As a photojournalist, I typically don’t do a lot of editing to my images. We’ve spoken to lots of others who say the same thing — and that amounts to only doing what you can in the darkroom. But even though I don’t do much editing to my images, Capture One still allows photographers to go pretty wild with it. Many have experienced just how much better the color rendering is over the past few years. In fact, our Reviews Team adopted it as an Adobe Lightroom alternative many years ago back in 2017. If you’re looking for an alternative, then perhaps consider this.
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Declarations of Journalistic Intent
The Phoblographer is one of the last standing dedicated photography publications that speaks to both art and tech in our articles. We put declarations up front in our reviews to adhere to journalistic standards that several publications abide by. These help you understand a lot more about what we do:
- At the time of publishing this guide, Capture One is not an advertiser with the Phoblographer. However, we provide discounts to Capture One if you join our Membership program. You can read more about that here. The Phoblographer doesn’t take an affiliate revenue cut of the money you spend on Capture One, either.
- Several years ago, the Phoblographer moved away from testing cameras and lenses in Lightroom to Capture One. Capture One is often recommended to us by manufacturers. In more recent times, we’ll dabble in both. However, every staffer on our Review team is required to use Capture One.
- Capture One did not ask us to write this article. In fact, we haven’t spoken to our Capture One Public Relationships reps in months.
- We are writing this article because, due to recent events, we’ve had a lot of traffic come into us about Lightroom alternatives.
- This report is from personal experience. Of any currently working American journalist in the photography world working with an accredited publication, I’d wager a bet that I’m the most experienced with Capture One.
- Adobe has been an advertiser of the Phoblographer’s over 10 years ago.
- Adobe is currently asking us about a paid advertising campaign in the future. By writing this article, we understand that we’re risking those advertising dollars. But, believe it or not, we put honesty before advertising. Our recommendation to Adobe is a campaign around using AI authentically by talking to photographers. If you see that anywhere else, know that it was our idea.
- Leica loaned the Leica DLUX 8 and accessories to the Phoblographer for review. There was no money exchange between Leica and the Phoblographer for this to happen. Leica and several other manufacturers trust the Phoblographer’s reviews, as they are incredibly blunt.
- Leica knows that they cannot influence the site’s reviews. If we don’t like something or if we have issues with it, we’ll let folks know. We were the first publication to inform about the issue with the Leica M10R and how it renders the color orange.
- Leica met up with the Phoblographer in NYC to loan the camera to us. Our home office is based in New York.
- The Phoblographer’s standards for reviewing products have become much stricter. After having the world’s largest database of real-world lens reviews, we choose not to review anything we don’t find innovative or unique, and in many cases, products that lack weather resistance. We typically don’t bother with many other Lightroom alternatives because of how manufacturers work with other companies. Capture One often gets support from companies like Sony and Fujifilm first before Adobe Lightroom does.
- At the time of publishing, the Phoblographer is the only accredited photography publication that is a member of Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative. We champion human-made art and are frank with our audience. We are also the only photography publication that labels when an image is edited or not.
- At the time of publishing, other photo-speciality publications have also remained pretty quiet about what’s going on.
More can be found on our Disclaimers page.
What Does Capture One Do Better Than Lightroom?
- Color rendering
- Editing workflow
- Exporting variants
Before I go on, I want to clarify that I’m speaking about Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Lightroom Classic both in this article. Personally, I could never get behind Lightroom, but I liked Lightroom Classic well enough.
One of the best reasons we switched to Capture One years ago is its better color rendering than Lightroom. As a Lightroom Alternative, Capture One does this so much better because of its direct relationship with the manufacturers. Capture One was the first company to offer Fujifilm’s film simulations to the RAW files when editing. They also offer lots of Nikon’s profiles as well. Additionally, Sony’s RAW files are often supported by Capture One first and Adobe later on.
It starts with how you’re editing. I’ll admit Lightroom’s interface is easier. But to be frank with you, I’m a low-vision man. If someone deemed legally blind can figure this out, you probably can too.
I typically set up my Capture One backend to look and function a bit more like Lightroom’s. Then from there, I approach editing differently. I start out by assigning a photo an ICC profile of some sort. I work with cameras that have the ProStandard profiles, so I often start by assigning that. From there, I choose a curve — most often it’s a film-standard or film-high contrast. Then from there, I go one of three routes:
- Straight editing
- Using Capture One’s Film styles (presets)
- Using RNI Film’s styles (presets)
In Lightroom, I’d start by white-balancing a scene. Then, I work with the color channels individually and finish by working on contrast, clarity/sharpness, black levels, etc.
With Capture One as a Lightroom Alternative, I get better colors with more or less the same workflow.
I often also need to export different variants of images. I have one export recipe for the Phoblographer. Then I have another for social media. And again, I have yet another for clients. Think of these as export presets. It makes it so much easier and faster to get stuff done vs Lightroom.
And quite honestly, I’m a photographer and journalist first. I don’t want to spend all day at my computer if I don’t have to.
What Does Capture One Do Worse Than Lightroom?
- Masking tools can be annoying
- Touchups and healing isn’t as smart as Adobe Lightroom
- Lens corrections have nothing on Adobe Upright
Right off the bat, at times, Capture One can be a bit slower to perform than Lightroom.
Right out of the box, there are lots of times when I’m trying to do perspective corrections with Capture One. And many times, I’ve told myself, “Adobe Upright would’ve done this better.” Capture One isn’t as effective as doing this automatically, and instead, you’d need to make careful manual adjustments to get it to work like Adobe Lightroom’s Upright tool. For some photographers, this could be nice. Lots of us like to spend more time in the post-production stage than in the shooting stage.
Lightroom also incorporates a lot more AI, though Capture One has told us that more AI enhancements are coming to the software. The AI helps with a lot of things like removing certain objects, healing, etc. It’s also often better when it comes to doing light retouching like skin softening. Otherwise, a photographer would need to learn how to do this in-camera. Some cameras, like those from Fujifilm, Sony, and Nikon, can do this. You can also use something like Tiffen Glimmerglass or Tiffen Pro Mist filters.
Truly, those are the only things that Capture One does worse than Lightroom. Even the whole printing interface can be different and still work very well. So, if you can get past these, you’ll realize that Capture One is a pretty great Lightroom Alternative.
Is Capture One a Great Adobe Lightroom Alternative?
In our eyes, yes — Capture One is an incredible Adobe Lightroom Alternative. Here’s what you should know depending on the genre of photography you do:
- Portraiture: Retouching might be a bit more difficult
- Landscapes: getting all of your lines perfectly straight might be tougher.
- Architecture: See Landscapes
- Photojournalism: You’re going to have no problems at all.
- Street photography: See photojournalism
- Wedding photography: See portraiture
- Events: See photojournalism
- Wildlife: See photojournalism
- Fine Art: Honestly, it could go either way here. I do a lot of fine art photography and I love how Capture One works for me
- Hasselblad Shooters: Capture One doesn’t support the RAW files
- Panasonic LUMIX shooters: Capture One and Panasonic have a very slow relationship when it comes to supporting one another.
Ultimately, you should make the decision for yourself. But trust me, it’s not hard to switch from one piece of software to another. There are lots of YouTube videos and articles available online that can help you do exactly what you need to. And the slight rewiring of your brain is a temporary blip in the longer stage of your photography career.
H