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Capture One 16.9 Beta 2 release notes

Denis Huk
  • Updated

Released on October 20, 2026, Capture One 16.9 Beta 2 adds a Headshot Tools script for macOS, a Source Filename token for matching images to their original file names, and a connection overview for Multi-User Sessions.

It also includes everything from Beta 1: Stray Hair Retouching for cleaner portraits with just two sliders, Skin Tone Retouching to remove color casts and unify skin tone across your subject, and Body Skin Retouching, which brings Even Skin to the full body.

The Advanced Color Editor gains Uniformity, a redesigned color wheel for recoloring part of an image, a Target picker, and editable RGB and HSL target values for matching reference colors exactly. Enhanced Denoise now works on Fujifilm X-Trans RAW files and is about 30% faster on Bayer files.

You'll also find per-face Assisted Review (Beta) results in the Viewer, Multi-User Sessions out of beta with export and Follow for collaborators, progressive loading for Contact Sheets, a custom output folder for Actions, improved AI performance on Windows with NVIDIA, Intel, and Qualcomm processors, and a clearer Base Characteristics tool.

Sessions and Catalogs created in Capture One 16.8.6 or earlier must be upgraded to open in Capture One 16.9. Once upgraded, they can't be opened in older versions unless restored from backup. See Upgrading a Session, Upgrading a Catalog, and Restoring from backup.

 

When installing the beta, make sure to use a different directory from your current Capture One installation. We strongly recommend working on copies of files, Sessions, or Catalogs, ideally on a separate partition or under a secondary user account, to avoid disrupting any production workflows. Beta software is not intended for critical work. Support is not provided.

When you have finished your work and closed Capture One Beta, please reopen the application once more and then close it again. This ensures that we receive the necessary data in case the application did not shut down properly during the initial session and helps us investigate and resolve stability issues, including crashes.

We appreciate your time and input during testing. However, if you're unsure about participating or can't risk potential downtime, we advise against installing the beta. This guidance is provided without liability.

 

Sign up and download Capture One 16.9 Beta 2
*expires October 30, 2026

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Table of contents

 

Stray Hair Retouching

Reduce stray hair in your portraits with just two sliders. Outer hair removes or reduces stray hair outside the hair area, including stray hair reaching into the face area. Inner hair removes or reduces stray hair inside the hair area to achieve a cleaner look.

Like Blemish Removal, Stray Hair Retouching lets you protect areas from retouching. This is useful if you want to keep some parts of the hair, or if the AI incorrectly detects something that should not be removed. Use the Stray Hair Protection Brushes in the tool to add to or erase from this protection mask.

Find it in the Retouch Tool Tab.

Stray Hair Retouching uses an AI model that runs on your own device. Nothing is uploaded to any cloud.

 

Skin Tone Retouching

Easily adjust and unify the skin tone on your subject. Get rid of color casts, discolored hands, red noses, and other skin tone differences.

Capture One automatically picks the target skin tone that Skin Uniformity unifies toward. If it's not the tone you want, pick another from your image with the picker.

Adjust the overall skin tone with Temperature, Tint, Saturation, and Lightness for full control. The tool automatically makes a skin mask for the adjustments. If this mask is inaccurate, you can use the brushes to modify it.

Find it in the Skin Tone Retouching tool in the Retouch Tool Tab, with All Skin, Face Skin, and Body Skin tabs.

Your subject's face needs to be visible in the image.

Skin Tone Retouching uses an AI model that runs on your own device. Nothing is uploaded to any cloud.

 

Body Skin Retouching

Even Skin is now available for the full body. Even out subtle contrast differences on larger areas of the skin while retaining texture and highlights. The Texture slider determines how much texture is retained when evening the skin.

Find it in the Retouch Tool Tab.

Like all retouching in Capture One, it's applied per person, so each person's face needs to be visible in the image.

 

Advanced Color Editor

The Advanced Color Editor gives you more control over color and tone, whether you're harmonizing a look, recoloring part of an image, or matching an exact reference color.

Uniformity

Make the tones within any color more even, not just skin. The Uniformity sliders, previously available only in the Skin Tone tab, are now in the Advanced Color Editor. Select a color and use them to make the tones within it more uniform.

Redesigned color wheel

Recolor part of an image directly in the Color Editor to any other color without being constrained by the slider. The redesigned color wheel shows the color transformation visually, so you can see how your adjustment shifts the selected color. You can now drag the new resulting color selection to any other hue and saturation. It comes in two sizes and makes the Advanced Color Editor easier to learn if you're new to it.

Target picker

Match a color to another object, in the same image or a different one. Use the Target picker to pick the reference color, and the selected color is aligned to it. This helps keep colors consistent across images. To use it with a different image, both images need to be selected in the Viewer.

Editable target RGB and HSL values

Hit an exact reference color, such as a brand or product color. You can now type RGB or HSL values for the target color directly, instead of adjusting until it looks right.

 

Enhanced Denoise

Fujifilm X-Trans support

Enhanced Denoise now works on Fujifilm X-Trans RAW files, so you can reduce noise in high-ISO X-Trans images without leaving Capture One. Find it in the Noise Reduction tool, as with Bayer files.

Faster and cleaner on Bayer files

Enhanced Denoise is now about 30% faster on Bayer RAW files. Corners are cleaner on Panasonic, Leica, and Sony cameras, where noise used to be more visible toward the edges of the frame, and overall denoise quality is improved.

 

Assisted Review (Beta) in the Viewer

Assisted Review can now show the evaluation for each face in the Viewer as a colored frame. Hover a face to see the evaluation for sharpness and closed eyes.

Turn it on with Show issues on image in the Assisted Review tool.

 

Multi-User Sessions out of beta, with export and Follow

Multi-User Sessions is now out of beta. Several stability issues have been fixed, so sessions between the host and collaborators run more reliably.

Collaborators can now export images outside the session, to a location on their own computer. Collaborators can also follow the latest capture from the host, so they always see the newest image as soon as it lands on their computer. Turn on Follow in the Library tool or with the toggle in the toolbar.

New in Beta 2, a connection overview shows the status of the session for both the host and the collaborators. The overview for the host shows who is connected, how many files have been transferred, and how many are pending. Collaborators see how many files they have already received. You'll find it in the Library tool, under the connection icon.

Multi-User Sessions is available on macOS only.

 

One-click set up for Headshot Tools

A new default script, Headshot Tools, sets up Capture One for a Headshot Tools shoot in one step. We built it with the Headshot Tools team, so you can start shooting quickly.

Run it from the Scripts menu. Capture One prompts you to create a new session. Once the session exists, the script sets up everything Headshot Tools needs with the expected values: your workspace, Next Capture Adjustments, and Next Capture Naming. It also creates an export recipe that matches the Headshot Tools specifications, or selects it if it already exists.

The script changes your workspace. If you have made modifications, save your own workspace before you run it.

The Headshot Tools script is available on macOS only.

 

Match images to their original file names with the Source Filename token

The new Source Filename token lets you use the original file name of an image when you name files. This is useful when you match images saved on the camera card to tethered images, for example.

What you get depends on how the image came in:

  • Tethered capture with a memory card in the camera: the Source Filename is the camera's own file name.
  • Tethered capture without a memory card: the Source Filename is the name defined in Next Capture Naming at the time of capture.
  • Any other import: the Source Filename is the file name of the image at the time of import.

Images captured or imported before 16.9.0 have an empty Source Filename.

You can use it in Import naming, Next Capture Naming, Export Naming, Export Location, Batch Rename, and the Watermark tool.

Not every camera supports this. Source Filename doesn't work with Leica, Phase One, or FUJIFILM cameras. We haven't tested every camera, so some older Sony, Canon, Nikon, and Panasonic models may not work either, but it should work for these brands in general. If the camera doesn't provide a file name, the token stays empty and Capture One logs an event. Make sure your camera is supported and has a memory card installed.

 

Progressive loading for Contact Sheets

Load large Contact Sheets faster and more reliably with progressive loading. Contact Sheets now load in batches, so the first images appear right away while the rest continue to load.

Loading in batches also makes Contact Sheets more stable when they contain a large number of images.

 

Save Action results to any folder

You can now save Action results to a folder other than the default. In the Export Actions tool, open the Folder menu and select Same as original file or Choose Folder, then pick any folder.

 

Improved performance of AI features on NVIDIA, Intel, and Qualcomm processors

Windows systems with GPUs from NVIDIA, Intel, or Qualcomm now automatically load and compile the latest execution providers. Some notes and limitations:

  • Preferences > Hardware Acceleration > AI needs to be set to Auto (CPU + GPU + NPU) to enable this feature. This is the default setting.
  • The first time you run an AI-powered feature, setting up hardware acceleration may take some time. After that, it runs faster.
  • On systems with more than one GPU, all GPUs need to be compatible, or the feature isn't enabled, for example on a system with an AMD Ryzen CPU with integrated graphics and a dedicated NVIDIA GPU. To work around this, disable the incompatible GPU.
  • On incompatible systems, Capture One 16.9 works the same way as previous versions.

 

Clearer Base Characteristics

The Base Characteristics tool now shows only the settings that apply to your image. Before, it was hard to tell how the profile and the curve worked together, or whether they did.

A new Color System menu makes that choice explicit: Capture One, Fujifilm, DNG, or From File for images that are already color managed, such as JPEG and TIFF, where the profile is read from the file. Settings that don't apply are hidden, such as the ICC profile when you use Fujifilm colors. Fujifilm Film Simulations now appear under Simulation instead of Curve, and with Capture One colors, the Curve list shows only actual curves.

This changes the interface only. Rendering is unchanged.

 

System requirements

Minimum system requirements

  • macOS 14 to macOS 27 (tested on macOS 14.8.9, 15.7.9, 26.6.2, and 27.0)
  • 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 1280x800, 24-bit resolution
  • Internet is required for Capture One Live and other cloud services

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 Support.

 

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: 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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