Lightroom or Capture one?

I'm looking for another editing software to go with photoshop cs6. Which do you recommend? thank you!

Explain, please, what you want to obtain by replacing ACR 9.1.1.

I just switched from LR6 to C1. Main reasons were performance issues with LR6 and the pressure Adobe put on the new cloud based rental model.
I am not quite sure if LR solved their performance issue. However, the bottom line will be: Both have a capable DAM and can produce very similar results in terms of desired look and feel. In my opinion C1 is (more expensive and) substantially more difficult to master - but also provides many degrees of freedom. Probably the biggest difference of the two are that C1 provides layers and the colour control is absolutely staggering.

It is little tough to understand what you mean by to go with. Something compatible or something else to work with. I have PS, LR and DXO PL. Even though I can export a file from LR to DXO for editing and send it back the two are not compatible. A little more info would be helpful.

Until then if you want something to "go with" CS6 then LR. They are like peas and carrots. LR6 perpetual license is still available for purchase I expect until 2019 and then like CS6 (which became PS CC few years ago) will be pulled off the shelf.

Don't know how old your camera/s are but any that were released before January 2018 can still read RAW files. Not sure if you currently use DNG files for CS6 or you can still open RAW files. Essentially LR6 will have the latest updates compared to CS6. CS6's last update was about 3 years ago.

If you want the latest versions then there is Adobe CC which a subscription plan but that isn't for everyone. Some don't like the idea of paying $10 a month. You get latest versions PS CC19.1.6 and LR7.5 plus a few more goodies like a free website, etc.

The other top ones as mentioned are C1 Pro and DXO PL is popular. There are others and free ones like DarkTable. There are pixel editors (CS6, Affinity) and image editors (LR, DXO). What are your needs?

if you are opposed to CC subscription, Capture One is a good alternative. I use it for 90 percent of my editing and switch over to Ps CS for more detailed pixel editing and mask/layer work.

Ultimately I will probably end up with Capture One and Affinity Photo instead of CC.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18699245
if you are opposed to CC subscription, Capture One is a good alternative. I use it for 90 percent of my editing and switch over to Ps CS for more detailed pixel editing and mask/layer work.

Ultimately I will probably end up with Capture One and Affinity Photo instead of CC.

The OP may not need a subscription plan. No response to indicate if happy with CS6 or not. If happy then LR6 is more than enough. If looking for something completely different then yes C1 is a good option. Still don't know what the purpose of additional software is.

digital paradise wrote in post #18699247
No response to indicate if happy with CS6 or not. If happy then LR6 is more than enough. Still don't know what the purpose of additional software is.

If the OP has PSCS 6, he has ACR 9.1.1 (assuming that he has updated it to the last version for CS6) which is functionally the exact equivalent of the image editing module of LR 6.1.1. Purchasing LR6 would give him access to updates through to LR 6.14, but those would only provide camera and lens support to the end of 2017; no new editing features. If he has a recent model camera that is unsupported in 6.1.1, he could get wider (to Aug. '18) support through the DNG Converter without the expenditure.

Yeah before going subscription I used LR6 with CR2 files and CS6 with DNG. I also used LR's transfer to PS command and it went there as a TIFF, and then saved back to LR. That was the only real continuity. If just for photo editing and no need for the advanced design stuff it would work that way.

I use C1 and CS6 and quite like the combination. Although C1 does produce an intermediate .tiff file when opening a raw, file in CS6, one you have the .psd file you can delete the .tiff and just open the .psd from C1 (and see the preview in C1).

Personally I don't think C1 is hard to learn, but I guess that depends on your tolerance for spending time actually learning a software. For someone who uses PS I would think it would not be that arduous. I think it took me 40 hours or so to get proficient in C1. PS I'm still learning stuff.

Capture One is a significantly better RAW processor than LR. Download the free trial and see for yourself on your own images.

I could list the many features I value, but a search on this forum will give you the same information. But that information will not give you what you will get from your own direct experience with the software.

I will suggest you compare how it renders your files. Do try the shadow and highlight sliders. They are in a panel called HDR but fear not. They are fantastic for recovering information in files and have saved some images I couldn't make usable with LR.

There is more to learn in Capture One because it has more power, but you don't need to learn it all to use it. Many of the features have similar names. Exposure, Highlights, Shadows, Brightness and White Balance are all you must learn to get started.

I used LR for many years from version one and have been using PS since I bought it in 1996. I am on the CC subscription, so I still have LR and check out new features every now and again.

Hey guys sorry for the late reply. I can't thank you enough for all the comments. I don't know if this is normal but I have edited images with ACR and open the image in Photoshop and the picture will be a little different than I edited in ACR. I see alot of people use either LR or Capture One and thought to give it a try. Thanks and hope all is well.

drmaxx wrote in post #18699116
I just switched from LR6 to C1. Main reasons were performance issues with LR6 and the pressure Adobe put on the new cloud based rental model.
I am not quite sure if LR solved their performance issue. However, the bottom line will be: Both have a capable DAM and can produce very similar results in terms of desired look and feel. In my opinion C1 is (more expensive and) substantially more difficult to master - but also provides many degrees of freedom. Probably the biggest difference of the two are that C1 provides layers and the colour control is absolutely staggering.

I recently read an article about workspaces, and 8 bit in JPG vs. 12-/14-bit RAW data in cameras, and 16 bit workspaces...in it the article disclosed that when 'pushing' exposures, there is more one EV wider latitude in the Adobe products than in Capture One.

Yet the 'recovered' highlights in LR look like muddy crap, whilst C1P's recovery actually does recover. I've plenty of latitude in C1P to the left and to the right. And frankly, if the image was properly exposed in the first place, exposure latitude shouldn't be a concern.

My experience is that if I've actually blown the highlights a bit (or maybe I'm just really,really close) ACR seems to do a better job, but for most cases where I have 'normal' blown out highlights from ETTR conversion to .jpeg, then I do like C1P better.

My personal opinion/experience is that Adobe does better at filling in highlight details that you missed.

Still not convinced. Unfortunately, not having access to the latest version of LR, I can't make a comparison. However, I've seen quite a number of photos around on these forums where I can readily tell that the photographer is using LR, just by looking at the 'recovered' blown highlights: there's always that smudgy look, like poorly erased 4B pencil scribbles.

The image below was a difficult exposure: the sun was behind the building, obscuring the foreground and lighting up the sky too much. Situations like this woulda have some people scrambling for HDR. As a matter of fact, I did bracket my shots, in case I had to blend two images in PS—one for the foreground and one for the sky:

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