Switching from Lightroom to Capture One FAQ

1. What is the main difference between Lightroom and Capture One?

2. How to migrate a Catalog from Lightroom to Capture One?

3. What will be imported to Capture One?

4. Is it easy to switch from Lightroom to Capture One?

5. Do I get spot removal in Capture One?

6. What is the difference between Catalogs and Sessions?

7. What are Styles?

8. What are Process Recipes in Capture One?

9. Why are Capture One’s color tools special?

10. How do I edit skin tones in Capture One?

11. Which Capture One version is right for me?

1. What is the main difference between Lightroom and Capture One?

Both Lightroom and Capture One are RAW editors – photo editing software that allow you to process, sort and edit RAW camera files, and then export them as JPEGS.

Capture One simply has more photo editing and organizing possibilities – it’s designed with feedback from photographers and used by professionals and studios worldwide.

2. How to migrate a Catalog from Lightroom to Capture One?

We’ve made that process as easy as possible. Visit Files -> Import Catalog and choose Lightroom Catalog. It’s important that you do this step before exporting your Collection in Lightroom as a Catalog.

Read this step-by-step guide explaining how to import Lightroom catalogs to Capture One. 

3. What will be imported to Capture One?

Below is a list of what is supported in Capture One when importing a Lightroom catalog.

Collections

• Lightroom Collection -> Capture One Album
• Lightroom Collection Set -> Capture One Group

Smart Collections are not imported.  Empty Collection Sets are not imported.

Adjustments

• Orientation
• Rotation
• Crop
• White Balance Preset (if name equivalent) or WB Temperature/Tint
• Saturation
• Contrast
• Exposure

All other adjustments are ignored.

Metadata

• Star Rating
• Color Label
• Applied Keywords (flat, not hierarchical)
• IPTC Core Contact: Creator Name, Job Title, Address, City, State/Province, Postal Code, Country, Telephone, Email, Website
• IPTC Core Content: Headline, Caption, Category, Supplemental Categories, Keywords, IPTC Subject Code, Caption/Description Writer
• IPTC Core Image: Intellectual Genre, IPTC Scene Code, Location, City, State/Province, Country, ISO Country Code
• IPTC Core Status: Title, Job Identifier, Instructions, Provider (Credit Line), Source, Copyright, Rights Usage Terms

N.B. Color tags are only supported in English – if you have tags in other languages, then you may find that they are not read or ignored by Capture One

4. Is it easy to switch from Lightroom to Capture One?

You’ll be a master in no time with some quick tutorials and webinars.

Particularly, check this webinar for more details on how to migrate from Lightroom to Capture One.

Capture One offers a fully customizable workspace that lets you arrange tools any way you want. You can easily design your Capture One interface to look just like your Lightroom one.

For a Lightroom-style workspace go to: Window -> Workspace -> Migration.

5. Do I get spot removal in Capture One?

The Spot Removal tool in Capture One gives you several different options. In Dust mode, it’s ideal for removing dust from the sky or another plain background. With the Capture One Remove Spot tool in Spot mode, you can use the Adjustments Brush in Clone and Heal modes in order to remove bigger and more complicated spots.

Read our complete guide to using the Spot Removal Tool

6. What is the difference between Catalogs and Sessions?

Catalogs and Sessions give you different ways of organizing your images, based on projects or themes.

Here’s a quick summary:
Sessions – A workflow is based on folders. Sessions are ideal for quick editing of a few images or organizing individual projects within a folder structure. Users can browse any folder on their computer without importing the images.

Catalogs – Like in Lightroom, it is a database-driven workflow. Catalogs are ideal for organizing bigger and long-term projects. In this case, users can edit ‘offline files’ (smart previews).

Check out this webinar to discover whether Catalogs or Sessions suit your workflow best.

7. What are Styles?

What you know as Presets in Lightroom are called Styles in Capture One – instant looks that transform image elements like brightness and contrast.

Styles are available in Style Packs. Each pack includes several different Styles inspired by a theme or specific aesthetic. You can purchase the Style Pack you like in our online store.

Many of our Style Packs are developed in collaboration with leading photographers, so it’s easy to recreate their professional looks in a single click.

All Capture One versions come with three built-in Style Packs.

Learn more about Styles in Capture One in this tutorial

8. What are Process Recipes in Capture One?

Unlike Lightroom, you can export images designed for Instagram and print all of them at once, which obviously saves you tons of time. Process Recipes in Capture One allow you to export images in multiple sizes and formats at the same time.

Watch this short guide to using Process Recipes

9. Why are Capture One’s color tools special?

The Color Balance tool is powerful and easy-to-use. It lets you create your exact color grading.

The Master Wheel allows you to edit all aspects of your image at once or localize your editing according to Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights.

Read more about the Color Balance tool

10. How do I edit skin tones in Capture One?

For more advanced color editing, the Color Editor allows you to separate your colors with the Color Picker tool, take full control of a black/white conversion or allow you to specifically edit the skin colors. You can then adjust the Smoothness, Amount, and Uniformity of your selected skin tone.

11. Is Capture One right for me?

You can start with a 30-days trial period and then purchase a license upon your choice to activate the software and continue working with it.

Capture One Pro is the complete photo editing software solution that supports camera models from major camera brands.