Making the move to Capture One

If you have been around the Fujifilm ecosystem for any length of time, you will be well aware of the Lightroom vs Capture One for RAW processing debate. I've looked into this myself in the past here and decided that the dreaded Fuji 'worms' problem with RAF files wasn't so much a Fuji issue as it was an Adobe Lightroom issue. And therein lies the problem.

Dorothy Falls, processed in Capture One Pro

As an Adobe user myself, I have been loathed to change from Lightroom. I'm used to the UI, and until recently, I liked the results that I have been getting from Lightroom (more on that later). When I looked into the worm issue, I concluded that as long as you didn't oversharpen the files in Lightroom, then you would be fine. But, maybe I was wrong about that?

Because recently I decided to test three cameras' image sensors against each other (see that post here) - the full frame Sony a99, my APS-C Fujifilm X-E2, and an Olympus micro four thirds OM-D E-M5. Much to my surprise, shock, and horror, the Fujifilm E-X2 fared the worst of the three, and was noticeably softer across the frame. My conclusion as to why it achieved such a poor result was down to two factors; the lens I was using, and the RAW conversion software (ie Lightroom).

I decided I needed to rectify both of these factors as soon as I could. With the lens, I brought the Fujinon 23mm f2 prime (which I've discussed over the last few posts), which should be a much sharper optic for landscapes and general photography. And as for the software side of things, I immediately upgraded to Capture One Pro 20 for Fujifilm (from the free Express version).

As I discovered when processing all three RAW images in Lightroom (Sony, Fuji and Olympus) and then comparing the results, the dreaded 'worms' is not the only deficiency Lightroom suffers from. Seems there is a sharpness issue to be aware of as well. I had kind of heard about this in the past, but had dismissed it because I was on the whole very happy with the sharpness I was seeing in my images out of Lightroom. But then I realised this was because I had been shooting in Jpeg and letting the camera do the processing. Lightroom is really just a cataloging software as far as jpegs are concerned. There's nothing to 'process' because Fuji has done it already. Duh!

Photographers who don't want to switch from Lightroom, but who still want to process their RAF files, are using third-party plug-ins that take over the RAW processing from Lightroom. This is a work-around, but you still have to pay for the plug-in. So I figured why bother? Why not just purchase the software that has mastered the Fuji RAW conversion process - Capture One Pro. And I'm so glad I did.

It's probably hard to see from this blogpost, but when comparing the resulting processed Fuji RAW (RAF) file from Lightroom vs Capture One, the differences on my computer are obvious. The colours from the Capture One conversion, without playing around with any colour sliders, look more natural and true to life - and there is definitely an overall sharper result from Capture One. And again, although it might be hard to tell with the above crops, at 200% the details of the rocks in Lightroom definitely begin to take on a very worm-like look, whereas the details in Capture One retain the natural rock pattern. And this is without over-sharpening.

I had originally decided that I would persevere with Lightroom, since I already had it, and the images I was getting weren't all that bad. But in hindsight, they were Jpegs, not RAW images. If you are going to want to process any RAF files from your Fuji, at any stage, then investing in Capture One Pro is now the only way to go as far as I'm concerned.

Capture One Pro 20 user interface

There are two common reasons I hear from Lightroom users who don't make the switch to Capture One. First, they have a large Lightroom Catalog and don't want the hassle of moving it over to Capture One. Personally, I haven't bothered moving my Lightroom catalog. I've just started 'fresh' from the day I purchased Capture One Pro. All new images going forward will be imported into Capture One.

I could move my Lightroom Catalog over - and Capture One makes this process very easy to do. But I've decided not to bother. How often do I go back and re-process my old RAW images? If I've processed them in the past, I have the jpegs going forward. If I didn't process them, then they probably weren't worth processing? My 'old' work is my old work. I'm much more interested in what I'm going to do, not what I have done. So why bother porting across a whole catalog I'll probably not do anything with? But that's just me.

If you felt that you simply had to have your Lightroom catalog moved across to Capture One, then you absolutely can. Just make sure that if you are going to, that you buy the 'full' version of Capture One Pro, and not the version released for Fuji (or Sony) which is a little cheaper. The 'Fuji only' version, not surprisingly, works on Fuji-only files. Another good reason why I'm not bothering to bring over my mostly Canon Lightroom catalog.

And second, they say that they don't want to have to learn another UI. Seriously!? How different do they think Capture One is to use? Spend an afternoon watching some turorials and having a 'play' with some of your own images, and I guarantee you'll have most of it down. And speaking of tutorials, Capture One has some of the best on-line editing tutorials I've ever seen. Watch a couple of them and you'll be off and running. Simple as that.

I've been a Lightroom user since version one (and an Aperture user before that), and I have absolutely no problem navigating my way around Capture One's interface. In fact, I actually prefer it. Their 'Luma Range' masking is pure genius, and I don't think I could go back to Lightroom now after having used Capture One Pro 20 for only a couple of weeks.

If you are a Fujifilm shooter who shoots RAW, then you will need to process those RAW files. If Lightroom is your current processing software of choice, I strongly urge you (can I beg?) to seriously consider using Capture One Pro 20 instead.

Not completely convinced? Then why not dip your toe in the water first with their free version 'Capture One Express'? Or download the full Capture One Pro for 30 days free trial. Process the same files in both Lightroom and Capture One and then compare the results. Go on - I dare you. 

I promise you, if you spend some time learning Capture One (just a little time), you will notice a difference in your resulting processed files. Maybe even a remarkable difference, depending on what your shooting? What have you got to loose? We take such care getting the right camera, and the right lens, and the right composition, to create the photo exactly how we want it. Why ruin it at the last hurdle by choosing software that isn't up to the task? You owe it to your Fuji RAF files to give Capture One a go. They will thank you for it. You can thank me later.

You're welcome.