A little review about C1pro
As I said in my other pst, I had a little setback which made me postpone starting steaming again. The setback is easily explained: I started importing my images to my Lightroom library and as soon I did a back-up of my library, the software did all kind of funny things. Turned out that inadvertently Lightroom updated itself to LR CC (I was somewhere at v6.3.) Long story short, I didn't have a way to go back to the previous version and when LR also began putting my library on the cloud - I can only imagine how long a migration of 1TB worth of images would take to put on the cloud! - that was the final straw. No more Lightroom for me - and frankly I put up too long with that sh*ty piece of software much too long.
I was already a long time C1pro user when I bought the Pentax K10D, just to discover that C1pro didn't support the camera. The K10D was then already several months out, so I figured that Phase One wouldn't support it at all (I was wrong, because several months later they added it in their new version.) Lightroom had just launched and a friend of mine was already using it, so I switched to LR (the switch was swift, because my library wasn't as large as it is now.) While Lightroom certainly had it's advantages (ease of use, for one), I always had a love/hate relation with it; the hate relation was mainly IQ related.
I know many people are looking for a switch from LR, that is why I figured that an article about C1pro would be welcomed. If there is some interest, I may publish some tutorials to get you on the way (just ask in the comments.) So with no further ado, here is my little review.
Let's get this out of the way first: C1pro certainly has it's disadvantages, and I will sum them here.
- It's expensive. This is the major boon. If you keep a watching eye, you can find it sometimes @ 270€. That is price without VAT (which is different according the country where you live.) That is not cheap. Then again, we buy camera's and lenses that cost sometimes more. In that perspective, you have a good camera, why not spend some money to have a good software? At the very least, it is a one time investment that you can use for several years...
- It needs a powerful computer. Phase One advices a dual core with 8GB RAM as a minimal configuration, but says some i5/7 processor with 16 GB RAM is more advisable. That said, my MBP (i7 with 4GB RAM) runs the software just fine, so it's doable on a less than stellar computer.
- It's not user friendly. I have to reframe that, common' from Lightroom you will sometimes feel lost. Once you get the hang of it, it's not bad (and even got some fine idea's, which Lightroom should look at.)
- It doesn't feature some stuff that Lightroom does (no face recognition for one, no geotagging next.) If you need those, then you will have to look further.
- It doesn't support some camera's (some of my files are not recognized, so I will have to keep LR a little longer.) Most, especially the major brands are covered though.
And then the pros:
- If image quality is what your after, I can't think of any software that does it better - and frankly, I would have a hard time telling any software that does it as good. In any case, it is miles ahead on Lightroom.
- It's fast. While it's power hungry, with a good computer it does it and it does it fast. Rendering are a little RAM intense, so just use a PC with lots of RAM (I am going to upgrade my RAM.)
- It's user friendly. Just a little tutorial: on an image, press CTRL-L and you have fairly accurate settings. Try that on Lightroom...!
- Did I already mention IQ? One issue that Lightroom has is that level settings affects color. Although it's subtle, it's there and it's annoying. No such thing on C1pro...
- Also, while LR has greatly approved on X-trans sensors of Fuji camera's, it's still very difficult to get the right NR and sharpening settings. While we are at it, C1pro has better NR and sharpening algorithms anyway, even on plain Bayer sensors; so noise and sharpening is better on C1pro regardless of camera you use (bit especially so on X-trans sensors...
I will leave it at that. C1pro is a very powerful RAW converter you just have to try...
I already switched once.... When Apple announced Aperture was over, I switched to Lightroom. My library was huge and it took a long time. On retrospect, this was a mistake. The final version of Aperture still works perfectly on the latest version of macOS, far better than Lightroom does. I should have stayed... oh well... But now here I am with an even huger library in LR, and the latest few versions have been shit and shit and even more shit. They are getting worse and worse and I am paying $10 bucks a month for this why?
But do I do another switch...? Hmmm. Thinking about it.
Why Apple stopped development of Aperture is really beyond me. There was a time it was almost as popular as Lightroom. You could argue it wasn't their core, but then again, why did they develop it in the first place. Anyway, happy that I can leave Lightroom behind me. Bugs me if I think that I put up with this so long... Just try it; if you get the hang of it (I am still in that proces as I discover more and more of C1) you will love it. Library migration of +50k photo's was 10 hours on my getting-old-in-the-tooth MBP (I just let it running overnight.) It doesn't take all LR adjustments (but then again I had to revisit my old photo's anyway), but pretty well respects all metadata (ratings, keywording, etc.) and even respects keyword hierarchy... Most problematic (for me) was that C1pro doesn't support all files (ie. I have a Panasonic DMC-CM1 that it doesn't recognize.)
That's what happens when a numbers guy gets in charge. With profits from the iPhone exploding, I'm sure someone told Cook something like "Aperture only brings in x dollars whereas we could increase iPhone profits y dollars if we transfer everyone working on Aperture to that division". To a numbers guy, that is a no-brainer. It's unfortunate and I think all their decisions to focus less on the Mac will come back to bite them someday, but oh well, that's how it goes.
I'll have to look at C1. The easiest course of action is to just not do anything, but with LR getting worse and worse I know I need to make a move somewhere.
Regarding re. Mac/iPhone: I never thought of it in that way, but I completely agree. The latest batch of Macs is laughable at best and are overpriced for what they are. There used to be a time that a Mac was expensive, but you got a lot in return (stability to name one, speed next), but that time is long lost...
I hear you. Esp the latest MacBook Pro... trash. The hardcore fans are starting to speak up about how bad it is, so I really hope Apple listens (as they finally did with the Mac Pro), but I kind of doubt they will. I've been an Apple user since the Apple II, so I'll wait this out. But still... this is definitely a rough patch for Mac fans.
One thing why I would never consider the new MBP is all USB-c connection: gone magsafe, gone all other useful connections and after spending a lot of money you have to spend some more to have the appropriate adapters...
I think Apple really bet the house on usb-c. They thought the industry was moving in that direction and they thought (and hoped) many more accessories would be available by now. They bet wrong, just as they did when they bet on dual-gpu's with the trashcan mac pro. Both decisions seem to have been motivated by design, leading me to think Jony Ive has gotten too much power these days. We know Jobs wasn't afraid to say no to him, but I wonder if anyone now at Apple can say no to him.
I really hope for a return of magsafe. My main machine right now is a MacBookPro 2014 model, the first with the retina display. I love this machine. With the exception of a small SSD (only 128GB) it is perfect. But it's approaching the time for an upgrade. I really hope for better upgrade options when the time comes.
My MBP is a 2011 model which I hope to hold on a little longer, partly because there is no spare money for that, mostly because I don't find anything that can justify an upgrade. It's getting long in the tooth though but I hope a RAM upgrade will give it just a little longer lasting...