Capture One Express is coming to an end
Hello everyone,
Writing a post in here just in case some of you have not been contacted by e-mail and to also share some helpful resources after this news.
See here:
Express deprecation FAQ
How to access your catalog images outside of Capture One
From the email communication sent out earlier today:
"... This means that starting January 30, 2024, Capture One Express will no longer be available.
You’ll be able to use Express until January 30, and all your images and edits will also be available until this date.
Starting January 30, you won’t be able to download or use Express from our website. Also, you can’t activate any Express license keys after January 30, even though you downloaded the license key before this date.
We’ll end all support for Express after January 30."
Understandably, if you are an Express user this will come as disappointing news. However, we have done our best to ensure that there are options available to you, should you want to stay in the Capture One eco-system – check your inbox over the coming days for an offer that's unique to you.
Kind regards,
Team Capture One
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Sad. Capture One Express was a good RAW converter and no doubt that the Pro-Version will be much better. Nevertheless I can't and don't want to buy the Pro-Version since I am not a professional photograph. So, I got to look for some alternatives.
Was a great time and tool. Best wishes for the future.4 -
I think they have just made lots of hobbyist photographers very unhappy especially those who cannot justify the cost of a yet another subscription software model.
I guess https://www.photopea.com/ might be a interim 'application'
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I am really glad that my "Lifetime" captureone Express license won't work anymore. Seems like a breach of contract from CaptureOne's side but im not a lawyer so what do I know?
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I find it strange that I buy a camera with software and then the software company just stops my license. I can imagine the download of updates is stopped because:
We have made the decision to focus our efforts on our core products, such as Capture One Pro and mobile apps.
But it absolutely bullocks to disallow the use of software that I bought. Capture One stops my license for commercial reasons, why can't they be honest about that? Legal issues?
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Jack W Why is C1's 2023 model seem to be "screw consumers, cheers to greed & money"? I will definitely be looking for...alternatives... to the subscription from now on. C1 clearly doesn't give two shits about the people who support your company. Somehow this has gone from a better value than Adobe to WORSE. Idk how you become worse than ADOBE. What a joke of a company and the people making these decisions should be embarrassed for themselves.
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Hi, genuine question: are we able to continue using this software as an offline app? I purchased a camera which included this software. I have a license to use this software based on my camera purchase.
Can I not continue to use the software knowing that I won't get new features? Do I not own the software for which I have a purchase and a license?
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Can I not continue to use the software knowing that I won't get new features? Do I not own the software for which I have a purchase and a license?
Can I still access Capture One Express, and will my license still work?
All Capture One Express license keys will be disabled after January 30, 2024. To continue using Capture One, you'll need a license key for a current product, such as Capture One Pro.Can I run Capture One Express on an old computer?
No, all Capture One Express license keys will be disabled and will not be valid, regardless of the hardware used.3 -
I think it is okay to discontinue a software, But it is pissing me off that you also kill the activation of software that I got with my Sony Alpha. I won't buy a Pro-Licence even if you sell it with a 40% discount.
The way you treat C1 users is a shame.12 -
Christian Damhus Right! The worst part is them needlessly disabling the lisences that are already active. The only reason for them to do that is FORCE an upgrade out of users. They are betting that most express users will be too engrained in the C1 workflow that they feel like they have to pay money because switching software & moving all their images/work to a different platform will be too much effort.
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Can I still access Capture One Express, and will my license still work?
All Capture One Express license keys will be disabled after January 30, 2024. To continue using Capture One, you'll need a license key for a current product, such as Capture One Pro.So in Capture One, under Help > View License Agreement, you can view the license agreement effective as at 16/05/23 (at least, this is the license agreement in Capture One Express Fujifilm 23). Section 2.4 states that:
If you have acquired a license to a version of Capture One which is of a perpetual nature your right to install and use the Software is – in addition to and without limiting any other terms and conditions set out in this Agreement – subject to the following additional restrictions and limitations with respect to installation and use of Capture One depending on the Software and version hereof licensed by you.
It then enumerates the various conditions for each manufacturer of camera, most are mostly the same. For Fujifilm (section 2.4.8) it states that
If the license acquired is for Capture One Express Fujifilm and provided that you are the legitimate owner of eligible Fujifilm hardware as designated by Capture One in its sole discretion you may install and use an unlimited number of Capture One Express Fujifilm for your own internal use.
There are no stipulations here about revision of this agreement or termination of my right to use the software provided with my camera. So to me, this reads like I should still be able to access this software and that Capture One cannot arbitrarily stop it from working.
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you can’t activate any Express license keys after January 30, even though you downloaded the license key before this date.
Understandably, if you are an Express user this will come as disappointing news. However, we have done our best to ensure that there are options available to you.
Anti-Consumer late-stage capitalism bs.
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Cody D I think you are correct with your assumptions. It doesn't matter if it is a free program or not (which it's not. One has to have bought a Fuji, Sony or Nikon camera in the past to acquire a license and cameras aren't free) the terms state we have free lifetime access to the software.
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One has to have bought a Fuji, Sony or Nikon camera in the past to acquire a license and cameras aren't free) the terms state we have free lifetime access to the software.
Well then I hope Capture One honours the terms they set out in their own license agreement and allows us to keep using our software after EoL. Failing that, it might be worth everyone getting in touch with their respective camera manufacturer's customer support.
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You don't have to have purchased a camera to get a license. Express has always been available to everyone without having to provide proof of purchase, etc.
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Sadly, the C1E users decide to stop use this software don't affect anything to the C1 company, since C1 don't really received any benefits if they use or not. I just hope any companies / individuals that already purchased C1 look for this decisions, stop support the company that didn't even want to care about hobby users - who contributed many voices to make C1 becoming the good software like now, and I hope the better alternative (with the good price) appear soon for people who switch from C1.
Dear C1 developer / leader team, afaik the C1E is the reduced version of C1P, I don't think you need much resources to maintain it, so I think the reason "focus on C1P" is not correct, the correct reason is "focus on our stakeholder", right? and since the market didn't have really good software like C1 right now so you can put the unbelievable price to force people to pay more for each version / each month while there is only some small changes each update (but you marketing it like very big change), right?
I don't really want C1 go down soon, just want to see how you treat paid customer in the future, for fun./
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Cody D If you have concerns about the legality of this decision, then simply write to legal@captureone.com – I can't provide any legal insight myself and won't be doing so on a public platform.
As a general note (to all users), please remember that I myself didn't make this decision.
Please refrain from directing your anger towards me, Denis, or any of the other moderators. And in general, just remember that there's a human at the end of your messages – whether you're writing in here or to support, the same principles apply.
I am however, more than happy to provide a platform for you all to voice your concerns.-5 -
Hi Jack W the license I have reflects the make of my camera, whether the software is provided gratis is besides the point. I am the legitimate owner of a Fujifilm camera, the version I have is for Capture One 23 Express Fujifilm, so the license terms that apply to me are 2.4 and 2.4.8.
To that end I retain the right to "install and use an unlimited number of Capture One Express Fujifilm for your own internal use".
Even if I were to bite the bullet and purchase a perpetual license for Capture One Pro, how could I trust at this point that I will always own the software I pay for and that the corporation will not retroactively and arbitrarily revoke access?
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As my comment predicted a lot of unhappy people making comments, like Cody D, my awareness of CaptureOne was via my Sony Alpha (although I did not buy a Sony just for 'free' software) it is a nice bonus.
I did mention Photopea, a potential good version of purely free software is GIMP - https://www.gimp.org/
Not the easiest application to use (it is a download-and-install software), I've tried a few times and can't quite get the hang of it, but maybe now is a good step.
Yes, Adobe and Lightroom but that is also a subscription, but if you can get a deal via Amazon I know currently it's about £78 for 1 year Creators Cloud with 6 licences of McAfee for 1 year.
Suprised they have not closed down comments on the topic with the amount of 'verbal' they are getting.
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Jack W I know you didn't make this choice and non of the anger is directed towards you (at least non that I have seen). If you are hear to platform our voices than I assume this thread has already been emailed to the people who did make these decisions. It's been 4 hours since this post was made and the feedback is overwhelmingly negative, I wonder if that will get better or not? If the people who made this choice have a brain in their head, then they should know that the sooner the revert the change, the better it will be for the company and the less users they will lose.
It sucks that the express version is going away since it was amazing for non-professionals & people who do photography for personal enjoyment but if the company wants to remove the free product from availability that's fine. The problem is disabling LIFETIME licenses and breaching the terms of that license. The quickest way (though not the optimal way) to fix this is to continue to let people who have a license use the software. There is NO good reason to revoke the licenses. Non at all. Not even 0.001% of a reason to revoke them. It would be good for C1 to keep the Express version available for new users overall. Not everyone is a professional and not everyone who owns a camera can afford professional level prices. Why not just make the Express a $5 a month subscription if you really want more money out of your users pockets?
If you are hear to platform voices than I hope my previous paragraph will be copy pasted to an email and sent to the appropriate people since merely moderating a forum thread is not voicing any opinions at all.
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Son Vu Anh There is absolutely value to having free users of the software. Offering a free version is a good way to get potential customers into the C1 workflow and gain experience in something that might be complex for a complete newbie to photo editing. It also serves as a "good look" for the company by offering a really good RAW editor for FREE! There isn't another company out there that does this (there is Rawtherapee but that software is extremely complex and doesn't seem to be getting new updates or support. It is open source though so I think you could continue to add functionality if you know what you are doing with code). I would always recommend people get the free version to test things out if they were interested in getting away from Adobe's monthly subscription but that won't be an option anymore and since the subscription is more expensive, it's pointless to recommend C1 as an alternative because it wouldn't save anyone money, it would actually cost more now.
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The free version had always been a good start for new users. And it was a good way for the company to win their attention and someday maybe their money. Sooner or later most of them would have updated to Pro.
So many companies do offer free versions and in many cases they are not limited in their useability at all.C1 decided to go a different way. Kill the express version, piss off the users and probably loses them. I don't think that this a competitive advantage. And who knows what the future is going to bring. Image you are now buying the perpetual licence and in a few years they also kill it and disable any further activation.
I mean: Can we put any trust into this company?
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I went through Express for Sony and decided to stay, even though everyone did not even mention any alternatives to Lightroom. I guess future me would have no chance but to yield to social expectations.
As a permanent license holder I'm growing suspicions, that sooner or later the only means to continue using a legally owned entity would be themselves... illegal. Is that contradiction worth paying for?
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Christian Damhus We really don't know if they will suddenly decide to terminate older perpetual licenses now. The trust is totally gone. Maybe they think because it's free than it's fine but regardless they are breaking the user agreement and if they are willing to do it to a free version than I think they are 100% willing to do it to older licenses as well. Maybe 2026 comes around and the licenses from 2021 or earlier get terminated so they "can focus on Capture One Pro" or whatever pathetic excuse they gave for this decision. Adobe has gotten away with not validating old software activations before so I put money on the executives of C1 thinking they can also get away with it in the future.
Good think you can pirate lightroom and photoshop!
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I'm also one of the people who upgraded from C1 Express to Pro (Perpetual), after a few months.
However, disabling C1 Express for people who already use it, makes me worried about my purchase.
I don't think I trust Capture One enough, to upgrade to another version of C1 Pro.6 -
There is absolutely no way we will be disabling peoples license keys for Capture One Pro, under any circumstances. I’ll say that with confidence and take the consequences, should we decide to do something like that.
It’s just not going to happen. And it cannot happen.
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Jack W Unfortunately, we can't trust you when you say that. It might be true now but that can change in the future and because precedent has been set with the decision to disable free (LIFETIME PERPETUAL) licenses, us Pro users with a LIFETIME PERPETUAL license (which is the same as the express except we paid) can only assume that this could happen at any point going forward. The company has shown their hand and there is no going back on that choice. Besides, like you mentioned earlier, you aren't the one making these choices so why should anyone trust you when you tell us that perpetual licenses (the same kind of license that is currently being disabled but for a different version. I'll say it again, SAME KIND OF LICENSE) won't be disabled in the future?
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The change will not be reversed, but of course those responsible are aware of this thread. We keep all relevant stakeholders in the company informed of what the community is talking about as standard practice.
I’m also not saying anybody has been abusive or directing their anger towards me, I’m just making it clear from the outset of this thread that I won’t be tolerating anything of the sort.
If you have deep concerns and wish to communicate formally, then consider writing a support request or writing to legal@captureone.com if it’s regarding a legal enquiry.
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Jack W Are you saying the changes won't be reversed or are the decision makers saying it won't be changed? Do you have hard proof this is the final choice regardless of community feedback and are you willing/able to share a statement from the people in charge regarding the change and which clearly states the company will not consider community feedback or revert the changes under any circumstance?
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‘We at Capture One don’t care about our customers or any customers service, all we care about is corporate greed and money, money, money’
Or words to such effect.
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Bad strategic decision. It's a net loss when hard-earned reputation is traded for short-term financial gains.
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