REVIEW4Head-to-Head
CAPTURE
ONE
Do all RAW processing packages do the same job with our beloved files? Mark Cargill puts two of the industry’s finest against each other in a head-to-head
ADOBE LIGHTROOM How we test software
We captured a range of images on a Nikon D3 with different lighting, composition and also at varying ISO levels, and then processed the same RAW files through each RAW processing package. We are looking for colour accuracy, excellent levels of detail, low noise at the higher ISO settings, good dynamic and tonal range and also a good range of RAW adjustments to keep the processing nasties like banding and posterisation at bay. Which will give the best overall results?
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REVIEW4Head-to-head 8
Capture One vs Adobe Lightroom 2
Ease of use and quality of interface
Special features on board
We’ve used Lightroom pretty much since its original launch, and it would be fair to say that it has all the qualities to make it the industry leader. The interface is one of the most intuitive on the market and although we’re not comparing it with Apple’s Lightroom equivalent, it makes Aperture feel like a bit of a car crash in comparison. Equally good is the logical layout of the operation modes and the fact that on start up the software takes you automatically into Library mode, so that you can browse through your photographic collection with ease. Lightroom rather cleverly detects when you have inserted a card into your reader and the
Lightroom has a number of features that set it apart from Capture One. First, let us look at the processing options. The majority of functions are shared by both products, however Lightroom takes things a little further. Lightroom has an adjustment called Clarity, which is essentially a midtone contrast booster (with a hint of unsharp mask). If you want to give your image a little more ‘snap’, then Clarity is your weapon of choice. Equally, Lightroom offers greater control over individual colours. You can control the hue/saturation/luminance of eight different colour sliders, the effects of which can be quite dramatic.
99
easy-to-use import screen will then present itself, offering various import options including the facility to back up your RAW files to another drive at the same time – very clever. Capture One, on the other hand, is slightly less intuitive, and although it is very easy to import images (it also detects when your card is inserted) there are fewer options, particularly with keywords. Those familiar with Lightroom may find Capture One a bit intimidating, but like any new piece of software, it just takes time to familiarise yourself with it. One area where Capture One offers an advantage over Lightroom is in the way you can
access your existing images. With Lightroom you have to import the images, but with Capture One you simply browse your images using the familiar Windows file tree. Lightroom forces you to import the files because any future adjustments are stored in the software adjustment history. Capture One also remembers your adjustments, but doesn’t show it as a historical timeline. SUMMARY OF HEAD-TO-HEAD SO FAR…
EASE OF USE, QUALITY OF INTERFACE ADOBE LIGHTROOM 2
Euros. Phase One’s Capture One is roughly half the price of Adobe’s Lightroom, albeit with less features on offer.
ADOBE LIGHTROOM 2
SRP: £205
The industry leader returns with some great new features
ND GRAD FILTER
Lightroom 2 has many new features, including an ND Grad filter that can darken any part of the image and at any angle
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NEW ZOOM FACILITY Lightroom 2 offers a new facility to have a 100% zoom as a separate window to the main display – very useful
The class leader in many ways, now with new features
CAPTURE ONE
Simple, intuitive interface and easily customisable
sRGB, Adobe RGB, Pro Photo RGB
YES LOCALISED IMAGE ADJUSTMENT
Pro spec
Ongoing
9/10 8/10
YES NOISE REDUCTION
TOOLBAR CHANGES
Users of Lightroom v 1.x will recognise the toolbar layout, however Adobe has repositioned the crop/red-eye/clone tools
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Lightroom also offers one of the best black-andwhite conversions available anywhere and the facility to split tone your image from RAW. With other options including the facility to calibrate the colour rendition for your particular camera, a pro-grade print module, a slideshow creation and webpage creation option, it’s easy to understand why it has become the number one choice for many working professionals. Capture One, on the other hand, is more of a basic package, but that’s no surprise when you consider its cost advantage. It does, however, offer some of its own unique features, including a
traditional curves adjustment tool and an exposure evaluation screen that gives you an indication on the tonal range of the capture. It also offers a facility to organise your photos, but this is limited, as is the option to use keywords on import. You can buy Capture One with MS Expression Media 2 as a package for an extra €40, something that’s well worth the additional cost. SUMMARY OF HEAD-TO-HEAD SO FAR…
SPECIAL FEATURES ON BOARD
ADOBE LIGHTROOM 2
Colour slider controls make Adobe Lightroom 2 the best option for finetuning your photographic output.
CAPTURE ONE
SRP: €99 (£78 APPROX)
A brilliant RAW processing package for a bargain price
CURVES ADJUSTMENT Phase One has opted for the traditional curves adjustment tool. This will keep the old-school happy!
TOGGLE OPTION
Capture One has a Toggle option for exposure warning, which can be customised to show clipping at any user set level
Easy to understand why it’s the industry leader
CAPTURE ONE
All the essentials, with only a few luxuries missing
sRGB, Adobe RGB
NO
NO
Ongoing
9/10 8/10
YES
SHADOW AND HIGHLIGHT RECOVERY
As with Lightroom, there’s a very useful shadow and highlight recovery tool that shows one of the benefits of shooting RAW
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Capture One vs Adobe Lightroom 2
REVIEW4Head-to-head 8
Value for money
Quality of results We have a saying at Digital Photographer – it’s quality, not quantity that matters. In the interest of fair play, we processed the same RAW file in each package and then exported the files to Photoshop CS3. We printed these processed images using a dedicated ICC profile on an HP Z3100 large-format printer at A3+ print size and compared each for colour, detail and any artefacts that would be deemed as detrimental to the print quality. We have suspected for some time that Phase One had probably the best RAW processing engine of any package currently available, and our tests pretty much confirmed this. If you look at our D3
ISO 6400
images (full-res files on the cover disc) and pixel peep, you can see that Capture One is resolving greater levels of fine detail. This was also visible in the output prints we used to evaluate both packages. Equally, Capture One seems to do a slightly better job with colours, showing a greater depth and vibrancy. We also processed a selection of studio images up to 3200 ISO, and both packages did a very good job. No colour noise was visible in any of our test prints, including those at 6400 ISO. Luminance noise was a little easier to control when processing with Capture One, however as usual with this type of noise reduction, there was a
Even at this sensitivity, both packages cope well with luminance and colour noise.
slight loss of detail. This was very minor to say the least, although there was greater smearing of detail in images processed with Lightroom. When carrying out further adjustments in CS3, the Capture One processed files were a little more fragile and susceptible to banding and posterisation than those processed in Lightroom. However, the Capture One files are still some of the best we’ve ever seen.
QUALITY OF IMAGE RESULTS
ADOBE LIGHTROOM 2 CAPTURE ONE
Currently nothing can deliver the same levels of detail
How do the packages deal with noisy images?
ISO 400 ISO 800 ISO 1600 ISO 3200 ISO 6400
MAIN POINTS FROM THE GRAPH: Both software packages do an excellent job with our D3 test files. However, it is apparent from the full-res files (see cover disc) that Capture One does a better job, both with noise reduction and additional fine detail at the higher ISO settings. The 12800 ISO sample shows less noise and more detail in the Capture One sample.
ADOBE LIGHTROOM
ISO 12800
As camera resolution gets higher and ISO sensitivities are also on the increase (think 25600 ISO on the Nikon D3), RAW processing software engineers are having their work cut out to reduce colour and luminance noise without smearing fine detail, which was always a bi-product in the early days of image processing. Our normal ISO tests would start at ISO 100, but given the fact the D3 has currently the best noise performance of its class, we have started at 400 instead. Both software packages have adjustments that control luminance and colour noise. The latter is normally quite easy to control, and both packages do a really good job. Luminance is a bit trickier – the reduction of this, unless done very carefully, can actually result in a loss of detail. Suffice to say that both do really well, with Capture One just edging ahead.
additional €40, you have in place many of the missing features that Lightroom gives its buyers as standard. In fact, when you consider that you can buy Capture One (with Microsoft Expression Media 2) and then Photoshop Elements 6 for a grand total of £160 approx, it certainly makes you question the benefits of spending more on Lightroom.
9/10 10/10
We’ve tested two highly competent RAW file processing packages, but that’s not to say they’re the only ones available. Check out these three contenders
SUMMARY OF HEAD-TO-HEAD SO FAR…
BEST RESULTS FOR VALUE
ADOBE LIGHTROOM 2
SILKYPIX
A RAW processing package that is perhaps a little less polished than the two we see here. Good value at around £80 8/10
BIBBLE PRO
Perhaps less well known, but a powerful package with healing and clone tools. Good camera support 8/10
A great value-for-money package that’s just got better
APERTURE 2
CAPTURE ONE
Apple has improved on the original version, which was a slug on lower-spec machines. The new version is a lot better 7/10
Insanely good value that can be bought as a suite
9/10 10/10
THE WINNER
ISO PERFORMANCE
How does the software compare in terms of noise?
Lightroom offers greater flexibility in page layout control when using the Print option. Most will also find the file management/organisation brilliant in operation, and the keywords search is also very easy to use. Capture One, on the other hand, is simply a bargain at €99 (about £78), and when you can include Microsoft Expression Media 2 for only an
Other contenders to consider
SUMMARY OF HEAD-TO-HEAD SO FAR…
Delivers high-quality results every time
It is fair to say that Lightroom pretty much wipes the floor with its competitors in the features stakes. With the recent addition of localised image adjustments, it pretty much covers all the bases. At £205 RRP it is also excellent value for money, especially when you consider that the pro-grade print module is taken straight from CS3. The only thing missing then is soft proofing, as in fact
CAPTURE ONE
CAPTURE ONE This really has been one of the most difficult results to call. On one hand we have a very rounded, easy-to-use package that delivers excellent results. On the other, we have a more basic RAW processing package that needs to be used with other image and file management software to give you the complete set of tools you require. In the end, we decided that the more basic of the two packages, Capture One, should emerge as the victor. For many, Lightroom is the only package they’ll ever need. However, if image quality is what you are about and you must have that extra level of resolved detail, then you should buy Capture One and go for the package that comes with Microsoft Expression Media 2.
EDITOR’S
CHOICE
As the quality of the results determines the final ranking, Capture One wins by a whisker
HOW CAPTURE ONE WON
EASE OF USE FEATURES QUALITY OF RESULTS VALUE
8 8 10 10
Total
9/10
Both deliver excellent results, but Capture One can’t be beaten on value
Reproduced by kind permission of Digital Photographer Issue 74
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