First Impressions - Capture One 21

[crowecg]

When I finally abandoned the long abandoned Apple Aperture as my main software, I decided I wasn't going to keep chasing the annual paid upgrades offered with Capture One.  However, recently they had an upgrade offer that effectively meant I could skip a version and upgrade from V.12 (2019) to v.21 - actually that is only two versions difference due to a change in their naming system at the start of this year when they jumped form V12 to v20.

 

Overall, there isn't any obvious stand out big changes that would justify a jump of just one version.  The main things I've noticed are thumbnails are much quicker on import (very much quicker actually) and there is a new dehaze filter.  Some reviews have also talked about a 'quick edit' feature but I haven't played with that yet.  

 

If I notice any other new features, I'll post an update, but perhaps the fact that so much of it looks and feels the same is actually a major benefit.  I think I'm starting to reach an age where constant software updates are annoying rather than exciting, especially when they change something that has worked fine for a long time.

 

 

[crowecg]

Various outlets warn of an impending price increase, so if you are still thinking or buying or upgrading, don’t wait too long.

[Anthony]

12 hours ago, crowecg said:

Various outlets warn of an impending price increase, so if you are still thinking or buying or upgrading, don’t wait too long.

 

I have had an official email from C1 confirming this. I will not be upgrading from V20 as the improvements are minimal and the cost excessive. C1's pricing policies are being heavily criticised on various photography forums.

 

With the increase, the annual cost of upgrading will be £199. My LR and PS subscription cost £120, by way of comparison.

[Dallas]

To be honest, I am growing terribly tired of the software treadmill. 

[crowecg]

14 hours ago, Dallas said:

To be honest, I am growing terribly tired of the software treadmill. 

 

Is the 12 month upgrade cycle of software (and a lot of hardware) really any different to a subscription?

 

I'm not sure whether it is just me getting old or just the ever increasing frequency of updates, but the idea of updating everything is loosing the excitement that it used to have.

[Dallas]

3 hours ago, crowecg said:

 

Is the 12 month upgrade cycle of software (and a lot of hardware) really any different to a subscription?

 

I'm not sure whether it is just me getting old or just the ever increasing frequency of updates, but the idea of updating everything is loosing the excitement that it used to have.

 

What I find is that software developers are now in the business of creating digital dependance. About 10 years ago all we were looking for was a solution to a given problem. Now it seems we are being supplied problems to given solutions. Every time I do an upgrade something that was working fine before either stops working or works unreliably. I've had enough of it. 

 

I have also decided that I am not going to rescue my Whatsapp account when they delete it on 8 February. The new T&C's from Zuckerface are preposterous and I refuse to yield to them. Encouraging all my friends and family to get an alternative, such as Viber or whatever else does the same thing. 

[Sherwood]

On 08/01/2021 at 06:19, Dallas said:

To be honest, I am growing terribly tired of the software treadmill. 

I am *still* using Aperture for photo managment and tweaking, and PS 6 for heavy lifting.

 

I've been sporadically looking for an Aperture replacement for a couple of years.  Over that time I've defined what I want a photo manager (Not an editor) to do.

 

If anyone is curious: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QRmrpIj8dkiijAcVW55v6jzb_7x3ap5oyDvuN8B-tOE/edit?usp=sharing  It currently runs about 9 pages.

[Sherwood]

On 08/01/2021 at 20:54, crowecg said:

 

Is the 12 month upgrade cycle of software (and a lot of hardware) really any different to a subscription?

 

I'm not sure whether it is just me getting old or just the ever increasing frequency of updates, but the idea of updating everything is loosing the excitement that it used to have.

 

With purchased software it doesn't stop working when Version Aleph+1 comes out.  I find that when software updates, I have to relearn the whole package.  They have re-arranged the menu, things that used to work have broken.  My old workarounds for things that were broken are now broken.  Upgrade an Adobe product.  Lose two months of productivity.

[crowecg]

5 hours ago, Sherwood said:

 

With purchased software it doesn't stop working when Version Aleph+1 comes out.  I find that when software updates, I have to relearn the whole package.  They have re-arranged the menu, things that used to work have broken.  My old workarounds for things that were broken are now broken.  Upgrade an Adobe product.  Lose two months of productivity.

There was an interesting Dilbert cartoon a couple of months back about just that....

 

https://dilbert.com/strip/2021-01-11

 

 

 

[Dallas]

Ever since upgrading to iOS14 on my old iPhone 7P I have been running out of data mysteriously on the rare occasions I go out the house for a while. Looking at the mobile data usage report on the iPhone I see that this curious thing called “Documents & Sync” is the culprit. Despite all my cloud services being turned off and only allowing the bare essential apps to use mobile data (and only while I am using the app - no background refresh), this syncing continues unabated. 

 

A search online reveals that it has been going on since at least 2018 for many iPhone users. Apple remains silent about it. We’re also talking about  a LOT of syncing. Some users report massive amounts of GB that goes missing through Documents & Sync. For me I get 1GB of data monthly that is usually more than enough, but it will chew through that in a couple of days when I am out. 

 

So 2 days ago I had had enough and followed the advice of some of my fellow sufferers and signed out of iCloud and my Apple account on the phone altogether, then signed back in. I only discovered the consequences of this while driving my wife to work when some really arb music began playing after connecting to CarPlay. Apparently ALL my 60+ GB of downloaded Apple music was deleted from the phone when I signed out of the account. 

 

Honestly, the sooner we go back to an all analog world the better. These software “engineers” are the world’s leading nincompoops. 

[CarreraS]

7 hours ago, crowecg said:

There was an interesting Dilbert cartoon a couple of months back about just that....

 

https://dilbert.com/strip/2021-01-11

 

>> Ahh !! Dilbert .. 😉🙃😎

 

Having been on the Expert Certification treadmill for a nmber of years with Cisco and others, this one has been sitting on my desktop for around 20 years !

 

 

Rather yellowed with age, but still makes me chuckle at the memories !

 

cheers, Maurice

 

[CarreraS]

But back on the subject, I took out a full Creative Cloud subscription a few years ago. Apart from the constant changes already mentioned, the size of the updates requires me to leave a machine up overnight to get them through my 5Mb broadband. And do it twice to get my laptop up to speed. CC just grabs the whole pipe making it impossible to do even email. The 'controls' that are supposed to throttle usage appropriately think they've got 1Gbps, and don't do any determination of network choke points.

 

I quite like DXo PhotoLab, especially for producing web images, but they seem to find a reason to keep asking for more money as well. (Who can blame them !) It's a bit clunky to use with Nik still ..

 

cheeers, Maurice

[Dallas]

Interesting comment about the Adobe network speeds, Maurice. I have two LTE internet services at home and Adobe will not allow me to download on one of them. I have checked with the ISP to see if they are blocking and they assure me that they aren’t. As soon as I switch to the other network it updates. Annoying.