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capture one vs phocus

N

nenes

New member
The other day when at the end i took a decision on wich system to pick one of my decision was because of the software and my tipe of work.
Someone told me that i can not make a decision based on the sofware and i find this opinion very understandable. but....I HAVE TO SAY...
I find that C1 is very nice way to have your pics ready from the raw file before to bring them to photoshop or external postproduction software.For me that is the best way to take the best from the pictures as you all know.
Another important thing about the software you use is that the client and even yourself can see very presicely how the picture direction is gonna be.
And to finish, after few years working with the same system and workflow scares me a bit change all my stuff from one day to another as it takes time until you get to defined your photography.
I am curious to know how your software is important for all of you

Thank and sorry about my eiglish
 
G

gss

New member
I use Capture One for my Leaf back and Phocus for my H4D. There is no comparison, Capture One wins hands down in every respect. Phocus is pokey and doesn't give nearly enough control processing the raws. Plus the whole 3FR/FFF nonsense is just annoying.

That said, I like shooting with the H4D, and will continue to do so, despite the software discrepancies.
 
N

nenes

New member
Capture one is a very strong tethered tool with a lot of color choises and level ajustments that allow you to get a pretty close final picture.
Also allow to have a workflow with sesions wich is very helpfulll to organice your jobs in folders .Sometimes C1 crashes very often soo i am not saying is a perfect software.
I have to say that the color correction and curves on fhocus works very well but it does not have an structure with sesions and i dont know how it works in a long day tethered shooting.
I don't know if C1 is better than phocus because i will have to see how the color structure works but that is to much mathematis for me :)
 
stngoldberg

stngoldberg

Well-known member
I have used Phocus tethered for product shoots for hours at a time without a crash. Phocus gives you the ability to instantly see what is on the sensor and to modify that image any way you wish and equally important delete and store the images on the fly. The speed at which it operates and such large files is remarkable.
Stanley
 
DDudenbostel

DDudenbostel

Active member
I have both Phocus and C1. I've compared output from the same image and prefer the look of the final image from Phocus in almost every case. I find it takes more work to achieve the look that I like in C1. I personally like a more film like appearance to my work and Phocus gives me that without having to reinvent the wheel for every session. The existing presets of Phocus are closer to my likes than C1 and require much less fiddling to get where I want to be. C1 seems to boost contrast and over sharpen straight out of the box plus with some files I've observed some strange color crossovers in skin tones. This only happens with some images not all. I don't see this with Phocus. I also like the workflow of Phocus better although C1 isn't bad. You can customize Phocus so easily. I see nothing slow about Phocus.

As to tethering, I've shot all day many times tethered and never had a problem. Excellent software in my opinion.
 
U

Udo

Member
DDudenbostel said:
I have both Phocus and C1. I've compared output from the same image and prefer the look of the final image from Phocus in almost every case. I find it takes more work to achieve the look that I like in C1. I personally like a more film like appearance to my work and Phocus gives me that without having to reinvent the wheel for every session. The existing presets of Phocus are closer to my likes than C1 and require much less fiddling to get where I want to be. C1 seems to boost contrast and over sharpen straight out of the box plus with some files I've observed some strange color crossovers in skin tones. This only happens with some images not all. I don't see this with Phocus. I also like the workflow of Phocus better although C1 isn't bad. You can customize Phocus so easily. I see nothing slow about Phocus.

As to tethering, I've shot all day many times tethered and never had a problem. Excellent software in my opinion.
Click to expand...
I totally agree :thumbs:
Cheers, Udo
 
D

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
nenes said:
Capture one is a very strong tethered tool with a lot of color choises and level ajustments that allow you to get a pretty close final picture.
Also allow to have a workflow with sesions wich is very helpfulll to organice your jobs in folders .Sometimes C1 crashes very often soo i am not saying is a perfect software.
I have to say that the color correction and curves on fhocus works very well but it does not have an structure with sesions and i dont know how it works in a long day tethered shooting.
I don't know if C1 is better than phocus because i will have to see how the color structure works but that is to much mathematis for me :)
Click to expand...
C1 is not perfect (no software is) but if Capture One is crashing "very often" it can be fixed. That's not normal and it's not something you have to live with.

We work with at least a client per month who is getting a lot of crashes and have found a solution in nearly every case (sometimes the person doesn't have the time/desire to spend a few hours with me figuring it out).

I'm far too biased to provide my opinion on such a stitled question, and our company does not speak negatively of products we don't sell (and to be clear I don't think Phocus is "bad" software), so I would only say this:

Google "digital tech" or "digital photography assistant" in your area, call the first five people that come up, and ask them if they'd rather use Capture One or Phocus on a shoot they are working. These are the people held responsible when software crashes and these are the people who can't go to sleep until they've done color correction, basic grading, pull selects, and process images for client review. See what they say.

Capture One has an absolutely dominent marketshare in rental houses, among digital techs, and in high-volume production studios. (note: this statement is inherently limited to the US where my experience comes from)

Doug Peterson (e-mail Me)
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C

cly

Member
dougpetersonci said:
Google "digital tech" or "digital photography assistant" in your area, call the first five people that come up, and ask them if they'd rather use Capture One or Phocus on a shoot they are working.
Click to expand...
Phocus is a newcomer and most professionals don't like to tinker with their proven system. It takes time which you don't have or which you prefer to invest at a different place. So I don't think the current dominance of C1 is a valid indicator of the quality of phocus.

Chris (using C1 :)
 
F

fotografz

Well-known member
DDudenbostel said:
I have both Phocus and C1. I've compared output from the same image and prefer the look of the final image from Phocus in almost every case. I find it takes more work to achieve the look that I like in C1. I personally like a more film like appearance to my work and Phocus gives me that without having to reinvent the wheel for every session. The existing presets of Phocus are closer to my likes than C1 and require much less fiddling to get where I want to be. C1 seems to boost contrast and over sharpen straight out of the box plus with some files I've observed some strange color crossovers in skin tones. This only happens with some images not all. I don't see this with Phocus. I also like the workflow of Phocus better although C1 isn't bad. You can customize Phocus so easily. I see nothing slow about Phocus.

As to tethering, I've shot all day many times tethered and never had a problem. Excellent software in my opinion.
Click to expand...
I also agree. I have both C1 and Phocus on my machine.

All day long tethered ... including controlling a multi-shot Hasselblad back. Amazing color straight out of the camera. Excellent simple interface similar to Light Room. Simple and effective array of CC tools. Fully automatic DAC HC and HCD lens corrections, etc. etc.

Not pokey at all ... shoot ... pic is there.

What the issue usually is with slow response is a weak graphics card. Hasselblad is very clear as to what graphics cards are recommended. Graphic Cards are inexpensive.

As to asking photo techs what they prefer ... of course it would be C1, it has been out for many years compared to Phocus which is relatively new ... however, if the photographer is shooting with a Hasselblad digital back the answer will be Phocus. So, it depends on who you ask and where.

Marc
 
DDudenbostel

DDudenbostel

Active member
I also agree Phocus is a new comer to the market. How many years has C1 been around? It's much like when Adobe introduced Indesign. The old Quark Xpress users were used to their software but eventually came over. How many people do you know that still use Quark Xpress?

There's more to selecting a photo editing app vs a design app. the design app is more about mechanics and the photo app is mechanics plus visual rendering. The visual part is the key because we all have different ideas as to what our images should look like. I do advertising / commercial product work and like the more subtle nature of Phocus where as I think C1 appeals more to the landscape guys due to the harder look it produces. Given the time I think you could almost match images from both but it comes down to the one that's easiest to get to the desired endpoint. It's really a matter of how we interpret our subject and how we visualize the final product.
 
DDudenbostel

DDudenbostel

Active member
Jeff those are absolutely stunning images. Very original. Looked at the rest of you work and can say beautiful work. Very delicate and fresh work.
 
N

nenes

New member
I m happy that phocus seams to work ,is good to have diferent choices on the market.
I like how phocus treat the colors but still very far from capture one in terms of workflow and tools.
i am sure that in one year they will be very close but for the moment...
 
Jack

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
For thread and post integrity, I am going to move this to the Image Processing forum.
 
F

fotografz

Well-known member
nenes said:
I m happy that phocus seams to work ,is good to have diferent choices on the market.
I like how phocus treat the colors but still very far from capture one in terms of workflow and tools.
i am sure that in one year they will be very close but for the moment...
Click to expand...
It is totally understandable to prefer one software over another because of the familiarity factor.

From the above comment it sounds like you are very familiar with C1 and do not know very much about Phocus or haven't used it much.

There are wide variety of post RAW tools on Phocus available by clicking the little arrow in the top right adjustments dialog window. These can be configured in any work flow you wish. Otherwise, all you see is the default basics.

Maybe in a year C1 will become as easy to use as Phocus so it lessens the time required to get working on it :rolleyes:

In fact, I think all of these software packages will eventually be snuffed out and buried by Light Room which has more RAW tools than C1 and Phocus combined ... all that's missing is a little two-way street cooperation between the makers and Adobe to tighten up the profiles
and get real about some standardization for the poor working slobs making photos.

Fortunately, Leica is leading the way with this ... new profile, full lens corrections for the S2 lenses, firmware update allowing lossless DNG capture that sped up tethered operation a lot ... it's getting better and better just using LR, and will continue to get even better.

IMHO.

-Marc
 
M

madmanchan

Guest
Marc: Just FYI, since you touched on this topic, Lightroom 3.5 will import FFF files shot tethered via Phocus. (The public RC has a couple of glitches in this regard, but they will be fixed in the final version.) Once in LR you can apply the Camera Standard color profile to get the Hasselblad colors and apply lens corrections (14 H lenses now supported).
 
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