This Danish company has been trail blazing their way in the Digital Raw processing software for a number of years and the benchmark Phase One Pro has been one of the best products on the market for precise and accurate refinement of raw camera data for many Pro and serious amateur photographers. However, the premium package may have been beyond the reach of the latter...until now. This latest package has been priced at a level to attract even the amateur photographer on a tight budget, but perhaps this new programme has been very late in coming, and some may say it is too late to the party. And the full Pro Version has yet to be released.

During this time Phase One allowed Capture One Pro 3.x to progress slowly, but basically unchanged. It was announced that a new cut-down version, 4.0, to replace the previous LE version, was under development (and indeed I was able to beta test the early version of this now finished product which was handicapped by not being able to view the images in high resolution. If this was a bug then I got no reply to my question, and in any case was useless at being able to assess its quality). Certainly, if it was up to the standard of the premium package I have been using for the past 3 years, then yes it will be a product that may well challenge the likes of Adobe Lightroom and Apple-based Aperture.

This is a very reasonable price point to be entering the market at, but asks the question at what price point the full Pro version will come in at, and will certainly need some of the following options to attract the Pro or serious amateur like:

• Tethered camera support
• Meta data tools
• Lens tools
• Colour correction tools
• Creative Styles
• Composition tools
• Multiple simultaneous outputs
• Session workflow
• Customizable workflow
• Multi-monitor support
• Clone and image repair tools
• High Speed operation on fairly standard PC and Laptops

So in order to compete, these are the sort of features that will be required and certainly well below the $500 price point of the earlier product, but let's hope that they have seen the light, if you forgive the metaphor, and at the $129 price of Phase One 4, it would seem they have got the right idea. In addition, those who own the LE editions or who own other versions may be able to obtain a free copy (check the website for details to see if you qualify). Or, a trial version may be downloaded at http://www.phaseone.com/4/

A newly designed user interface offers high fidelity colour and detail reproduction, plus new time-saving workflow features. Capture One 4 supports medium-format digital backs and a wide range of DSLR cameras. Camera Profile support was always one of the company's strong points, and I am happy to say continues here with all of the older, and current, camera models being supported, and I am sure any future ones as they arrive on the market.

Capture One 4 has a nice clean look and a simple and fairly intuitive interface. It is compatible with many other popular applications; for example, users can have a seamless workflow with Capture One to process RAW files and other post-production applications to process images. In general, references will be made to icons throughout the application, although the same functions can be called via the menu items, for example: shortcuts, tools and naming of files.

 

 

The interface offers maximum space for the images. Images, not sliders and controls, are the focus. A darker background permits easier image viewing and enhancements. As with previous generations of Capture One, a guided workflow is available to assist the photographer in the image enhancement process. These are the features of the programme for me that make this package of real value.

You can view and work with up to 12 images simultaneously at full resolution; Multiple Variants of a single RAW image can be made with virtually no disk and performance overhead. Speed is claimed to be much greater than the Pro V3.x, and indeed this is one area where 4.0 seems to excel. This is a particular advantage over Lightroom, which still is far too slow for most people, especially with my full frame Canon 5D and larger files.

One feature I liked, was the ability to manage and transfer license codes, so Capture One 4 can be used on one computer one day, and on another computer the next, and there are two licenses per customer, so one can install it on the main PC and your laptop. This is an excellent idea, and something I would like other software producers to take note of. Though in the event of a major PC crash, I suppose there is a risk of losing a license...not so good.

More great features: Recover details in highlights and shadows with high dynamic range control; Import and export images in DNG format, for more options to share and archive; Powerful new shortcut architecture allows faster image import, adjustment and processing.

Phase One's familiar Histogram, Levels and Curves tools are available, and though they are a paragon of simplicity and flexibility, they do look a bit dated compared to the new tools in Lightroom. There's nothing, for example, with the power of Lightroom's Targeted Adjustment Tool, or the Clarity tool (local mid-tone contrast adjustment), or Vibrance. But otherwise, the image processing tools in 4.0 are comprehensive and straightforward. As stated previously, Phase One 4.0 has both Highlight and Shadow recovery tools. The Highlight tool appeared to work very well, but perhaps the Shadow tool extends too far into the mid-tones for my own personal taste.

Variants is another great feature, as it allows you to try different image processing approaches with no significant disk overhead, and web page contact sheets is now almost a must in any raw processor, and seems well implemented here.

As I have suggested before, Profiling is a real strong-point. There are profiles made by Phase One included for all of the cameras supported (in some cases several versions with differing characteristics). You can also produce your own profiles with appropriate tools, or have the made by third party services. And there may be some exciting new developments here with offerings by such companies I hope to report and review at another time.

One other area where Phase One deserves praise, is that with 4.0 they support the DNG format on both file import and export. This is a real plus, because this means that any raw file from any camera can make a round trip between Capture One and any other DNG compatible raw processor (Camera Raw or Lightroom, Photoshop, etc.).

Let’s move onto some of the features of the programme, with screen views of some of the functions in more detail.

When improving images it can be difficult to maintain an easy comparison to the baseline image. Variants share image data – it is not copied. What differs from variant to variant is the rendering, which is determined by the adjustment settings in Capture One 4.0.

The new Variant feature is an excellent tool for explorative testing out of image improvements, and thus is a great tool for trying out various settings and achieving different looks from the same image. Since there is no copying of image data, there is no quality degradation, nor any performance overhead.

 

 

Once we’re satisfied with the results, we could make the adjusted Variants our preferred ones for the image, and in the Browser we can collapse the Variants so we don’t clutter the user interface with Variants.

If we wanted a more progressive workflow we could clone a Variant, which means we wouldn’t start from scratch, but work from the adjustments made already.

Importing images  

 

Importing images gives you a number of options and lets you speed up the workflow.

• You can preview the images to import before the import.
• You can also apply metadata to the images during the import.
• You can erase the memory cards after import.
• You can back up images to a secondary storage device, such as an external hard drive simultaneous to the import.

Editing and rating images

One way is by comparing the images side by side in the Viewer. Simply select the images you want to compare, and they will automatically appear in the Viewer.

It is also possible to rate the images using “star” rating. The rating can be applied using mouse or keyboard shortcuts and can be set in the Viewer or the Browser.

Using the “Compare item” feature, allows you to easily make the collection pick by comparing images. Combine these methods, and you have powerful and fast editing tools to select the best images to work on with.

 

 

In Conclusion

This is a very nice and effective bit of software that could well provide any photographer with the ideal workflow and image adjustments, and has been priced at a level that will be welcomed by many of us less well-off users, and is both fast and very accurate in its management of Raw files. I would have liked to have seen some of the other features I have mentioned previously, but then again you can't have everything. I find myself, as usual, making use of many of the features in a variety of software: doing one thing in Lightroom and another in Photoshop, and for sure will be doing things in Phase One 4.0, such as the Variant feature. Until the day that the perfect solution to all our needs arrives, I guess I will continue to do so. Make no mistake - this is a good and well thought-out software package at a very competitive price-point that many will, I am sure, find ideal.

Let’s just hope the delay in its arrival does not affect sales too badly, and that the New Pro Version will meet up to the expectations of the many Professional photographers who may not have an alternative if they use a Digital back for medium format. But, they may need to review their own pricing strategy when they see how well this stands up to the likes of Lightroom and Aperture, and at half the cost!

System Requirements:

• Intel® Pentium® 4 processor
• Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vistaâ„¢ Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise Edition (certified for 32-bit editions)
• 768MB of RAM
• 1GB of available hard-disk space
• 1,024x768 screen resolution
• CD-ROM drive
• Ideally you should have a CF card and reader and an external disk drive available as well – the latter to most effectively experience the full Capture One 4 workflow.

  To activate a Capture One 4 license you need to be connection to the internet.
   

For more information, please visit the website.

Member of Renderosity since August 2002 and former Moderator of the Photography Forum and Gallery. I have had a few nominations for AOM in both photography and mixed medium. Aged 59, Born in Cornwall and have a special interest in Wildlife photography. I have travelled widely while serving in the Royal Air Force as a medic, and later working as mental health professional in the UK health service prior to retiring in 2005.