Here’s a quick comparison table between Lightroom/ACR and Capture One Pro/Express. Please note: I’m not a professional photographer and this information is from personal use and from web sources, hearsay, etc. Take everything with a grain of salt!
| Feature | Lightroom | Capture One |
|
Asset Management |
||
| Cataloging | The best | Average, but you can buy Media Pro to get better |
| Sessions | No | Excellent |
| Metadata management | XMP sidecar files | No sidecar files |
|
Workflow |
||
| Speed of loading | Fast | Faster |
| Speed of import | Fast | Slow |
| Speed of working for long with large files | Average | Good |
| Speed of workflow | Excellent | Faster! |
| DNG support | Yes | No |
| Print workflow | The best | Excellent |
| RAW file compatibility | The best | Doesn’t support some of its competitors |
| Workspace | Good enough | Fully customizable |
| Stability | Average | Average |
| Integration with ACR/Photoshop | Perfect | Not so perfect |
| PSD support | Yes | No |
| Publishing to the web | Excellent | Average |
| Culling | Excellent | Good |
| Build layers and multiple tools | Can you? | Yes |
| Number of export presets | Excellent | Better! |
| Overlay (for magazines) | No | Yes |
| History | Excellent | Almost non-existent |
|
RAW processing and tools |
||
| Dehazer | Yes | No |
| Dust Spot Removal | One by one | Everything at once |
| Color Workflow | Great | The best |
| Masking and local adjustments | Average | Excellent |
| LCC process | Good | Better |
| Zoom in | Average | Excellent |
| Focus mask | No | Yes |
| Support for Sony Creative Styles | Yes | No |
| For skin tones | Great | Top class |
| Noise Reduction | Great | Good |
| Film Grain | Good | Great |
|
Special requirements |
||
| HDR | Excellent | No |
| Panorama creation | Yes | No |
| Tethering | No | The champion |
|
Support and Other |
||
| GPU support | Yes | Yes |
| Support | So-so | Good |
| Learning curve | Average to hard | Harder |
| Subscription Option | $9.99/mo, or as part of Adobe CC. | $12-13/mo, if bought annually |
| One-time price (for Sony) | (n/a) $149 | ($50) $299 |
| Upgrades | Only free with subscription | Only free with subscription |
Sharpening: Capture One adds sharpening by default, but you can turn it off. Ultimately you can get the same results, generally speaking.
What about image quality?
This is really subjective. After playing around with both, what I’ve noticed is, for most users it’s a matter of taste. However, for some users who need critical color accuracy it might be better to stick to the processor that supports a camera natively.
E.g., Capture One will have the most accurate representation of Phase One backs, because they have inside knowledge.
When it comes to Sony, they have tied up with Phase One and you get Capture One Express free, so I recommend you use it unless you feel the need to change. If you need to go Pro, there is a free 30-day trial period (no need to pay anything) so you can check it out for yourself. For tethering work, there’s no other real option at the time of this writing. To know the difference between Pro and Express, check out this official PDF from Phase One.
Of course, if you need to tether, and need the advanced features of Capture One Pro, it only costs about Euro 50 ($50 on B&H). Important: This only supports Sony RAW files! If you need support for all (supported) cameras, you need to buy the entire Capture One Pro software, which is $299. There is also a subscription model possible.
The bottom line
If you’re a professional with many years of photographs (I’m talking tens of thousands) in your archive, then you need Lightroom for its catalog ability.
For beginners and professionals, you can easily get the Pro version for $50 (or even just use the trial versions) and see for yourself. You know your needs better than most. Ultimately it boils down to which software can give you the results faster.
For tethering work, you need Capture One Pro.
For the power user, having both won’t hurt!
What am I using? I’ll probably purchase the Sony version because I like shooting fashion tethered. Otherwise, I have Lightroom with by Adobe CC subscription.
