CWW Loc: North Jersey

Greetings All, Looking for some information on the differences between Capture One 12
and Lightroom CC. I've tried both on their free trial offers however, I cannot see any major differences. It's the old " I don't know what I don't know" syndrome. Also, I understand Lightroom CC does not have all the features of Lightroom Classis. Any info on that would be useful. Thanks in advance for your support on these questions.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The Lightroom tools are intended to both be used, not just LR CC completely standalone. I don't think you can even 'buy' the mobile LR CC independent of the LR Classic and PS monthly software subscription. So, if you're shooting in the field, you can run some edits on your tablet with LR CC and have an edited result immediately available and shared. This assumes (a) your edited LR CC results are better than the SOOC image and (b) you have the skills and / or automation presets on your LR CC to create that 'better' result.

Because the software is intended to work together, you can bring your LR CC edits into LR Classic and / or Photoshop for 'completion' of the image. If the image was 'finished' in LR CC, then you are simply merging those edits into your main library of the LR Classic on your primary computer.

For the testing / comparison to CaptureOnev12, where did you perform this testing, on your tablet / mobile device or on a computer? If on a computer, the LR CC may 'run' there, but it is the LR Classic software that should have been installed and used as the basis of comparison.

bleirer

Plus with Lightroom you get Photoshop included, which is extremely powerful, but if you don't plan on using Photoshop, there is no reason to buy a Ferrari to drive to the corner grocery. Photoshop Elements could meet your needs as well, not very expensive, if you don't need to have everything synced to edit the photos on your phone or tablet, which you can do with lightroom.

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

A difference that's important to me: Lightroom comes with Photoshop which you're more likely to need. Capture One does not come with Photoshop which you're less likely to need.

Joe

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

Don't you mean "lease an overloaded clunky circus train?"

bleirer

Another plus to Lightroom is that it is a great organizer, you might see how Capture One does in that regard, or if you even need or want an organizer other than the windows file system. Elements is a good organizer also.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

If you are really using the light featured Lightroom CC and don't see significant functional differences between it and Capture One Pro 12, you haven't delved very far into Capture one's capabilities. It is significantly more feature rich.

reguli Loc: Uruguay

I have the three software PS, LR CC and C1. I believe C1 is in between LR and PS. With C1 you can do anything and the tools for selections are very powerfull and easier to use than PS. The use of layers and masks in C1 is by far more easy than PS. Of course PS has a lot more features than C1, but do you usualy use them?. My normal editing software is C1 and I need to do something very special I use PS. But of course if you are happy with LR go ahead with it, it is a very good editing software.

AndyGarcia

Hi,

I shoot Fuji. LR's handling of Fuji Raw files does not compare with C1 Fuji version. I was a long-time LR user. I now do not use it - I stopped when they went onto subscription.

For Fuji files I use C1 (plus ON1RAW or Exposure X5 for very specific requirements). For Nikon I use ON1 and/or Exposure X5.

I hope this info helps you.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Lightroom CC is a "lite" version of Lightroom, with fewer features but with better cross-platform connectivity and cloud storage. You could buy additional storage for classic if you want.

This summarizes the differences between CC and Classic

https://photographylife.com/lightroom-classic-vs-lightroom-cc

The thing about Classic is that it is part of a suite that also includes Photoshop. Raw converters are really good at doing global editing on raw files, and less useful for detail editing and retouching, which is why you might want to use Photoshop. To my eye, LR gets you really close, but Photoshop gets you to a truly finished image. I use LR's output for client proofs, but never for finished images.

Capture One gets you a little closer to a finished image, since it has a layering scheme, better masking, and doesn't labor under a large number of local edits like LR does. C1 does have better tethering, but it does not yet play well with plugins, which is why it is not my go to raw converter, though I do use it for raw files that come out of my Sony camera.

Using any raw converter without a raster editor is like buying a car without windows or doors. You can certainly get by, but it's not the best solution.

FWIW - I like editing experience and results from C1 better than LR, but LR/PS is a more complete solution.

Tronjo Loc: Canada, BC

dandev Loc: Enumclaw, WA

I have been using Capture One for about a year. (I used LR6 and CS6 before that). I think Capture One does some things better, mainly with their color editing and skin editing tools. The layers are great, but you can accomplish the same local adjustments with the LR brush. I think LR does a better job on the catalogs, but - I use the "sessions" feature of Capture One more than the catalogs which LR does not have. There is a lot going on in Capture One - and they have good tutorials. There are some C1 courses on Lynda.com as well.

I also switched to Affinity Photo as my CS6 replacement. The handoff from Capture One to Affinity is similar to the handoff from LR6 to CS6. While the programs are similar, I find Affinity a bit easier to use vs. Photoshop. Their tutorials are OK, and the program seems to have a growing fan base.

Bottom line: You can get similar results from LR & PS as you can from Capture One and Affinity. I like the Capture One and Affinity combo, and would not go back.

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

I agree about Elements. I refuse to pay for something over and over, endlessly. With some (pay once) third party software (DxO, Anthropics, etc) added on, you're ready to process, process, process.

xt2 Loc: British Columbia, Canada

I asked myself the same question this last week-end and spent a few rewarding hours reviewing the multitude of professional sites comparing the relative strengths and weaknesses of both engines. Take a bit of time and get some solid advice or at least well-resourced comparisons... it’s all there. You might a avail yourself of the 30 day free trial run of the software and really get a feel for each.

Me, you ask... I lean towards C12 for a variety of reasons, one of which is the initial image output blows off LR in my opinion. Yes, you can spend time making an image in LR look similar, but who wants to waste the time?

Cheers!

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

If that's what you're looking for you can just shoot jpeg.