Capture One Express - is it worth it?

With my Sony purchase I apparently can get a free copy of Capture One Express.

I currently have Adobe CC, use ACR and am very happy with it.

Is the Cap 1 Express worth it?

Well if you can get a free copy, why don’t you try it out? It’s not like it would cost you, at most it would only be about the time that it would take you to finish a series of photos.

I haven’t used Capture One Express specifically, but Capture One Pro is certainly superior to ACR in most if not all respects. There are already several posts on C-1 in the RAW/post-processing, including a review of sorts I wrote a while ago.

Apricane wrote in post #19012627
Well if you can get a free copy, why don’t you try it out? It’s not like it would cost you, at most it would only be about the time that it would take you to finish a series of photos.

I haven’t used Capture One Express specifically, but Capture One Pro is certainly superior to ACR in most if not all respects. There are already several posts on C-1 in the RAW/post-processing, including a review of sorts I wrote a while ago.

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, it -is- about the time. I have PS CC and absolutely love ACR. To evaluate / compare it to C1 without being proficient with C! would be unfair. And I just don't have the patience nor the time to go thru the learning curve. That's why I asked for the impressions of others. The C1 vs. ACR debate has been going on since rocks were molten. I'm not getting into that one. Thanks for your input.

Picture North Carolina wrote in post #19012685
Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, it -is- about the time. I have PS CC and absolutely love ACR. To evaluate / compare it to C1 without being proficient with C! would be unfair. And I just don't have the patience nor the time to go thru the learning curve. That's why I asked for the impressions of others. The C1 vs. ACR debate has been going on since rocks were molten. I'm not getting into that one. Thanks for your input.

I was barely aware of C1 before I actually tried it...no debate has been going since rocks were molten (unless I’m misunderstanding the expression) between these programs. C1 being seen and actually being a credible competitor to ACR is fairly recent.

The learning curve is nearly non-existent. A couple of hours is all it took me to realize just how better C-1 is, so I just don’t know how you could possibly not have that kind of time to try it out a bit, see how it feels.

And that impression has only been reinforced with all the photos I’ve been reediting with C-1 since I adopted it.

I don't like C1 - it has nice highlight, shadow balance and recovery. But licks a bit compared to LR and other converters in-terms of micro-contrast and edge separation. I have tried increasing USM & the clarity/structure slider still I find it lacking in this area. But, for everything else it works top-notch.

Picture North Carolina wrote in post #19004269
With my Sony purchase I apparently can get a free copy of Capture One Express.

I currently have Adobe CC, use ACR and am very happy with it.

Is the Cap 1 Express worth it?

The only person who knows whether it is worth it for you is YOU. And the only way you will know that is by trying it.

michaelanburaj wrote in post #19013450
I don't like C1 - it has nice highlight, shadow balance and recovery. But licks a bit compared to LR and other converters in-terms of micro-contrast and edge separation. I have tried increasing USM & the clarity/structure slider still I find it lacking in this area. But, for everything else it works top-notch.

Thank you, Michael.

Some people love LR some love C1. I happen to love C1 and hate LR. We use C1 at The National Gallery of Art. Is it worth zero dollars? Um, yeah, try it for yourself and make up your own mind. Don't let us tell you what you like.

Life gets complicated. I am now considering ON1 Photo Raw 2020.1

Thanks for your reply.

Re: ON1, I don't know if ON1 have changed their business practices, but in 2018 I contemplated switching to C1, DxO, ON1 or Affinity (from a long-time PS user since version 3 and LR5). Most vendors provide in-year free updates (or continuing cloud/subscription fees which I dislike), but ON1 prompted an update only to learn that I was forced into paying for another full version cost. At least with C1 and Adobe, one knows up-front what the terms and upgrade policies are. In the end, I stuck with C1 combined with Topaz Denoise AI. As mentioned above, it only took about 2 hrs to come up to speed in C1. The shadow/highlight and LUT manipulation were distinguishing features for C1. While some regard the absence of a database backend in C1 a limit, it doesn't bother me at all since the Sessions are fully functional and emulate my workflow that originated in my PS years (before LR was even a product). In the end, I opted for the full C1 since I shoot multiple platforms and plan to update alternate yrs.

As an aside, I also continue to buy PhotoElements (alternate yrs, when on sale) which I occasionally use since it has some features absent from PS5.5 which I also rarely use. While I don't use Affinity, they continue to provide free annual updates via the Apple Store process.

Thank you, biodan. Appreciate the reply.