| While
we're on the subject of WB:
Nikon
D2x users - how WB encryption may have affected you with Capture
One, before version 3.7.3:
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Capture
One recognizes all of the Preset White Balance
settings, and does an excellent job emulating them.
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If
you chose an Auto WB setting on your
D2x, then Capture One will perform an Auto WB on the
actual image as you are pre-viewing it. With only a
cursory check on this, it seemed to perform as well
as any Auto WB would. (I'm personally not fond of using
Auto WB, since this works against getting consistency
between images in any sequence. It's also the reason
I shoot in Manual Exposure mode 99% of the time, but
that's another topic again.) |
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It
is only with Custom WB settings that
Capture One (at this point) can't read what the D2x
has set for WB. Personally, this isn't a big issue for
me, because ... I'm shooting in raw, and adjusting the
WB in post-processing is a breeze. |
Here
is Phase One's official response on this topic: Nikon
D2x white balance support, again, before version3.7.3
was released.
RANDOM OPERATIONAL NOTES
Being
my usual paranoid self, I initially had Capture One set to
save my images frequently. Such as whenever I changed a collection
(ie, clicked out of the folder). This made moving files within
Capture One very slow, since it would now want to save edit
settings for all the files within that collection / folder,
before allowing you to move them over to another collection
/ folder.
Therefore,
to work faster, I set Capture One to save every half an hour,
and whenever I closed the program.
If
Capture One runs a batch, it slows down the refreshing of
thumbnails considerably.
So it is always better to allow Capture One the time to generate
thumbnails, and then work on the files you need to adjust.
There is a blue dot that shows which images still need thumbnails
to be properly generated, and there is a counter at the bottom
of the screen to tell you how far it has progressed. No guessing
needed.
Capture
One generates work files and preview
files of the images that you view and edit. The preview
files can be periodically deleted since they do progressively
take up more and more space. However, the work files which
contain your edit info, are very small in size. All the changes
you make to an image are saved to these separate work file.
These can be saved in a archive folder of
our choice - eg. with the images that you archive on a DVD
or another hard disc. This was an aspect of Capture One that
I really liked, and is an easy way to make back-ups of your
edits, along with the original raw images.
A
nice feature (but an expected one), is that Tool Tips
show up when you hover your mouse pointer over a Tool. Actually,
this is a necessary feature in a software program that has
more tool icons than menu selections.
Right-clicking
on an image gives you a number of options, including annotations
and meta-data.
As
expected, Capture One can run multiple batch processes to
multiple destinations (with different settings.)
Another
important feature of Capture One Pro that would benefit the
high-volume photographer, is QuickProof.
This would enable you to generate lower-res images to be used
for proofing (and small enlargements) at a fraction of the
time it would take to generate a high-res jpg or tiff file.
For thousands of images processed every week, the time saving
could be considerable.
NEGATIVES
-
The user interface is non-standard, and takes a bit of time
getting used to.
For example, as I mentioned previously, right-clicking won't
get you anywhere.
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Some of the icons jump around between tabs. Very annoying.
Example: the 'Apply settings' icon changes position between
the Exposure menu and the White Balance menu. Since you can
apply Exposure and/or WB settings to other images from either
window, it becomes distracting not to be able to move your
cursor automatically to a specific point already. Instead,
you have to momentarily look for it.
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I had Capture One crash on me whenever I tried to close an
open folder (delete a collection) with a huge number of images
- 1700 in this case. I had to find a work-around, by closing
C1, and renaming the folder with the images as something else,
and then creating an empty folder with the same names as which
I wanted to close the collection in C1.
-
When converting to a B&W image via the 'Generic Gray Scale'
in the Process tab, I get a decent enough monochromatic image
- though most images will need some work to punch up the contrast
a bit. But what is strange, is that Capture One then doesn't
see that image if you use the explorer window to browse for
it. You can see other JPGs - but not the B&W jpgs created
with the 'Generic Gray Scale' profile.
FINAL VERDICT
Despite the few negatives mentioned, I have to say that I
LOVE this program!
If you're a large-file Nikon Digital Raw shooter, then I can't
recommend this program highly enough. And if you've been slogging
with the turtle-like Nikon Capture, then Capture One might
just be the answer to all your prayers.
For
anyone else that is shooting in smaller files raw, this program
deserves some very serious consideration.
There
are a few hiccups and oddities with this program - as I guess
most pieces of software has - but this barely detracts from
the impressive functionality of Capture One. It is fast, efficient
and does a stellar job as a professional tool.
SUPPORT
Support
comes in an impressive number of flavours.
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the
most obvious one, the Help function as part of the software. |
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a
downloadable pdf file from the Phase One website |
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online
tutorials in the form of movie clips |
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an
online forum where users can ask questions and have
them answered by the staff and other experts. I like
this in that it gives other users the chance to look
for answers and options without having to ask everything
one on one from support staff. |
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and
as a last resort, you could contact support directly. |
For a complete list of Capture
One's features and functions, check the Phase One website.
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