CAPTURE ONE PRO 23 VS DXO PHOTOLAB 6: WHICH IS THE BETTER RAW EDITOR?

[@rickshapiro63]

That was a fair and thoughtful comparision. As someone that is new to Photolab but have used Capture One and other editors , no other editor seems to get images so close to finished right out of the gate. I feel like the default corrections do an amazing job and all is needed is a small bit of tweaking.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Thanks for the positive review did a lot of work testing this. Yes "close to finished right out of the gate" is a great description. Much less tweaking with Capture One and that goes for much older versions of Capture one including Capture One 21.

[@grahamf695]

@@takebetterphotos8132 do you mean that Capture One is better than Photolab at getting it right first time, or the other way round?

[@BSHokke]

Great review. Thanks!! for me, I refuse to pay a monthly prescription or annually for that matter for a program I don’t use every day. So DxO is a clear winner for me personally

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Yes love the simple price structure of DXO. It's image quality is also superb

[@thomaslilly5834]

Actually, there is a quick method to make the dehazer work: You just have to re-adjust the black- and whitepoints using the Levels tool. I just use the auto-adjust on Levels (which i do on default with my pictures anyway). Then, after applying dehaze, click auto-adjust Levels again. Surprising results! (Note: You can also choose, in the settings, if you do the auto-adjust on RGB, or on the individual channels)

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Very interesting have to try this. Thanks for the tip!

[@Bchottube]

Excellent review very well detailed and presented. Thanks to you I now have a clear understanding of those RAW editors. 👍🏻

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Much appreciated!

[@magus497]

Very good review indeed. Perceptive and clearly presented. Thank you for it.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

My pleasure! Good luck on your choice!

[@DieterWelzel]

Thanks a lot for the naming of advantages and disadvantages of Capture One Pro 23 and DxO PhotoLAB 6. I personally use both and agree to your comparison. Generally I prefer PureRAW (3) as first step for photos with high ISO and then further working with Capture One Pro (23)

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Hi thanks for the positive review. I did use Pure Raw initially with Capture One but I thought it lost quite a bit of detail so I just tried using Topaz after the edit. After the experiment I think I'll go back to PureRaw 🙂

[@pcproffy]

​@@takebetterphotos8132depends on the settings for deep prime. You can control how aggressive it attacks noise.

[@babajaiy8246]

How does caoture ones use of masks and adjustments combined together like a 'preset' then applied to hundreds of images(like a night time star timelapse) hold out? The reason I ask because early in this video it was casually mentioned that LR has very good AI masking. Well I use LR and it's AI masking. And for individual adjustments, image by image - it works fine. But if you use LR AI masks in your presets, it will turn into a disaster - That's why I am here - Looking for an alternative to LR to batch processing images. For example like I already alluded to(night time time lapse), I had taken just over 1k shots and the only thing that changed from image to image(which were shot one after the other all night long) - is the movement of the stars, i.e. No extra lighting coming along to change the scene. However, making a preset on one or any other image, then applying that preset as a batch for the remaining 1k images, only works for about 85% of the images. There's about 150 images that are totally blown out(not minor but major), so I had to decide whether to rework manually each of those 150 images or take them out of the sequences altogether. Adobe staff couldn't help in the matter either.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Thanks for sharing your use case. Amazing how many photos you process at a time.! Capture One doesn't have sky masking only subject and background masking, which perhaps what you might need, in any case I don't think it will do any better than LR. Best to download a trial and see if it meets your needs.

[@ro4lol]

Bought DXO elite 7 simply for low light high iso denoising on my canon 7d mark ii. Incredible. Want to learn more should try control point masking. As usual, great video and channel. Always learn something

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Great to hear!

[@MrMftech]

Excellent review, very concise and well explained.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Thank you kindly! It was a question I also wanted to know myself!

[@arielrglaze]

Nice video. One thing that most people misunderstand about DxO v Capture One v Lightroom is that they are entirely different tools even though they overlap. Lightroom is a file manager primarily Capture One is a tether shooting RAW reader primarily DxO is a RAW post-processor primarily Lightroom and Capture One give you a starting point to begin post-processing. DxO PhotoLab gives you the end result straight out of camera without the need to post-process (and this is not me making this up, this is what the founders stated in an interview). Put in other words, you only need the post-processing tools if you are not satisfied with your exposure as you captured it in camera. That’s why DxO lab goes thru the trouble of analyzing hundreds of thousands of images with their respective lens profiles. Capture One does not care to do this. Personally, this is why I use DxO PhotoLab. I don’t want to edit as much nowadays, and I am happy with my exposure skill for the most part. My Tray Ratcliff days are behind me.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Thanks for the thoughtful input. For sure they have different strengths. I think in the end all of three of these RAW editors primarily advertise the quality of their photo editing and that's why the public will see them as doing the same thing though in different ways. Yes DXO goes for more automated post processing but as time has moved on they've also improved file management features like search and ratings in DXO6 to become a better file manager. So the lines are really getting blurred! 😄

[@babajaiy8246]

" Put in other words, you only need the post-processing tools if you are not satisfied with your exposure as you captured it in camera." That is a common perception about photo imagining software. Although you did not outright say it - there is a pervailing view that started a long time ago when software for photos first came out. That the primary idea was to 'fix' something that is wrong with an image. However others, like myself don't use photo imaging software to fix or correct our shots. We first take excellent shots to begin with that could be left as is. But what the software allows us to do - is make changes to the image( even small ones) that could never have been done through taking the shot 'better' - since the shot was as good as it could get to begin with. It is really like the equivalent of old school of taking a film negative - then making a print from it. How good that print is depends on your darkroom work. The same with digital images - they are like 'negatives', the final image being the print that has gone through imaging software. On that note, I would not classify the software as you have done but rather note the strengths of each in doing this 'darkroom' work. In my view they are all the same in terms what they are intended for( meaning my intention). Say for example as you say - LR is for managing. However if for a series of images there's some setting I can apply that gives me the results that the others cannot - In that case LR is not a file manager, but the best post-processing tool at that time.

[@charlieross-BRM]

You pointed out some factors I haven't seen being considered by other comparison reviews, so that was helpful to me. I don't know how much programming the software would cost the developers but I am puzzled that a stacking function is not more prevalent in these programs. In particular, Capture One. It has tethering which and where do people use tethering?- in studios. I see many professional photographers with YT channels where they use C1 in studio for product photograph = image stacking to my needs but C1 doesn't have it. I struggle with C1 Express screens but that's down to my inexperience with it. I can see it has the organizational tools that will really help me so I think I'll bite the bullet this year for the fixed price offer, not the subscription.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Yes C1 seems to be targetting pro portrait photographers with their tethering function. Actually its rare for RAW editors to have a stacking function. It is more common in layered editors. For stacking, you can augment C1 with Affinity photo which has standard stacking and focus stacking. Luminar Neo also has focus stacking. I suggest you get C1 during their black friday sale at 40% off.

[@YogueDaddy]

I'm really pissed at the new price structure of Capture One. I am a perpetual license owner and used to always upgrade each year. Now, they decided to push everyone towards subscription. The main thing that I have trouble is the skin tool in Capture One. Anybody working with headshots and portraits a lot... this is a life saver for evening out skin tones. Doesn't seem like DxO have something similar, unfortunately.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Yes you are better of with Capture One for skin tones. Capture One still has the expensive perpetual license. But they just want the certainty of a recurring revenue stream. I wouldn't support unless they show consistent innovation every few months.

[@martinoberstein8431]

Thank you ever so much for this profound and to the point comparison! I use CO 22 still, because I don‘t appreciate the price policy and I‘m thinking about buying DxO as an addition for the purposes and advantages you focussed on. Kind regards from Germany, Martin

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Glad it was helpful! Yes DXO nicely complements C1 22 because of its noise reduction and haze adjustment tools. If you don't need the AI masking C1 22 is mostly the same product as 23.

[@martinoberstein8431]

@@takebetterphotos8132 Thank you very much for this confirmation!

[@grahamf695]

Another strength of Photolab is that you can enhance it with FilmPack, giving the choice of traditional film styles as well as digital camera styles. I have a Canon EOS R, but often I prefer to use the Fuji Provia and Velvia styles. The ViewPoint add-on provides perspective and volume deformation adjustment - particularly useful for architectural photos and photos taken with wide-angle lenses.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Thanks for the input. Haven't had anyone told me they use film pack yet 🙂 Certainly a differentiator for DXO.

[@grahamf695]

@@takebetterphotos8132 I have played around with all of the film choices. I like the effects and they look good. However, I have used hardly any of them, because I am just not aiming to produce that kind of look. I have found only a very small number that I like, but I suppose you might only need to find one to make it worth paying for. I used to love those legendary Canon colours, but I find that skin tones often don’t look quite natural - or maybe they are natural but not flattering. This may be because PL doesn’t quite mimic the Canon colours correctly. Sometimes I can fix that with white balance, but it is quite a tortuous process - especially as PL lacks a skin tone picker in the white balance panel. I find the Fuji Provia and Velvia colours often give more pleasing skin tones.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Yes torturous sounds about right 🙂I did run through all the filmpack choices as well but really can't appreciate it since I never shot with film. In the end I just want the look that I saw in the actual scene. C1 has a skin tone picker that one advantage perhaps of that platform.

[@grahamf695]

@@takebetterphotos8132 even Apple Photos has a white balance based either on a grey/white tone or skin tone. DaVinci Resolve video editor has a guideline for skin tones of any brightness level. It’s astonishing that this is missing from Photolab.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Apparently they expect you to just adjust white balance yourself. The picker does make everything so much easier! They should just add that but perhaps implementing it is harder than it looks. I don't think others i.e. photmator, on1 have it as well.

[@REZAHARANDIAN]

One important feature that you missed and I do not know of any othee software has id VOLUME DISTORTION IN DXO. This is very important when using wide angle lenses particularly with people toward the side of the photo. Who wants to see a distorted face or body to the extreme left or right side of the photo ?

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Thanks for this info I have to check volume distortion out. Didn't know about this.

[@ks_portraits]

Such a great feature. I used the 18mm to shoot a prom and used the volume distortion to make the people on the edges look normal.

[@GusPanella]

Well done channel! My photo editing experiences with both tools overlay yours. But I chose C1 instead as my main photo editor.... with a twist... I also give some money to DXO for the NIK suite.... primarily for Dfine "fire-and-forget" noise reduction sufficient for the hardware in the backpack. If using different camera gear, I would certainly have to consider Deep Prime. Some notes... The recent addition of AI Masking also seems compelling. (I have Augmented C1 with a focus stacking add-in.) opinion, bothperspective,

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Thanks for the feedback. Interesting combination capture one and nik. What kind of images do you shoot?

[@nigelbranchett7718]

An interesting and thought provoking video, just when I needed it. I have at long last been able to rid myself of Adobe and committed to DxQ but have have the thought about Capture One. I was with it from the word go however they soon found that price was something they could keep upping and have done. That is a shame as I far prefer their realistic colours! Having listened to you I may just stay as I am and improve the suite of programmes rather than signing up with Capture One again. Looking now to watch your next video!

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Glad the video was helpful. It sounds to me like you prefer Capture One but don't really like the price? They do offer Black Friday discounts maybe something to consider? I perfectly understand why you prefer the realistic colors it really is one of a kind. Sorry, what suite of programmes where you referring to?

[@nigelbranchett7718]

@@takebetterphotos8132 I was referring to the suite of DxO modules which I have committed to and kept away from Capture One completely as I don’t really want to get into their stuff again. I am a pensioner and price is important plus DxO you own it rather than the never never of Capture One!

[@takebetterphotos8132]

@@nigelbranchett7718 Thanks for the clarification. DXO is better value than C1. Good choice!

[@curtisbme]

@@takebetterphotos8132 But a thing is that On1 perpetual licenses no longer get improvements anymore where as DxO's currently do at least get some improvements within major versions. On1 has switched to try to force their users to pay for a subscription like Adobe. If you like subscriptions and losing access to all your edits when you stop paying, then you might as well just do Adobe.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

@@curtisbme I did not know this. You mean perpetual licenses that are greater than 1 year old don't get updates? I'm still receiving updates for ON1 2023 that I bought

[@peterbakic8221]

Dehaze in Capture one is more complex. There is a color picker where you change default auto set color to dehaze. You can dehaze each/any color individually. In your case there was set grey color. It is different to clear view. 7:38

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Thanks for the info! How do you find the dehaze in Capture One as opposed to others?

[@peterbakic8221]

@@takebetterphotos8132 I cannot compare. Well I am using Capture let me say from version 9 or 11? Not sure It is too far when I got Capture one Express version with my Sony DSC-RX100 first version for free. Then I bought full version and stayed with it. It has everything I needed so there wasn't any reason using anything else (I have Corel afteshot 3 pro or something version 8 but never went too deep inside it), just price is probably going out of control and might cause they will fail. Despite I am huge fan of Capture One, I am starting to thing about going to Adobe LR. Adobe Light room + Light room classic + Photoshop is for half of the price of Capture one. Reason I watched your videos, I am considering DxO Photolab 7 too.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Not sure what Capture One v9 is. What year did you buy the full version?Capture One since 2021 has been roughly the same product. Their image colors is better than LR in my opinion but I'm editing a ton on of photos for my year end comparison. I agree as you say Capture One is overpriced as they have not innovated as Adobe has and yet ask for more money through subscriptions. Anyway you have saved a ton of money I suppose not purchasing for so long 🙂 I use RX100 (m6) newer but I suppose mostly the same as the first version. Amazing camera. FYI Only DXO does a great job doing heavy noise reduction for this camera.

[@peterbakic8221]

@@takebetterphotos8132 I checked it Express version was 11 my first full version was 12. Basically my most wanted feature is panorama stiching available from 22 and in 23 is quite usefull

[@takebetterphotos8132]

I see, yes then best to update capture one or go with Lightroom. Affinity Photo also has a good panorama stitching. See if that works for you.

[@charukeshan]

Hello ! Is this comparison between C1 and photolab 8 now still with the same conclusion as in here ? I'm on the lookout to get one of these editors for general photography (landscape, family, pets ) which one would you suggest for it ? Thanks

[@takebetterphotos8132]

I think yes. Not much has changed since last time.

[@johnpap9328]

Thank you for your review. I like photolab's approach but I feel that the "bold colours" can also, or even better, be achieved via Nik collection. So, I end up using capture one for preparing the raw file and then i either edit it in Nik or, if i want more natural colour result or masking, complete the process in capture one. My two cents... and thanks again.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Thanks for the feedback! Haven't heard that combination yet. What module in Nik do you mostly use?

[@johnpap9328]

@@takebetterphotos8132 colour efex and silver efex. The first is disguised as a plugin but it's very powerful (I'd say more powerful than photolab). If you want to give it a try, try editing a picture with "pro contrast" and "contrast colour range" filters alone before applying anything further. On the other hand, silver efex is for black and white and I believe it's simply the best out there. I strongly feel that if DxO could take these programs and make them into an non-destructive editing platform with library tools and all, they could dominate the market.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Thanks will give this a try

[@kiv9431]

Capture One for colours mainly. Especially the icc profiles.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Yes colors in Capture One is the best.

[@PaulsMedia2024]

What a fantastic review! Thanks. You have got a new subscriber. :) I currently use ON1 Photo Raw 2024, combined with Photo Mechanic Plus and Topaz AI suite. Would love to hear your assessment about the ON1 product.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Thanks for the sub and kind feedback its much apreciated! I do use Topaz as well but not Photo Mechanic. What do you find useful about it? I do have an assessment of ON1 2024 when it first came out here kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJDck4F7raaUp5I . Perhaps I should put all my ON1 reviews in a playlist

[@PaulsMedia2024]

@@takebetterphotos8132 Putting all ON1 related content into a Playlist would make a lot of sense. Phot Mechanic (Plus), is the fastest way to brows my images, and is the best way to enter IPTC information en-masse. It is the go-to app for the majority of commercial photographers, especially people shooting in the field, such as reporters, as you can quickly add (IPTC) shoot information to a large number of images.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Thanks for the tip. While I don't really input IPTC, I'm always looking for a better &. faster browser. Perhaps Photomechanic can help!

[@remektekmedia6641]

@@takebetterphotos8132 Photo Mechanic will definitely give you a fast browsing experience, but it is an expensive product, especially the Pro version. You can try the free Trial version, but whether or not it is worth the investment, only you can decide, of course.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

thanks for the tip I'll give it a try

[@JET-Photo]

Capture One is severely lacking in lens profiles. They don't even have Viltrox listed and they don't have the newest Fuji lenses like the 56mm f1/2 WR and 33mm f1.4 WR. That is the deal breaker to me. I use DxO Pure Raw 3 as a plugin to LrC because I can add Viltox lens profiles they don't already have listed, and Adobe has all the newest Fuji lenses faster than anyone else. Capture One needs to figure that out, because that price is way too high not to have all available lens profiles out there.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Thanks for the info. Surprising they are not updated for the kind of money they charge.

[@MatjazMirt]

I try Capture One every now and then. But when I come to supported lenses, I stop. I use Tamron 18-400 f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC HLD a lot. And it isn't supported. Also Sigma 17-50 mm F/2,8 and Sigma 105 macro are not there.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

@@MatjazMirt That's a lot of lenses not supported. Very surprising.

[@extremelydave]

Lots of really good, pertinent info!!!

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Glad it was helpful!

[@leovanlierop4580]

I use both as I use 2 systems, Lumix and Fujifilm. But I update only when I really need it (there are good offers around black friday). DxO I mainly use for Lumix, but I upgraded to use it for Fujifilm also. Sometimes Caputure One doesn't cut it for me. Capture One I use for Fujifilm and to import all images. I also like the colour. My last upgrade I did to have stitching (which you didn't mention). Good comparison though, I can't live without DxO for Lumix low light shots, but since I have both, I do most of my work in Capture One.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Thanks for the feedback. Why do you use DXO for Lumix? Doesn't Capture One support it? Or does DXO just do a better job with Lumix files?

[@leovanlierop4580]

@@takebetterphotos8132 First I used dxo, because my Lumix system has a lot of noise at low licht and it's cheaper. After that I got into Fujifilm which dxo didn't support at the time.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

@@leovanlierop4580 I see I suppose your lumix system must be a smaller sensor. I have the same issue with my RX100m6. Need dxo for practically every night shot. DXO is extremely picky about cameras it seems.

[@18yearsoldnot]

Can you make raw edits in dxo and then embed those edits when you bring it back to Lightroom? I worry that it’s going to be a 16 bit tiff and my computer will just freeze. I used to use dxo optics pro back in the day. Really miss it and only stopped using it because LR mobile is so convenient but I am getting back into photography again and will definitely get photolab 6! I still want to keep my Adobe subscription for some reason… I know it’s silly but it is just so easy to sync to cloud and tinker your edits on iPhone.

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Hi yes you can make edits than export it to as dng and bring it into Lightroom. I usually just use noise and lens correction but make the tone adjustments in Lightroom. Well if you can afford having both they are complementary I think. 😊

[@Empty-headed]

this is very helpful for a guy looking to swap lol tyvm mate

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Thanks. Yes I know its a tough decision. No RAW editor is perfect :)

[@timoteo6687]

I've been using Capture One for a number of years. It is, in my experience, buggy and crashes and iocks up frequently. The last upgrade I did trashed all of the masks on 20k+ photos. Capture One's response? "Sorry, we can't do anything to help you". That was the last straw for me. All of my masks, gone, and Capture One says, "too bad". Oh, and they told me that there might be a newer version sometime that would fix my masks. So, I pay $300 for the tool, they trash my masks, and I pay another $300 for a new version that will (allegedly) fix my lost masks. That sounds too much like paying mafia protection money to me. I've just had too many problems with Capture Ome and this was the last straw. It may be a good editor but if it isn''t reliable then what good is it?

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Wow. With the amount of money they charge you would think you would get better technical support. So I suppose you went back to lightroom. Not many reliable photomanagers out there that can handle 20,000 photos!

[@powerhausstudiosgkfotograp3256]

DXO photolab 6..switched from C1

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Great! When did you switch? Are you liking it so far?

[@paulmaher1705]

Capture One now has AI Selection/Masking

[@takebetterphotos8132]

Yes this video does need an update. The rest I think still applies.