Capture One Express - free for Nikon, Fuji and Sony

Retune

Retune

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Capture One Express is a cut-down version of Capture One, offered as a free download on the Capture One site (though not well advertised). While obviously leaving out a lot of things in the full product, it has a surprisingly good feature set. The catch is that there's a separate version for each camera manufacturer, and only Fuji, Sony and Nikon are supported (Nikon is new since the last time I looked at this). I've been trying out the Nikon and Fuji versions, and so far I like them. Both versions use the same installer, but the licence key you are given when you choose which you want locks it to one system or the other. Raw files from the other system are visible, but can't be converted. I was able to install both the Nikon and Fuji versions at the same time with separate licence keys in different locations (which wastes disk space, but otherwise seems to work). So I could edit my Nikon files by running the Nikon app, or my Fuji files from the Fuji app, but not both at the same time (you have to close one before running the other). Both versions seem to share the same catalogue, so not sure if having more than one installed will cause problems down the line. Of course, if you only have one camera system, this won't be an issue. Here are the installers:

https://www.captureone.com/en/products-plans/capture-one-express

Anyone else using this?
 
Small print tells me it's a 30-day free trial. :thinking:
 
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I download the Fuji version to my iMac on Tuesday then did the same to the MacBook Pro yesterday and found out they've updated it since Tuesday. I'm like you, Nikon and Fuji user but not sure how it works if I download both versions to the same drive. I think I'll leave out the Nikon version for the time being until someone else try it out.
 
gramps said:
Small print tells me it's a 30-day free trial. :thinking:
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Not as far as I can see. I think the same installer can also be used for the time-limited trial of the full version, but the Express licence key gives you what seems to be a permanent licence with reduced features, locked to one camera system. You need to register an account with them to activate the licence.
 
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rpn said:
I download the Fuji version to my iMac on Tuesday then did the same to the MacBook Pro yesterday and found out they've updated it since Tuesday. I'm like you, Nikon and Fuji user but not sure how it works if I download both versions to the same drive. I think I'll leave out the Nikon version for the time being until someone else try it out.
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Don't know about the Mac, but on the PC I assume different installation folders on the same drive would be OK (mine happen to be on different drives at the moment, just because of space).
 
Retune said:
Not as far as I can see. I think the same installer can also be used for the time-limited trial of the full version, but the Express licence key gives you what seems to be a permanent licence with reduced features, locked to one camera system. You need to register an account with them to activate the licence.
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Following your link:

Click on Capture One Express for Nikon.
Click on Learn More.
Click on Download Now,

Asks for email address etc and says:-
By signing up I will get access to a 30-day free trial and join thousands of dedicated photographers and become a part of our community. I agree to receive inspirational, educational and promotional content and invitations from and about Capture One A/S via email using the information I provide in this form in accordance with the Capture One Privacy Policy. I can unsubscribe whenever I wish at captureone.com.
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[/quote]
 
I think that's just their generic agreement - you do indeed get access to the 30 day trial from the same installer if you want to use it (they'd rather upsell you on the complete package), but the Express key seems to be for a permanent (but more limited) installation.

Edit: The internal 'Help->License' documentation lists the various licences for the different editions. I think the relevant one here is:

'2.3.4 Single user perpetual licenses for Capture One Express (for Nikon)
If the License acquired is for Capture One Express (for Nikon) and provided that you are the legitimate owner of eligible Nikon hardware as designated by Capture One in its sole discretion you may install and use an unlimited number of Capture One Express (for Nikon) for your own internal use.'
 
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I`ve been using C1 express for my Fuji raw files for a while now, then edit in PS. Always been free as far as I`m aware.
 
Paulie-W said:
I`ve been using C1 express for my Fuji raw files for a while now, then edit in PS. Always been free as far as I`m aware.
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I wonder if the camera companies are sponsoring this? That would explain why there's not a version for every system, why Fuji at least has a link on their own website, and the thing in the licence about being a 'legitimate owner' of the company's gear. I have mostly used RFC for Fuji (and Capture NX-D for Nikon), but having the same interface available for both makes C1 Express more attractive (I think RFC and NX-D are both based on Silkypix, but the interfaces are more customised to each).
 
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Retune said:
I wonder if the camera companies are sponsoring this? That would explain why there's not a version for every system, why Fuji at least has a link on their own website, and the thing in the licence about being a 'legitimate owner' of the company's gear. I have mostly used RFC for Fuji (and Capture NX-D for Nikon), but having the same interface available for both makes C1 Express more attractive (I think RFC and NX-D are both based on Silkypix, but the interfaces are more customised to each).
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They probably do, to some extent. Plus of course there`s the "Loss Leader" factor about it, along with the full trial. So I`m guessing a fair percentage sing up for the full pack, after that. I`ve been using PS though since CS3, so too old, and set in my ways to fully change over ;)
 
Retune said:
I wonder if the camera companies are sponsoring this?
Click to expand...

When the Fuji version was released, Fuji put out a press release enthusiastically announcing their partnership with Capture One, and from what Capture One has said, Fuji played an important role in getting the C1 processing to match the Fuji film emulations. In a Capture One webinar, a request to extend the Fuji film emulations to older Fuji models was answered with "that is up to Fuji".

Rumour has it that Fuji pay C1 for every copy of the Express version downloaded and subsidises the Pro version. Again rumour has it that a similar arrangement exists with Sony.

The deal with Fuji, however, might be more complicated than the one with Sony as at the same time as the Fuji version of C1 became available Phase One stopped selling their "small sensor" medium format cameras. They still sell their "large sensor" medium format cameras, but these don't directly compete with the Fuji medium format cameras.

Phase One has traditionally refused to support any medium format cameras in Capture One, as they wouldn't support any competing medium format cameras, but with the Fuji deal, they started to support Fuji medium format cameras.

The Capture One ambassadors are referring to the Nikon branded version as "teaming up" with Nikon and "partnering with" Nikon just as Capture one did with Fuji and Sony, but details of what any of these partnerships mean seems to rely entirely on rumour and anecdotal evidence from throw away lines made by capture One staff.

Although I am a long time user of C1, if you own a Sony, Fuji and now Nikon, the free express version of C1 plus a copy of Affinity Photo for pixel editing seems like a no brainer if you want professional-level processing for a tiny amount of money.
 
If there's a meaningful collaboration with Nikon, it will be interesting to see how the raw rendering compares with Nikon's own conversions, which I've always preferred to Adobe's. I've liked the results from C1 in the past with Nikon, but hadn't used it for a long time. I see that there are also paid 'Pro' versions for all three companies, with the full toolset but brand-limited like the Express versions, and cheaper than the standard Pro version.

Capture One in general is a bit on the expensive side, especially as the perpetual licence only seems to give you updates until the next (annual) major version (though the docs mention that some licences include a major version upgrade, perhaps those issued late in the annual release cycle?). They also have a subscription like Adobe, but it's the same sort of price as the PS/LR CC plan.

I've just noticed they have a page about installing more than one Express version:

https://support.captureone.com/hc/e...re-One-Express-products-on-the-same-computer-

They seem to be suggesting installing it once, then going through the licence deactivation and activation process to switch between the brand-specific licences. This is more trouble than installing twice in separate locations as I have done, but will use half the disk space.
 
Paulie-W said:
I`ve been using C1 express for my Fuji raw files for a while now, then edit in PS. Always been free as far as I`m aware.
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I have been doing the same. I bought an x100 on the forum and this software seems to do a great job on those files.
Simple too, not too many sliders to faff with.

Gaz
 
For some reason the Nikon version is no longer linked from the main Express page, but now has its own page:
www.captureone.com

Buy Capture One

Get Capture One's flagship photo editing software, trusted by pros and studios worldwide. Capture One Pro supports files from all major camera brands.
www.captureone.com www.captureone.com
Because Nikon users are Special. :)

Since this thread was started, Nikon's own NX Studio has also become available:
www.dpreview.com

Review: Nikon NX Studio answers our plea for a free, all-in-one editing app

Nikon's new NX Studio software suite combines the company's previous ViewNX-i and CaptureNX-D applications into a single one-stop solution for editing Raw files from your Nikon digital camera. Find out more about its updates and enhancements in our review.
www.dpreview.com www.dpreview.com
 
Retune said:
For some reason the Nikon version is no longer linked from the main Express page, but now has its own page:
www.captureone.com

Buy Capture One

Get Capture One's flagship photo editing software, trusted by pros and studios worldwide. Capture One Pro supports files from all major camera brands.
www.captureone.com www.captureone.com
Because Nikon users are Special. :)
Click to expand...

Capture One have some sort of formal arrangement with Sony and Fuji, which they don't seem to have with Nikon. I suspect that the Nikon version is a marketing exercise, which may explain it's different status on the web site.
 
capture One express for Nikon is pretty good unless you want to go a lot deeper into editing
 
I used it for a year or more then purchased the full Nikon version (Capture One 21 Nikon) for a one off £140 single payment.
It's never easy finding the deals and options from them but they are there. ;)
 
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EJB said:
I used it for a year or more then purchased the full Nikon version (Capture One 21 Nikon) for a one off £140 single payment.
It's never easy finding the deals and options from them but they are there. ;)
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Ted, what were the most useful tools for you since purchasing the full version, can't say I would use the xtra features myself but for many they do look as though they would be useful?
 
SsSsSsSsSnake said:
Ted, what were the most useful tools for you since purchasing the full version, can't say I would use the xtra features myself but for many they do look as though they would be useful?
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To be frank I can't remember all the 'missing' bits.....but I seemed to have the thought 'it's a pity I can't do this or that' fairly often.
This is my first and probably last full blown editing programme after a couple of years research and many years of looking and trying others.
There are so many 'Capture One Tutorials' on You Tube, plus new ones once or twice a month, that my progression has been a pleasure.
I wish you luck.:)
 
SsSsSsSsSnake said:
Ted, what were the most useful tools for you since purchasing the full version, can't say I would use the xtra features myself but for many they do look as though they would be useful?
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Can I have a go at this as I've just looked at the differences - never properly looked before.

www.captureone.com

Buy Capture One

Get Capture One's flagship photo editing software, trusted by pros and studios worldwide. Capture One Pro supports files from all major camera brands.
www.captureone.com www.captureone.com

No Sessions. This is one of the things I find most useful in C1 is being able to use it as a simple browser to work with files stored in system folders, This relies on the Sessions feature.

No tone curves, I do nearly all my main editing with curves

No advanced colour editing/grading tools. This is a key feature of C1. Even professional retouchers using Photoshop will finish off the Colour grading in C1.

No layers. For me, this by far the best way of managing edits.

No Luma mask (equivalent of Blendif in Photoshop) brilliant tool for selective editing, which together with colour based masks, and the new Magic masking is something I use all the time

Actually, I am going to stop this list, as I realise that I regularly use pretty well every feature that is "pro" only (not the tethering).

Do you use C1 express with another editor e.g Affinity Photo? One of the big advantages for me with C1 is that there is much less need to go into Photoshop/Affinity Photo than when I only used Lightroom.

Although Lightroom offers many of the same tools that C1 offers, I find them so clunky, that I'm keen to get out of LR and into PS. But with C1 I keep on going, even after I should really be in PS, just because C1 just works so well as an editor as well as a raw converter.

If you haven't looked at the linked list of differences it might be worth looking through and maybe looking at some of the tutorials on how the different features work to see if they could be useful.
 
EJB said:
To be frank I can't remember all the 'missing' bits.....but I seemed to have the thought 'it's a pity I can't do this or that' fairly often.
This is my first and probably last full blown editing programme after a couple of years research and many years of looking and trying others.
There are so many 'Capture One Tutorials' on You Tube, plus new ones once or twice a month, that my progression has been a pleasure.
I wish you luck.:)
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the reason you can't remember Ted is because you said it as Frank :) pathetic joke I know but hit me immediately as some often wish to do :)
seriously ,thanks.
 
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