Product Reviews

Phase One is probably better known as a maker of high-end digital camera backs for medium-format cameras, but it has an equally good reputation for its Capture One Raw conversion software.

Capture One Pro adopts all the underpinnings of Capture One 4, including the same high-quality Raw processing engine, Aperture-esqe interface and intuitive layout, but adds several high-end features. These include tethered camera and multiple monitor support, batch processing, lens correction tools and a highly configurable workspace with a much-wanted option for floating tools.

Crucially, it also lets you select specific camera profiles. Although the original intention was to provide familiar colour rendering, it can also be used to match colour from camera to camera, which will be particularly useful for designers handling files from various camera models and brands. Designers will also appreciate the new overlay feature for layouts. When shooting tethered in capture mode, you can add a sketch (PDF, Jpeg, Tiff or Raw) from an art director then literally and quite easily shoot into the composition.

Like its rivals, including Apple's Aperture, Capture One Pro retains the workflow advantages of projects and albums while adding a new Move-to-folder feature. Similar to

ADVERTISEMENT

a Smart Album, this lets you move your images on the fly to a separate folder, and from there to, for example, a web-based album for client approval. Importing images, selections and Raw image development can also be arranged around sessions, which means white balance or other image adjustments can be applied in a batch, saved and added to another session.

Although not new, we really like the Variants feature. This enables you to experiment with different processing techniques without the usual demands on disk caching and processor performance. Such functionality enables you to retain versions of the same image for the web, print and, with Pro, in CMYK, too. You could also add a number of mono versions.

That's made especially easy with the addition of the new Styles presets. While all the adjustments can be made in Pro using the various tools, Styles is a real time-saver. There are 24, offering a split of exposure, colour and monochrome options. Rather than applying a certain look for each, all you have to do is run your mouse over them for a preview. Cleverly, these presets can be layered - as long as the values don't exceed those of the previously applied style, the former style will still be partially visible.

As much as we like Pro, it's not all quite as rosy as we had hoped. The new Colour Editor promises plenty of control, but the learning curve is pretty steep. What's more, the heavily touted tethered camera support is limited to Phase One backs and Canon DSLRs. And we really would expect to see some spotting tools at this level. And that brings us to the price. While we're left in no doubt of the quality of our test files, Capture One Pro is still a pricey proposition. If you're an imaging pro, we can easily recommend it, but if you're an occasional user, the same quality can be had from Capture One 4 for as little as €99.