Capture One Version 8 is out
Well, one bit of good news from Photokina, Phase One has released Capture One Version 8. This is a major update to the software with some very nice enhancements. As a long time user of Capture One, I welcome this update and find it well worth the price of admission, $99.00 to upgrade from Vr 7. You can still download the full version for Phase One digital backs, (non Pro) for no charge as I understand it.
Here is a list of new features and or improvements from Version 7.
- New Capture One 8 processing engine
- Improved image quality for HDR
- Improved image quality for local moiré suppression
- Improved image quality for luminance noise reduction
- Improved black and white conversion quality especially for aggressive adjustments
- New clarity method called Natural
- Live view focus meter for Phase One IQ250
- Live view direct capture
- Live view depth of field button
- Live view force orientation
- Customizable tools and tabs in the live view windows
- Repair tool for cloning and healing
- Film grain tool
- Target colors and other curve tool improvements
- New crop ratio “Original”
- Freehand rotation with the crop cursor by grabbing just outside the corners of the crop frame
- Double-click thumbnail to show viewer and entry in the keyboard shortcut editor for toggling the viewer on/off
- Batch chromatic aberration analysis
- Local white balance
- Local HDR
- Local noise reduction
- Local purple fringing
- Layer selection points in the viewer
- Hierarchical keywords
- Metadata terms editing in the filters tool
- Synchronize folders for catalogs
- Split importer settings for sessions and catalogs
- Export collection as catalog
- Import sub-catalog
- Session and catalog templates
- Refined metadata editing
I was a member of the beta testing for the software. From version 7, I see a totally new look and feel, the background now is pure black by default instead of the grey it has been in version 7. Phase One claims there is a new processing engine and so far I have found that the processing speed does seem faster. I am running a i7 Win 7 64 bit machine with 32GB of ram. All the mention of open GL, I believe is only for the Mac side. Phase One always seems to give the Mac side just a bit more. One of these days, they may realize that there are way more windows users out there than Mac. So if you want to increase your user base, take a hint.
For me the single greatest improvement is that Capture One 8 has greatly increase the support for Local adjustments. Unlike Lightroom, Capture One allows for the user to create up to 10 local adjustment layers. In the past color adjustment in these layers was very limited. Now you can have White Balance adjustment in each local adjustment. You also have local adjustment control over highlights and shadows and noise reduction, something that was missing totally in version 7.
However there still is no history, just the old undo switch. I guess Phase One doesn’t feel this to be very important. Sad as it’s one huge strength for Lightroom. Both Lightroom and Capture One offer so much capability for raw conversion and image correction, not having a history of adjustments is really a handicap.
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