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Capture One 16.8 release notes

Denis Huk
  • Updated

Released on May 28, 2026, Capture One 16.8 is a major release introducing Enhanced Denoise for improved noise reduction in high-ISO images, 2nd Gen Wireless Tethering with near-wired speeds for Canon, and Assisted Review (Beta), which helps automatically filter out closed eyes, out-of-focus eyes, and black frames without the need for manual sorting.

When Preview Is Ready puts your image on screen the moment it is received while AI adjustments run in the background, and ReTether sees quality-of-life improvements and is now extended to wireless shooting for Canon cameras.

This release also introduces Actions (Studio for Teams and Studio for Enterprise upgrade), letting teams trigger third-party creative work from within Capture One, routing images to Pixelz, Photoroom, or Gemini. Studio for Enterprise also gains the new Web-Based Admin Portal, giving IT admins and studio managers a single web-based place to deploy Capture One, manage user access, and handle licenses across the organization.

We've also added support for Canon EOS R6 V, Panasonic DC-L10, and Phase One IXM-RS250.

Sessions and Catalogs created in Capture One 16.7 or earlier must be upgraded to open in Capture One 16.8. Once upgraded, they can't be opened in older versions unless restored from backup. Learn more about Upgrading a Session, Upgrading a Catalog, and Restoring from backup.

 

Table of contents

 

New features and functionality

Enhanced Denoise

Enhanced Denoise, a new extension of the Noise Reduction tool, reduces noise in high-ISO files while preserving natural skin tones and fine texture. The Impact slider controls how far the reduction goes. At the default of 50, the result retains a natural amount of grain and texture in the image. Increase it for a cleaner finish. Decrease it to reintroduce achromatic grain for a film-like character, without bringing back the colored noise of the original capture.

Processing takes some time but does not interrupt your work. The result is computed in the background, so you can continue culling or editing other images while it completes. You can include Enhanced Denoise in a Style for quick access or use copy and apply to carry the same setting across an entire shoot in a single action when working in volume.

Enhanced Denoise is most effective at ISO 3,200 and above. For lower ISO settings, the standard noise reduction sliders are recommended. The current release supports Bayer-pattern RAW files only. X-Trans (Fujifilm), monochrome, linear RGB RAW files, and JPEGs are not supported. Support for X-Trans is planned for a future release.

Enhanced Denoise assumes uniform noise distribution. If you apply localized RAW in-camera adjustments like light-falloff correction, the resulting non-uniform noise can cause unexpected results.

For details, see Enhanced Denoise.

2nd Gen Wireless Tethering for Canon

Shoot cable-free with supported Canon cameras and get fully editable RAW files in seconds. Created in collaboration with Canon, this pending patent feature marks a step-change in the usability of wireless tethering in professional setups.

When you press the shutter, the camera sends a small RAW file over the wireless network. This file appears in Capture One very quickly, and it is fully editable immediately. Masks, crops, AI tools, and all other editing tools work from the moment it lands. The full-resolution RAW transfers in the background in chunks, without blocking new captures, and reconciles automatically.

If the connection drops, Capture One reconnects automatically. ReTether has been extended to cover this wireless tethering case, see the Improved ReTether with wireless support section. Additionally, if a full resolution RAW file transfer cannot be completed, the smaller RAW file remains usable and exportable.

This new high-speed mode is automatically enabled when a supported Canon body is connected and it contains a memory card. It can also be toggled in the Camera Settings tool. This feature extends existing wireless tethering, see the Canon wireless tethering setup guide article for setup instructions.

Supported cameras: Canon EOS R5 Mark II and Canon EOS R1.

For details, see 2nd Gen Wireless Tethering for Canon.

Assisted Review (Beta)

Culling is the most repetitive part of the portrait workflow. Assisted Review uses AI to automatically flag images with technical issues (closed eyes, missed focus, and exposure problems), so you can move through a shoot more quickly and focus your attention on the shots that deserve it.

When Assisted Review is activated, Capture One analyzes the selected images and tags them if issues are detected. Tags can be filtered directly in the Browser, used as criteria for Smart Albums, and combined with star ratings and color tags. The tool sits in the Library tool tab and is designed to complement, not replace, your own selection process.

Assisted Review ships as a beta feature in 16.8. We're actively gathering feedback to refine model accuracy and the surrounding workflow. A short feedback form is accessible from the tool. Your input directly shapes how this feature evolves.

For details, see Assisted Review.

Actions

Available as an upgrade in Studio for Teams and Studio for Enterprise, the Actions tool is built for commercial studios facing long lead times between capture and publication, driven by manual file routing, disconnected tools, and repeated handoffs between teams and services. AI is also opening new creative possibilities that are difficult to integrate into an on-set workflow without disrupting the shoot.

Actions solve both problems. When images are captured and processed, Actions can trigger third-party creative work automatically, delivering previews or final results back in real time. Images can be sent in batch to connected services, including Pixelz, Photoroom, and Gemini, without ever leaving Capture One.

Studio managers configure and deploy Actions centrally from the administrator dashboard in their account. Once set up, photographers and assistants on the company plan can simply associate actions to images and export to trigger the corresponding third-party workflows.

For details, see Actions.

Web-Based Admin Portal

Available in Studio for Enterprise, the Web-Based Admin Portal is built for IT admins and studio managers running Capture One at scale, where access control, deployment, and version alignment across workstations have historically relied on Company Mode, config files, and manual coordination.

The Admin Portal centralizes all of this in a single web interface. From one place, admins can manage user invitations, seat assignment, and device activations; control which Capture One versions are allowed and how updates are delivered; and review version distribution across the organization. Company Mode and config files are no longer required.

Admins sign in to their Capture One account to access the Admin Portal directly. Organizations with multiple Studio for Enterprise plans land on an Administrator Dashboard summarizing users, devices, and version state across all plans, then drill into each one for full control through dedicated Overview, Download, Users access, Version control, Admins management, and License information areas.

For details, see Web-Based Admin Portal.

Expanded AppleScript Color Editor Settings

The `color editor settings` property on every variant and layer's `adjustments` now exposes `basic color correction` and `advanced color correction` elements, so you can read and tweak Color Editor settings directly from a script.

Basic corrections are a fixed set, addressed by name or index. Advanced corrections are more flexible: you can make and delete them at will, pass properties when creating them, or change them one by one after creation. Skin Tone corrections are not currently supported via AppleScript, beyond the existing ability to assign the entire `color editor settings` from one variant or layer's adjustments to another, which copies all Color Editor properties in one go.

Property ranges match the equivalent sliders in the Color Editor tool.

For details, see Capture One Workflow Automation with AppleScript.

 

User experience and performance improvements

Faster tethering with AI adjustments

Heavy AI adjustments like masking and retouching can delay what appears on screen between shots when shooting tethered. When Preview Is Ready is a new mode available in Camera menu > Auto Select New Capture that resolves this by showing color-graded, sharp images in the Viewer the moment they're captured, while slower adjustments run in the background and are applied to each image when they're done.

This ensures a continuous flow while shooting, letting you and your team monitor the shoot without delay while still including the adjustments set up in Next Capture Adjustments.

When Preview Is Ready becomes the default selection mode in 16.8, overriding the existing setting when installing.

For details, see Selecting the appropriate capture preview.

Improved ReTether with wireless support

ReTether has been updated to provide a better experience and to support the new 2nd Gen Wireless Tethering with select Canon cameras.

A new toolbar button lets you enable and disable ReTether without navigating to preferences or Camera Settings. You can add it by right-clicking on the toolbar and selecting Customize.

New progress bar indicators have been added to the Camera tool, showing the progress of memory card scanning and file transfers, so you always know what is currently happening.

Using ReTether with two memory cards in Canon cameras no longer produces duplicate files.

In relationship with the introduction of the 2nd Gen Wireless Tethering for Canon, ReTether has been enhanced to support wireless workflows with Canon cameras. The new engine handles interruptions gracefully: recovering from drops, keeping the transfer queue clean, and swapping a partial file for a complete one without disturbing any edits, crops, or metadata already applied. Wired tethering benefits too: fewer dropped connections and more reliable recovery after temporary disconnects.

For details, see ReTether.

 

Camera support

  • Panasonic DC-L10: file support.
  • Canon EOS R6 V: wired tethering, wireless tethering, Live View, ReTether.
  • Phase One IXM-RS250: wired tethering, wireless tethering, Live View.

For details, see Camera Models and RAW Files Supported by Capture One.

 

Lens support

  • Canon RF 20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ

For details, see Lens support in Capture One.

 

System requirements

Minimum system requirements

  • macOS 14 to macOS 26 (tested on macOS 14.8.7, 15.7.7 and 26.5)
  • Windows 10 64-bit 22H2 with ESU or Windows 11 23H2 to Windows 11 26H1 (tested on Windows 10 64-bit 22H2 with ESU and Windows 11 26H1)
  • Intel Core i3 (1st generation), AMD Jaguar Family CPU, Apple Silicon M1 or A18 Pro, Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite
  • 8 GB of RAM
  • 10 GB of free disk space
  • Calibrated monitor with 1280×800, 24-bit resolution
  • Internet is required for Capture One Live and other cloud services

Note: SSE4.2 CPU instruction set is required. Read more about this on Intel's website.

4K monitors

For optimal performance on 4K monitors, we recommend doubling the initial specifications due to the increased computational demands. Additionally, investing in a high-performance GPU with ample VRAM is highly recommended for these configurations to handle the intensive graphics processing.

For details see Capture One System Requirements and OS compatibility.

 

Download, install, and update Capture One

See Download, Install, and Update Capture One.

 

Recommendations and limitations

Note: The information provided here is subject to change and unintentional errors may occur. For any queries or further clarification, please contact support at https://support.captureone.com/

General guidelines

  • Browsing folders containing unsupported image files may affect application performance.
  • Previews from earlier versions of Capture One may be updated, which can affect the application performance the first time images are viewed in this version.
  • Using a non-US laptop keyboard might require changing some of the standard keyboard shortcuts.
  • Editing images in external applications other than Adobe Photoshop might result in unexpected behavior.
  • Operating under virtualization software (e.g., Parallels, Hackintosh, etc.) may cause instability. These OS configurations are not recommended.
  • Some cameras provide multishot functionality by way of multiple exposures or pixel shifting. In most cases, this functionality will not be available in Capture One. However, a single RAW file from the "stack" may be viewable and editable in Capture One (as if it was a shot in single Capture mode).
  • Special or auxiliary modes (like pixel shift) are only supported if noted. If the information provided is incomplete or you need specific information pertaining to support in Capture One, kindly reach out to Capture One Support at captureone.com/support.

File support

  • HEIC/HEIF support: Capture One supports HEIC/HEIF 8-bit files to the extent that the operating system supports the files. If you are on a Windows computer, you might need to download the two extensions "HEVC Video Extensions" and "HEIF Image Extensions" from Microsoft to enable support in Capture One.
  • Capture One DNG colors: DNG files from camera models with native support in Capture One will per default have their native Capture One colors applied. DNG files from camera models that are not natively supported in Capture One will have generic DNG Standard colors applied. Adjustments and settings from other applications embedded in DNG files are not supported.
  • Other file support: TIF/JPG/PSD/PNG files that are not in RGB color space cannot be adjusted within Capture One and will be read-only. Layered Tiff and PSD files can be supported for viewing purposes only. Reprocessing the image will result in a new flattened image.
  • File size limitations: The smallest supported file for viewing has a minimum side of 16 pixels. The smallest supported file for editing has a minimum side of 512 pixels. The largest supported file is 715 megapixels or 65,000 pixels on the longest edge.

Known issues

  • You can find a list of known bugs in a dedicated community forum topic titled Known Bugs. Note that this list may not be up to date on the day of a new Capture One version release.

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