Nikon Capture One Express, now for Nikon

William Lewis

All-Pro
Location
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Name
William Lewis
So this is there is now a new version of the Capture One photo editing and organizing software. It's intended as a Lightroom replacement but I am curious if it can replace Photoshop CS2 and Silver Efex for me. So after forgetting constantly, I finally downloaded and installed the free Express version. My primary interest in photo editing is to see if I can ever get better at making B&W images than Nikon gives me OOC. I did not feel I could in PS/SE though I could equal the camera I felt with a lot of effort.

After installing and waiting (and waiting) for the import to complete, I played a little with the quick tools in the application. These shine compared to some other aspects of the application. After a quick and dirty conversion, this was my results.

Original Image:

candle.jpg
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Edited Image:

candle.jpg
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Pros
- the quick tools are easy to figure out and use
- the more advanced ones are there and not too badly hidden
- working with a copy, the original file is never changed
- fast when editing
- free edition and reasonable price for camera specific "pro" edition

Cons
- dog slow imports and file system activities in general.
- some UI quirks. The progress bars ended up over top of the main menus and I got lost for a bit.
- the still really want to tie you down with a monthly subscription. Sorry, but no. At least it's not "cloud" based foolishness.

Overall, the jury is still out but it's the first app I can see that might get me away from my geriatric edition of PS.
 
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