Why I'm Not Upgrading to Capture One 21
In October, I purchased a new monitor and was able to purchase a Capture One 20 perpetual license for US$50 as part of that transaction.
Over the last few weeks, I tried several times to persuade myself to upgrade to Capture One 21, but without success. The problem wasn't price. My full price upgrade is $159, but I even turned down the recent offer of 30% off. With that offer, my total cost would have been $161 ($50 + $111), essentially the same as the full price upgrade cost. A 12 month subscription is $180.
The problem is that Capture One 21 offers little of interest to me. I knew in advance what features it would contain, and in my view it was clear from the company's two pre-release videos that 21 would be pretty thin.
As a Leica user, the enhanced camera support for certain other makes is irrelevant. There are only two things in 21 that I have any interest in. The first is that it will process HEIF iPhone images, and the second is the dedicated De-haze function. I'll just process iPhone images in MacOS Photo, or, which is easy enough, convert them to a format that Capture One 20 recognises. I am not prepared to pay US$111 for dedicated De-haze, let alone $159.
I purchased Capture One 20 as a possible replacement for Photoshop/Lightroom, which I used until October. I am unimpressed with the way that 21 has been marketed, and with its lack of substance. I think that there is a big disconnect between what advocates of Capture One and its developer say and what I've witnessed so far. On the upside, if I decide to dump Capture One, it will have been an inexpensive experiment.
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At least you got Capture One Pro for a very attractive price. The advantage of a perpetual license, compared to a subscription, is that you always can decide when to upgrade. You determine what is the right time for you.
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What is a very attractive price? I got Capture One this summer during one of their 30% of promotions, so $210. I don't find that very attractive. What I find bothersome, however, is that a feature like HEIC/HEIF support requires an upgrade to a new version. I applaud the fact that support was finally added (after years of requests for it), but it should be backward added to at least Capture One 20.
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Hi Paul,
As a practical matter, I don't have full control over when I upgrade because I am not prepared to run Capture One under an old Mac operating system, and because the developer of Capture One determines whether I can upgrade without purchasing a new license, and for how much.
There are three questions that I will be paying attention to over the next 12 months and that will determine whether I continue to use this application:
- Will Big Sur support for Capture One Pro 20, which the developer says is coming, be ongoing until Big Sur's successor in the fall of 2021?
- Will the new features in Capture One Pro 22 be more substantive than the ones in this release, and will the marketing in the runup be more transparent?
- What will I be told is the cost of going from Capture One Pro 20 to 22?
At the moment, I have very little confidence in this developer. In my view, it and its spokespersons have significantly damaged their credibility with this release and the manner in which it has been marketed.
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Ror,
What is wrong with old Mac operating systems?
If you must always have the latest Mac OS then you are already captive to a find of pre-paid OS update schedule that comes with the hardware. Perhaps even more so with the new M "entire system on a chip" strategy when Apple takes you down that path.
I would not be surprised if Apple devises a way to force the use of Photos - or whatever their next generations products specifically created to take advantage of the new system on a chip developments will be called - whether you wish to do so or not. So basing everything in Photos for the future might be a good idea. Especially if you mainly use an iPhone for your photography.
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If old means any version except for the latest, then yes, you have to upgrade more often, generally speaking.
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Hi SFA,
Do we really have to turn this into a discussion about Apple? Yes, I use the current MacOS, I intend to continue to use the latest MacOS and I don't feel the need to justify that, certainly not in this discussion. I also intend to purchase an Apple SOC computer as soon as there's one with enough performance to meet my needs.
No, I don't mainly use an iPhone for my photography. I shoot 8x10, 6x7 and 35mm film, and full frame and iPhone digital. I also use a Blackmagic Cinema Camera. Indeed, I would like to see Capture One recognise the main video formats, as Lightroom and Photo Mechanic do, so that I can use it for previewing and metadata entry. However, I am not holding my breath on this.
I agree with Fred Tedsen above that it is ridiculous that Capture One Pro 20 does not support HEIF. There's a simple solution. However, the absence of that support, which it is now clear has been deliberately withheld as part of Capture One 21 marketing, is an annoyance that does not encourage warm and fuzzy feelings about Capture One and its developer. The very fact that it's easy to get around this is one reason that withholding HEIF support strikes me as not exactly smart.
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This years release is very thin. Took all of a few minutes to make my mind up. It's the first year for a long time I won't upgrade.
I'll see what happens next year but, as I already have the full Adobe package, I may spend some time tweaking my workflow to include Photo Mechanic again so I can I don't have to use Alphabetic sorting of keywords that LR uses. It's really the only reason I haven't gone back to LR... it would make more sense since I use all Mac, iPad etc and C1 doesn't cater for that either.
Might have to have a bit play around with it again.
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Unfortunately the upgrade has few positives. The pricing is such that we are now faced with a decision to stay or leave. Quuite a gamble for the company,
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I am out. Rather than address the deficiencies of the software, the company doubled down and raised the price. Unbelievable.
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I agree totally with Ror Edge ... I bought full Licence for C1 20 for my Fuji ( I use Adobe $9.99 / month for Leica ) and persevered with it, but I became frustrated with some of the long winded smoke & Mirror approach to some C1 features. I gave up with it. L.R & P.S just works for me & Adobe don't constantly mail me. $9 a month for 10 years ... a bargain
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Can anyone tell me why my annual payment plan has increased from £101 to £179 an increase of over 70% Are there really going to be major upgrades that justify this massive increase?
I'm now deciding whether to switch to Lightroom unless capture one have any discounts planned soon.
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