Capture One
Ranked 2 of 4 raw photo editors by recommenders
Fast raw editor with strong Fuji and Sony colour and a workflow many prefer; praised for a buy-once licence option. Caveats: subscription pricing shifts and no Linux version.
Fast raw editor with strong Fuji and Sony colour and a workflow many prefer; praised for a buy-once licence option. Caveats: subscription pricing shifts and no Linux version.
51 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 33
- criticize it
- 18
- approval share
- 65%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 33 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong Fuji and Sony raw handling
“The only reliable raw converter that can handle Fuji color is Capture One.”
Comment from 21 Mar 2026 in “Fujifilm X RAW STUDIO webapp clone” “which (last I tested) has a deft touch with Sony files”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “The creative software industry has declared war on Adobe” “The out of box processing of raf is still top notch”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “DaVinci Resolve releases Photo Editor” - Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “DaVinci Resolve releases Photo Editor”
Better image quality than alternatives
“Capture One in my opinion has much higher output quality, better defaults”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “Darktable” “find C1 to be noticeably better than LR”
Comment from 12 Sep 2026 in “DaVinci Resolve 21.1” “Capture one uses the right algorithms.”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “The creative software industry has declared war on Adobe” Perpetual licence option available
“you can outright buy Capture One with no subscription. I am a fuji shooter and have been using C1 in this way for quite a while now.”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “DaVinci Resolve releases Photo Editor” “you now have very good pay-once alternatives (e.g., Capture One instead of Lightroom)”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “The creative software industry has declared war on Adobe” “Capture One might cost more, but it's a one off payment. I'm still happily using CO11”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “The creative software industry has declared war on Adobe” - Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “Good software knows when to stop”
Fast, efficient workflow
“C1's workflow is incredible and fast and doesn't really leave me wanting anything else”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “DaVinci Resolve releases Photo Editor” “Good, ergonomic, efficient tools are worth their weight in gold. C1 is one of them.”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “Darktable” “To be honest I much prefer Capture One's workflow and tools”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “The creative software industry has declared war on Adobe”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Subscription push and high pricing
“It's 390 EUR / 450 USD for a software without updates that I use a couple of times privately per year.”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “Darktable” “You can only trade in your perpetual license for a discounted 'upgrade' to the subscription version.”
Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “DaVinci Resolve 21” “at least offers perpetual licensing, but their pricing has become sufficiently annoying”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “The creative software industry has declared war on Adobe” - Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “DaVinci Resolve releases Photo Editor”
- Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “DaVinci Resolve 21”
- Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “Darktable”
No Linux version
“the excellent Capture One, but none available on Linux”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft kills official way to activate Windows 11/10 without internet” “Linux unfortunately does not support my preferred”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too” “I've had no luck getting either Capture One or DxO PhotoLab running on Linux”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “Darktable” Hard to use, slow
“Capture One was one of the most horrendous usability experiences I have ever had in a creative tool”
Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “DaVinci Resolve 21” “Capture One has really not been innovating, is slow, the library can’t handle 40k raws”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “DaVinci Resolve releases Photo Editor” “I found both of them a lot harder to use and less feature-rich compared to Lightroom”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Attack of the Vibe Coded Photoshop Clones” Ownership and new owner concerns
“Capture One is a shitshow, however, and their new owner is actively trying to offload them, so a risk.”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “DaVinci Resolve 21” “Private equity owed proprietary Mac and Windows exclusive.”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “Darktable”
Other raw photo editors people recommend
The three most recommended other raw photo editors, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darktable | 77 | 49 | 61% | 10 | 9 yrs10 owners | — |
| Capture OneThis page | 33 | 18 | 65% | 9 | — | — |
| RawTherapee | 29 | 9 | 76% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Fujifilm X RAW STUDIO | 9 | 2 | 82% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 63 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“why Capture One or even Apple Photos feel nicer and more gentle to use”
“I found both of them a lot harder to use and less feature-rich compared to Lightroom”
“photographers will switch to Capture One and delay leaving the suite”
“WEBP, AVIF are not supported photography tools (e.g. https://support.captureone.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000262921...)”
“find C1 to be noticeably better than LR”
“Their sessions and culling tools I've found quite helpful for the occasional event shoots I do”
“Library management is where Lightroom (and honestly CaptureOne) still wins”
“Capture One in my opinion has much higher output quality, better defaults”
“It's 390 EUR / 450 USD for a software without updates that I use a couple of times privately per year.”
“C1/Lightroom allow me to very quickly move between folders and identify the file I want”
“Good, ergonomic, efficient tools are worth their weight in gold. C1 is one of them.”
“391 euro for a piece of software seems kinda crazy”
“I've had no luck getting either Capture One or DxO PhotoLab running on Linux”
“Private equity owed proprietary Mac and Windows exclusive.”
“Far and away the best photo and media mangement software I've ever used”
“Companies like Panic or Capture One are the exception to the norm”
“as soon as C1 started going down the subscription hole”
“Capture One was one of the most horrendous usability experiences I have ever had in a creative tool”
“You can only trade in your perpetual license for a discounted 'upgrade' to the subscription version.”
“Capture One is a shitshow, however, and their new owner is actively trying to offload them, so a risk.”
“at least offers perpetual licensing, but their pricing has become sufficiently annoying”
“which (last I tested) has a deft touch with Sony files”
“Capture One might cost more, but it's a one off payment. I'm still happily using CO11”
“Capture one uses the right algorithms.”
“To be honest I much prefer Capture One's workflow and tools”
“you now have very good pay-once alternatives (e.g., Capture One instead of Lightroom)”
“it took me waaaaay less time to import 30k+ photos from a Lightroom catalog to Capture one”
“C1's workflow is incredible and fast and doesn't really leave me wanting anything else”
“just because the company decided to stop letting me use what I've had for years”
“you can outright buy Capture One with no subscription. I am a fuji shooter and have been using C1 in this way for quite a while now.”
“The out of box processing of raf is still top notch”
“processes Fujifilm .RAF's very well”
“Capture One has really not been innovating, is slow, the library can’t handle 40k raws”
“has pretty good tools for batch edit and getting a consistent look across a shot”
“Use Darktable, Capture One, or some other equivalent that you're not just renting for life.”
“The only reliable raw converter that can handle Fuji color is Capture One.”
“very happy with their transition to C1 with a perpetual license”
“Linux unfortunately does not support my preferred”
“the excellent Capture One, but none available on Linux”
“stuff like capture one - by contrast DT and RT would feel like a masochistic toys”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.