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I’d like to preface with a truly important point: Your editing software is the one true constant in your photography workflow. We often use different cameras, from different brands, lenses, filters, lights and so on, but your software touches every photograph you make, and your images deserve the best. This is just part of the reason why we use Capture One.

Editor’s Note: This blog post is presented by Capture One. As a note, we also do all of our camera testing in Capture One, and we have for over three years.

It might surprise you to learn how common the choice of what software a photographer uses is made simply because it’s what they’ve heard of, or are familiar with. Usually that means they picked something at the start of their journey because they heard of it, and as they progress it’s just easier to stick with what’s familiar. But a lot has changed in the last 5 years or so, making it easier and more compelling to switch, and sticking with what you started with could mean you’re letting the best pass you by...

Capture One is generally regarded as the gold-standard for raw processing, but it got pigeonholed by many as only for top-notch studio-shooters because it was associated with Phase One medium format cameras whose files it was originally built to handle. But that was a long time ago (Capture One is older than Lightroom), and Capture One is really for everyone who cares about their images and just happens to be the choice of the most discerning.

Here are just a few reasons Capture One should be your choice in 2021:

Image Quality (IQ):

At the end of the day, this is what it’s all about; materializing the true potential of your images. One of the greatest joys is to take old images that might have been used in Lightroom or something else, drop them in Capture one and let it breathe new life into them and see just how good they can look.

How could the same file look different, you ask? For one, all raw formats are interpreted differently by different processors so the output is different. It can help to think of the raw file as a basket of ingredients, and if you give the same ingredients to two different chefs your final dish will turn out differently.

Beyond that, camera support in CO isn’t like anything else. Supporting a camera in Capture One is a laborious process that does not depend on just a few supplied raw files; rather, the dev team tests the software in various photographic scenarios with the specific camera actually in-hand. This ‘real world’ system ensures the software will handle files from that camera in any situation to bring out its best, and the new ProStandard Profiles are even further meticulous for those who need the utmost accuracy and consistency for things like product photography.

Speed Edit: The Fastest Way to Your Best Edits

Unique to Capture One, this features allows you to edit images without the need to navigate to any editing tools. You simply hold down a hotkey that’s mapped to an adjustment tool, then scroll with your mouse, trackpad, or other input like arrow keys and the changes are made! This means you can edit in full screen with no distractions, without ever removing your eyes from the image to search for a slider. It’s a truly immersive experience and allows for true precision and speed, without the need of an external device like Loupedeck.

Side-by-Side Editing and Editing Multiple Images Simultaneously

Most shoots require some level of consistency in the final aesthetic, and we often will edit one image, love it, decide it’s the base/reference image, then edit others in the set accordingly. But in order to match them in Lightroom you set a reference image, and you can then pull up another image in the Develop Module as the one you’re working on. But while you have it as a visual reference you don’t have it as a technical reference because you can’t see the...