 60 days.
 
Robgo2 said:
Robgo2 wrote:
Good news from Picture Code's tech support about the upcoming plugin. The Format plugin will be directly accessible from Photo Mechanic, so one will not have to use Bridge. I think that this will make workflow very fast and smooth. They are currently finishing work on the Filter plugin.

Rob
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That is good news. Thanks for passing it along Rob.
 
miketuthill said:
Here is the link to the images for anyone who is interested.

http://www.pbase.com/miketuthill/raw_converter_comparisons

Once again I would note that these are default conversions although in cases such as DXO Optics Pro I had to hit the Process option before I could export to a jpeg.

--
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Just a note that I will be deleting this gallery in order to reclaim the space so clicking on the link above will prove fruitless.

Season's greeting to all!

www.pbase.com

Galleries by Mike Tuthill

www.pbase.com
 
selwynbr said:
selwynbr wrote:

Are these compatible with DNG?
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I am no sure exactly what you are asking here. If you are asking if LR can read and write dng files, the answer is yes. I don't have C1 so I don't know the answer to that question.

There seem to be only a limited number of editors which are compatible with dng files. Both Adobe products that I have (LR and PS CS5) will read them. LR4 will write them although I did not see a way to make CS5 write a dng format file.

Sagelight, one of my editors, will read them although it will not write them. PSP X5 will read them but not write them. Similaraly PhotoNinja will read them but not write them. ASP will neither read nor write them.

So, for the editors I have, most will read the format but only LR4 will write them.
selwynbr said:
If yes, can a DNG file edited in one editor be further modified in LR or ACR?
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This turns out to be a more interesting question than I would have thought.

Since the only editor I have that will write dng files is LR I opened a raw image (Canon CR2), adjusted it and write it out as a dng file. I then loaded that file with various editors. All of those that would read dng did, in fact, successfully read the file, but the file they read was the original file without the edits. That is, the dng file LR wrote did not contain any of the edits I made in LR4. It was only a direct conversion of the input CR2 file.

Based on that I would say the answer to your question is no.
 
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MikeFromMesa said:
MikeFromMesa wrote:
MikeFromMesa said:
LR4 will write them although I did not see a way to make CS5 write a dng format file.
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Click to expand...
I have done some more playing around with CS5 since I was very surprised to find that I could not seem to write a dng file from it. What I found is that I was too quick to come to conclusions.

CS5 itself will not write dng files but raw files are first loaded into ACR and, within that app window, you can adjust the raw before editing in CS5 or you can save the file in dng, tiff, jpg or psd formats. Thus, by using ACR, you can write dng files with CS5.

However, like LR, the written dng file does not contain any of the edits from ACR and appears to only be a conversion from the original raw format into the dng format without any changes. So, as before, the answer to your question seems to be no.
 
selwynbr said:
selwynbr wrote:

Are these compatible with DNG? If yes, can a DNG file edited in one editor be further modified in LR or ACR?
Click to expand...
I'm sorry but I never work, and have never worked, with DNG files as I've never had the need to so I can't give you an accurate answer.

All these software packages have trial versions available so that you can try them out for yourself to see if they do what you wish to do.
 
I have just switched from Lightroom to Capture One Pro 7.

Reasons:
  • I hate the "import photos into catalog" thing with Lightroom. I have zillions of photos on multiple drives, and I hate the need to "import" a folder to work on the photos within. Capture One is much better, I can just open any folder (working with Sessions).
  • I much prefer the C1 workflow. I take many photos, and I archive a few jpeg of the good ones, after postprocessing. I think it's a bad idea to archive the RAWs + edit info; who knows in 15 years if I will still have the software to process those old RAW files? In C1, as soon as a photo is done, I press meta-D for "Process" and this puts a jpeg of the processed photo in the folder I define. MUCH better than the clumsy Lightroom export!
  • I get better skin tones, and better tones by default, from C1.
  • I find it much easier to compare multiple photos in C1. The Lightroom implementation is clumsy, it's cumbersome to switch the photos I am comparing.
  • I am liking the new Catalog of C1 quite a bit -- especially because I am not forced to use it for everything.
I just wish I switched earlier. I wasted a couple years struggling with bloated Lightroom catalogs.
 
Ok, I've been playing with Capture 1 version 7 and although it has some really nice features, I think it's coming down to teaching an old dog new tricks. If I were just coming into photography and learning to develop raw images, then I might try to learn both. But I know LR like the back of my hand and I LOVE it's organizational abilities so I've decided to stick with what I know.

This has been a very informative discussion and I'd like to thank everyone for their input!
 
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