Macintosh: Adobe Lightroom or Capture One Pro

As many know, Apple has discontinued development of [i]Aperture[/i], and in fact it is no longer available on the Mac App Store. Instead they have released [i]Photos[/i] for Mac OS X, which is intended as a much-needed replacement for the venerable [i]iPhoto[/i]. Although [i]Photos[/i] does provide basic editing tools, it is clearly not a viable replacement for [i]Aperture[/i], at least in its present form. It's possible, perhaps, that Apple will add more advanced capabilities in future releases. I've been looking at alternatives to [i]Aperture[/i], and at the moment the prime contenders for me are Phase One's [i]Capture One Pro[/i], and Adobe's [i]Lightroom[/i]. Both appear to offer a combination of RAW conversion, editing, metadata management and digital asset management. There may be other products out there which would fit the bill, but so far these are the two most promising-looking options. I've used [i]Lightroom[/i] before in my Windows-using past, and was happy with it. On the other hand, [i]Capture One Pro[/i] seems (after a brief look at the Phase One website and a few of their videos) to be a shade more [i]Aperture[/i]-like. Maybe. I was wondering if any Mac users had a strong opinion one way or the other about these two products, or for that matter any other such applications? [b]Note:[/b] I'm not looking for a [i]Photoshop[/i] or [i]Photoshop[/i]-equivalent. For that, I have [i]Pixelmator[/i] and I'm very satisfied with that.

As many know, Apple has discontinued development of Aperture, and in fact it is no longer available on the Mac App Store. Instead they have released Photos for Mac OS X, which is intended as a much-needed replacement for the venerable iPhoto. Although Photos does provide basic editing tools, it is clearly not a viable replacement for Aperture, at least in its present form. It's possible, perhaps, that Apple will add more advanced capabilities in future releases.

I've been looking at alternatives to Aperture, and at the moment the prime contenders for me are Phase One's Capture One Pro, and Adobe's Lightroom. Both appear to offer a combination of RAW conversion, editing, metadata management and digital asset management. There may be other products out there which would fit the bill, but so far these are the two most promising-looking options. I've used Lightroom before in my Windows-using past, and was happy with it. On the other hand, Capture One Pro seems (after a brief look at the Phase One website and a few of their videos) to be a shade more Aperture-like. Maybe.

I was wondering if any Mac users had a strong opinion one way or the other about these two products, or for that matter any other such applications?

Note: I'm not looking for a Photoshop or Photoshop-equivalent. For that, I have Pixelmator and I'm very satisfied with that.

In my opinion the company that has the money, expertise and resources to develop, maintain and update a raw processing engine and has the market share across mobile, pc and Mac is Adobe. Betting on another product, which may fall by the wayside as Aperture did, would be foolish. Lightroom is a terrific tool as well.

In my opinion the company that has the money, expertise and resources to develop, maintain and update a raw processing engine and has the market share across mobile, pc and Mac is Adobe.

Betting on another product, which may fall by the wayside as Aperture did, would be foolish.

Lightroom is a terrific tool as well.

Hi, I think it depends on your processing style. I've used both Lightroom and Capture. Well I am still a light room fan. I thought capture did a better fine art style for mono. They ate very close, and for the future Lightroom should be upgraded. But if captue sales remain with the Phase one set, I would think this is like buying a canon or nikon and just using there software. Lightroom has be produce as a dedicated tool...........just my thoughts. Paul.

Hi, I think it depends on your processing style. I've used both Lightroom and Capture. Well I am still a light room fan. I thought capture did a better fine art style for mono. They ate very close, and for the future Lightroom should be upgraded. But if captue sales remain with the Phase one set, I would think this is like buying a canon or nikon and just using there software. Lightroom has be produce as a dedicated tool...........just my thoughts.

Paul.

Thanks for your replies. Another (supplementary) question, I suppose, is whether the perpetual/standalone license is better, or the subscription model? I'm a bit wary of subscription, but it does seem to be the way things are going. Cheers, Doug

Thanks for your replies.

Another (supplementary) question, I suppose, is whether the perpetual/standalone license is better, or the subscription model? I'm a bit wary of subscription, but it does seem to be the way things are going.

Cheers,
Doug

[quote]and for the future Lightroom should be upgraded.[/quote] Coming on Tuesday, Lightroom 6 ;)

Quote:and for the future Lightroom should be upgraded.

Coming on Tuesday, Lightroom 6

Don't discount Capture One based on LR's all pervading presence. Lightroom is based upon ex-phase one tech and they'll be around for a good while yet.

Don't discount Capture One based on LR's all pervading presence. Lightroom is based upon ex-phase one tech and they'll be around for a good while yet.

[quote][quote]and for the future Lightroom should be upgraded.[/quote] Coming on Tuesday, Lightroom 6 ;)[/quote] If the rumors are true its going to annoy some people :)

Quote:
Quote:and for the future Lightroom should be upgraded.

Coming on Tuesday, Lightroom 6


If the rumors are true its going to annoy some people

Thanks everyone. I get the impression that there's a high degree of equivalence between the two products, so it really comes down to whether market dominance is a key factor. Certainly a valid point to consider, but hey...I'm a Mac user, so market dominance isn't necessarily the clinching argument for me. ;)

Thanks everyone. I get the impression that there's a high degree of equivalence between the two products, so it really comes down to whether market dominance is a key factor. Certainly a valid point to consider, but hey...I'm a Mac user, so market dominance isn't necessarily the clinching argument for me.

A point to remember perhaps. Capture One is a product from Phase One, who I believe created the software to initially to support their own digital cameras / digital backs Also, a bespoke version for Sony is now bundled , for free, with all new Sony Cameras ( their own software was totally useless ! ) So I think Capture One will be around for a while :) Well, I hope so, as I moved over to Capture One on a permanent basis from Lightroom 5 at he beginning of the year , albeit only for my Sony A900 !

A point to remember perhaps.

Capture One is a product from Phase One, who I believe created the software to initially to support their own digital cameras / digital backs
Also, a bespoke version for Sony is now bundled , for free, with all new Sony Cameras ( their own software was totally useless ! )

So I think Capture One will be around for a while

Well, I hope so, as I moved over to Capture One on a permanent basis from Lightroom 5 at he beginning of the year , albeit only for my Sony A900 !

You can definitely try Lr for free for several weeks. I think it's the same for Capture One. It makes sense to process a shoot with Lr then one with Capture One and decide on that basis. Be sure to watch basic tutorial videos for both programs. I hated Lightroom until I learned how to use it properly. What I wouldn't do is shell out for either at the minute, try [i]before[/i] you buy

You can definitely try Lr for free for several weeks. I think it's the same for Capture One. It makes sense to process a shoot with Lr then one with Capture One and decide on that basis.

Be sure to watch basic tutorial videos for both programs. I hated Lightroom until I learned how to use it properly.

What I wouldn't do is shell out for either at the minute, try before you buy

If your ever planning on using any of the profile editor`s`s or makers your probably better off going Lr, capture one does not support any of this.

If your ever planning on using any of the profile editor`s`s or makers your probably better off going Lr, capture one does not support any of this.

Capture One Pro has long supported LCC profiles, in fact much longer than LR.

Capture One Pro has long supported LCC profiles, in fact much longer than LR.

How do I import the dcp files into capture 1 then keith ? As far as I know and I have used both Lr and Capture 1, capture 1 has never supported it.

How do I import the dcp files into capture 1 then keith ?

As far as I know and I have used both Lr and Capture 1, capture 1 has never supported it.

I`m aware of some of the ICC profile makers Keith but there not the same and there not commonly known about or used. Such as this http://www.dohm.com.au/coca/

I`m aware of some of the ICC profile makers Keith but there not the same and there not commonly known about or used.

Such as this

http://www.dohm.com.au/coca/

There are converters that will let you use them in Capture One - [link=https://www.photigy.com/topic/colorchecker-passport-with-capture-one-pro-7-tools-found/]for example[/link] Am looking forward to the new Lightroom 6. At last face recognition without any plug-ins or Picasa metadata tricks. Remember when my mother died and I wanted to collect photos of her for the funeral Picasa instantly displayed every image she was in from a library of 25k images. I miss that in Lr and glad it looks like we'll be getting it. Also likely is HDR and Panorama without a round-trip to Ps. For me, another highlight is GPU acceleration, if you have lots of CUDA cores in your GPU it may speed up export processing massively

There are converters that will let you use them in Capture One - for example

Am looking forward to the new Lightroom 6. At last face recognition without any plug-ins or Picasa metadata tricks. Remember when my mother died and I wanted to collect photos of her for the funeral Picasa instantly displayed every image she was in from a library of 25k images. I miss that in Lr and glad it looks like we'll be getting it.

Also likely is HDR and Panorama without a round-trip to Ps.

For me, another highlight is GPU acceleration, if you have lots of CUDA cores in your GPU it may speed up export processing massively