Does Anyone Use CaptureOne Instead of ACR?

I actually got a free copy of Capture One v5 and have watched a few tutorials and even played around with it a bit. I noticed it also has some file management functions, so it's kind of like ACR with part of Bridge built-in. My interest lies with its raw conversion quality. Does anyone use it and prefer the image quality Capture One gives you over Camera Raw? I do use ACR and like it very much in its latest version, and to be honest I'm perfectly happy right now with my PS CS5 & ACR workflow. BUT, if there are actual tonal advantages to Capture One (i.e., maybe it renders skin tones or shadowy areas better, whatever), that would be nice to know, might be something I add into the mix.

Thanks!

I've heard the reds coming out of Capture One are 'better'.. but I've been happy enough with ACR that I haven't invested the time and money to try C1. I'd be curious to hear some other thoughts though!

Floris, sometimes things are so obvious I totally miss it. I've got both CaptureOne and ACR plus a good calibrated monitor and a Canon wide format printer (the smaller PixmaPro 9000), why don't I just do a good test on both platforms and post my results? What a concept!

I've used Capture One for 4-5 years now and absolutely love it. I'm still using Capture One 4.7 currently and have not moved up to ver. 5 however. It's been a while since I ran any tests comparing it to ACR and Nikon's Capture NX, but it those tests ACR came in third, but still with excellent results. For all practical purposes Capture One and Capture NX were tied, but NX is so clumsy and slow I threw it out almost immediately. I find Capture One to be relatively user friendly, feature rich (for my needs), very fast, and it renders excellent results. Hope this helps.

How the heck did you get a free copy???? Any more of those laying around to be scarfed up???

It was a short, weird offer this past summer... if you owned Microsoft's Expression Media (their file management software) then you got a free copy of C1. I thought that was strangely generous but I didn't complain! There's some collaboration (or WAS) between Phase One and Microsoft, so there was that offer. Haven't seen it since... if I do, I will post it, I usually post good deals when I find them (LR for $149 last week, for instance!).

I have CaptureOne 4; level 6 just came out. I think they added "keystone" correction.

It does a good job.

I've usually use Nikon NX2 but have recently not been happy with the sharpening.

Colors. No opinion.

My only beef is that to go up a level with C1 is appears as full price. Upgrades within a level are free.

I wish they would have a significant discount for "upping".

Quality. The photos, not many, I've done with C14 with follow up on NX2 are good. I don't have PS.

I would like to see Paul D's comparison, too.

the fisch.

I got the same deal you did - free C1 because I own Expression Media. I played around with C1 which seems like a good program, but was put off by having to learn yet another program. Plus, it didn't seem to provide any significant advantage over ACR. I am very happy with the latest versions of ACR, Bridge and PS5 so I won't be making the migration. I have added some plug-ins from Topaz Labs and OnOne which make life easier and my photos more expressive. If you find any major advantages, please post them. Thanks for bringing up this issue.

FYI - PhaseOne acquired Microsoft Expression Media back in May of this year. Here's the press release:

http://www.phaseone.com/en/News/Press-Room/Press-Releases.aspx

Ah! That explains it, thanks Steve.

I realized that there are two versions, regular and Pro. The freebie was the non-Pro version which is what I have. I found a side-by-side chart showing the differences, but both versions have the same raw conversion process. I may upgrade to v6 since it's only $69 and do the ACR vs C1 test (I won't buy the Pro C1 version, that's $299, but I will list what it offers). CaptureOne Pro is pretty huge, it offers tethering and wireless camera control and functions like Model Skin Smoothing, etc... it's almost like a one-stop-shopping, but for us who have the PS/Bridge/Plug-Ins model going, the non-Pro version looks to be more than enough if we just want a raw processor that may spit out a better file. Floris mentioned possible better reds, so I'll be gathering some late-day golden hour images of the Southwest red clay we call dirt out here and see how C1 fares (sunsets also of course). Who knows, maybe for some images C1 will provide a better output. Seems like it'd be akin to a fisheye lens... not used very often but when you need it, nothing else compares.