Speed Up Image Processing Capture One
A Beginner’s Guide to Migrating From Lightroom to Capture One with Dustin Lucas. Want more information on this article? Get access to video content and additional supporting images. Launch the August 2017 issue of the magazine by logging in or signing up for a free account. Shutter Magazine is the industry’s leading professional photography. Capture One 12 is one of the user-friendliest upgrades of Capture One ever. Developers implemented lots of long-awaited features for loyal Capture One users and reworked some classical tools to make them more understandable for the new to Capture One photographers. I think Phase One is heading the right way.
Two years ago I published an article with my ten reasons to switch to Capture One 9. It had dozens of thousands of views and hundreds of shares and comments.Thank you all for your feedback. Time has passed, and Capture One 10-12 releases brought us new robust features to be added to the list.That’s why I have updated the post and divided it into two parts. The first part is dedicated to amazing features that Capture One delivers besides the processing itself.The second part is all about the RAW editing; if you’re looking for new tools – feel free to. Layers with opacities, RGB channels Levels correction, Luma and RGB Curves, Color Editor and many more features are waiting for you there.But to see the whole story and to get deeper into it – I recommend you to start here from the beginning.There is no question that Lightroom is the most popular RAW-converter on the market: it’s quite comfortable, cheap and easy to learn.The problem is that many photographers are not aware of the number of opportunities, which they are missing with Lightroom and other basic RAW-converters.RAW-converter is just a photography gear like a camera or a lens.
Capture One Preferences
Yoshiki Hayashi at concert. Image by Alexander Svet, processed in Capture One only.Actually, that should be the reason number one since for many professionals realistic and clear color “rendering” in is the primary cause for switching.On the other hand, color is always quite a subjective matter, and that is why it’s meaningless to argue about that.But there are a few objective reasons, why Capture One deals with color better, than any other software. First of all: 10.1. Capture One uses unique color profiles designed for each particular camera model. For some cameras, there are even two or more color profiles for different shooting conditions.These particular profiles develop that accurate, precise and realistic color in Capture One. If you wish, you could also edit them and save them as your custom color profiles.You may find more information about basic rendering principles in our article.The second reason is not quite evident, but crucial. Phase One, Capture One developer, is not just a software company.Their main business is to produce hi-end digital backs and medium format cameras; they are also developing professional solutions for aerial and cultural heritage photography.
PhaseOne.comHigh-quality image processing algorithms in Capture One are a logical result of their many years of experience in that field. Advanced ProcessingDuring the last few years, Capture One got a bunch of fantastic new features to deliver image processing to completely new level. Different processing recipesIn Capture One, you can easily create custom processing recipes and convert images into different formats with one click.Let’s take the most common case: processing images into Full-size JPG, Tiff, and small-size JPG for the web.We’ve created three recipes with different formats, sizes, quality and embedded metadata settings. Now you can convert all the files to different formats and locations with just one click.By the way, here is another example of how you can automate processing using tokens:With that set of tokens, Capture One will create new folders with dates when images were taken. Inside each folder, it will create folders by image ratings and inside them – by format names.In my case it looks like this:Again – all that folder structure will be generated automatically for any new process with only one click. And you have dozens of tokens to choose from and to create unique processing paths. Output ProofingOutput Proofing is dedicated to showing you how exactly the RAW file would look after the processing.When you are working with RAW, there are many options to convert it to the final JPG or TIFF.
For different purposes, you may need a particular color profile, size or sharpening settings, and sometimes it’s quite difficult to predict the look of the final image.Output Proofing would immediately show you the prepared image with applied preferences from the selected recipe. It’s especially useful when you’re processing images for the web. “Proofing” sign shows that Output Proofing is turned on and you see the image with applied settings from selected recipe.With Output Proofing, you can set the best sharpening for your image depending on image size.
Proofing allows you to check if your picture looks good with selected color profile. Even JPEG compression artifacts can also be simulated.Also, in Capture One you can adjust sharpening right in recipe’s settings for different purposes.
For example, it allows you to set specific sharpness for web and print recipes.Output Proofing will show you how it looks on the final image. For prints you can also specify the distance the image should be viewed from.Together, Output Sharpening and Output Proofing allow you to prepare the image for web or print in all the details. Annotations for retouchersIn case you regularly work with retouchers, I’m pretty sure you wished for communication tools in your RAW software.
With Capture One Pro 11 you can draw annotations right from Capture One with this tool:Annotations are stored as standard Capture One image settings and can be processed as a layer in PSD file with the image.6. Tethered shooting with Capture One. Full control over the camera settings and image adjustmentsYou can change almost all the camera settings directly in Capture One: starting from an aperture, shutter speed and ISO to focusing, synchronization, bracketing and dozens of other camera settings.It allows you, literally, to not touch the camera during the shooting. Unfortunately, Capture One can’t move your camera and product in the frame, yet.
But perhaps in the bright future, special photography robots will surely help us with that; today, however, we still have to use human assistants.You can also decide which adjustments will be applied to the next captured image. They could be adjustments from any previous image or from saved presets.Actually, this is one of my favorite features, because my clients will never see “raw” image during the shooting. Each new image shows up immediately with the right color, Curves, and exposure corrections. Great composition features. Phase OneWith Capture One Pilot app you can control your camera from any iOS device. For example, you may connect your iPad over Wi-Fi to your laptop with Capture One and fully control your camera. Take images, change exposure and quality settings – everything, right from your iOS device.You can also select images, rate them and set color tags during the shooting.
This feature works not only with iOS but with any internet browser on any device.Here are some videos of how it works:Using Capture Pilot for iOS and WebCamera ControlMy favorite trick in a commercial session is to connect client’s laptop to my Capture One server and watch the reaction when images start to display on client’s machine.It really impresses people! And it’s also quite convenient that client may rate best images while you shoot.Of course, you may find separate applications for each of those tasks, but you’ll never find all of them in one solid and easy-to-use solution on the market. Now let’s talk about editing possibilities, ‘cause, well, RAW-converter is actually about editing!Continue reading with. Each issue of the newsletter contains:. Latest news from Capture One community. Reading of the week. Capture One tip of the week.
A free RAW file for practiceIt’s absolutely free, and I promise not to send emails more often than once a week! 3) Download 12 film styles for Capture One for freeIn my work, I use. There are more than 200 styles which you can quickly scroll through and immediately see which would fit your image best.You can download five film styles for free right here:You’ll find seven additional free styles at.Simply try them with your images – it’s a completely new experience for RAW editing. 4) Subscribe to my YouTube channelEach week I’m running where we’re discussing the latest Capture One news, and I’m showing my favorite tips for RAW editing.And the best thing is that you can watch it live and ask questions!Plus: you can to see how I would edit them in one of the next episodes of the show. 5) Join our Facebook group or follow me on TwitterHere I’m sharing the most interesting articles and videos about Capture One which I found recently.
Speedup Image Processing with OpenCLAn option to significantly speedup processing has been added to Capture One since version 6.0. You can take advantage of this speedup option by using graphics card accelerated processing through an interface called OpenCL. The idea is to make it possible to fully utilize the processing capabilities of the graphics hardware to get a faster application.In Capture One 7 the graphics card is used for accelerated processing not just to the display, but also when processing images to files.The speed advantage of using OpenCL can be huge. When using one of the newest graphics cards on the market in a Mac Pro computer, you can process a full 80 megapixel raw file in less than 2 seconds. What is OpenCL?OpenCL is an open standard defining how to interface and utilize all the processing capabilities within graphics cards (GPU) and multiprocessor CPUs. OpenCL is short for Open Compute Language.OpenCL essentially enables effective utilization of thousands of compute units within modern graphics cards. For Capture One, only relatively new GPU cards have enough computing power and onboard RAM to be utilized effectively.In Capture One version 7.1.2 and 7.1.3 the default setup is not to use OpenCL for processing.
To enable the processing you need to switch to Auto in the preferences as shown below.When Auto is selected Capture One will test the capability of the graphics card, and if the card proves to be powerful enough Capture One will use it for processing. PerformanceUtilizing OpenCL makes it possible to accelerate your processing significantly.
For an iMac with the integrated graphics card from NVidia (GTX 680MX) you gain more than a factor of 3 times in processing speed as shown in the benchmark below. On the graph, benchmark 100 is the speed when processing using only the CPU and not OpenCL.From the figure we see both Canon “cr2” and Nikon “nef” files will process more than 300% faster than the CPU, when utilizing the graphics card on a 4 CPU core iMac. An IQ180 raw file will process close to 250% faster.The benchmark numbers depend on your graphics card, number of CPU cores and speed of your SSD disk. In terms of the interactive speed using one of the recommended graphics cards, it is possible to get real-time feedback (30fps) for almost all slider interaction in Capture One 7. Initialization of OpenCLTo increase robustness in Capture One 7.1.3, we have added the OpenCL initialization as a separate process. This ensures that future problems during OpenCL initialization will not affect the Capture One application. Further more, this initialization only happens when the graphics hardware changes.When the preferences for hardware acceleration are set to auto, the application will test the capabilities of the graphics card. OpenCL is not enabled (in auto mode) if one of the following conditions is met for the graphics card:.
Less than 1GB of on-board Video RAM. Too few GPU cores. Too low processing improvement compared to the system CPU performance. Mac OS 10.6DriversAs of June 2013, four major companies have developed desktop drivers for OpenCL: NVidia, AMD, Apple and Intel.
OpenCL is also becoming an interface for other computer architectures going forward.For Mac OS X 10 the OpenCL drivers are part of the operating system, but for Windows these drivers are installed as part of the display drivers. For your convenience here are the links to the OpenCL enabled drivers for Windows. Hi Joel,Based on the specifications of the Nvidia 750M GPU in the new MacBooks, they should work with OpenCL in Capture One 7. The Intel GPUs will also work in principle, but since they are very low-power, they might be too slow to get a performance boost.However, since both GPU’s are shipped with a brand new graphics driver, there may be some problems with the version of Capture One that shipped prior to the existence of the MBPro’s. If such problems are to occur, they will have very high priority to be fixed in a service release of Capture One.Best regards,Lionel. Could you tell us is 1GB VRAM enough for 16Mpix 14bit RAWs on board of AMD Radeon 7790?When more memory is needed? In situation when we have more Mpix or in stronger cards which have more processing units and they need memory for each processing units on its calculations?Let’s make an example:We have 20Mpix camera 16bit RAWs, so they need 20Mpix.2.3 (2 bytes for one colour multiplied by 3 colors of RGB) so it makes proximately 120MB of data for one picture.
Considering that Capture One make use of something like layers, effects I can imagine that it fills 1GB memory very fast but only developers working on the algorithms can confirm it.When we think about 80Mpix camera, data for one picture can reach 480MB so 2GB or more seems more sensible.So can we make a sort of border that 1GB VRAM is enough for 16-18Mpix cameras or I am wrong and 2GB gives us more power and it will be faster in calculations? Hi Lionel, i have been a user of Phaseone Backs and Capture One ever since 2002 and love your product.I have two Q? I would like to ask you.I notice that you recommend the AMD HD7950 as the best performance on Mac for Open CL yet i have read loads of people having issues with Open CL being put on and wondering has this been fixed as im looking at investing in buying this card but dont wish to have issues.Secondly have also noticed on my MacBook Pro 2012 Retina with OSX 10.8.5 with the Nvidia GT650M that processes files with Opens CL on is slower than when its off.
I have tested this a number of times. Hi Lube,Thanks for commenting. To answer your questions:The HD7950 is definitely the choice for now on Mac Pro. The driver in Mac OS X for this card is among the best and it has a lot of video mem which is great for Capture One use. There are currently no problems specifically seen on this card.The NVidia GPUs in the Retina macs are known to be slower than the AMD’s that were in the previous generation Macbook pros. They do however consume less power.
When processing is slower on GPU than CPU it is often on systems with only 1GB video memory and where the images have many adjustments applied. In general desktop GPU’s are significantly more powerful the laptop GPU’s. For instance, we process IQ180 files (default settings) in just under 3 seconds on the above mentioned HD7950.Hope that helps!Best regards,Lionel. Kuhlmann,I have a question about speed.I use Capture one pro mostly in tethered shooting.As a photographer my priority is the maximum speed to send files from camera to computer and rende previews to manage as fast and better as is possible the “client feeling” during real time photoshoots.I’m planning an hardware update right now and I wanted to ask you if the speed of latest MacBookPro Retina with NVIDIA GeForce GT 750Mwith 2GB VS the new MacPro AMD FirePro D300/500 would show a very significant difference.If would be a small difference I would absolutely prefer the notebook at the moment. If huge, I would proceed with the other one.Thank you in advance for your help.Federico. Hi Federico,Maximum speed of previews is not completely processing bound, unless you have a really fast SSD disk – like the one in the new Mac Pro.If you compare the speed of the “midrange” Mac Pro, with 6 cores, and the dual D500 GPU – to the best Macbook Pro, you will see a huge benefit in using the new Mac Pro. It is like night and day.
Join comic artist and alumni and figure it out together!A computer running Windows is required, as we will be using for the workshop. Are you an artist or a writer who loves games, but doesn’t know where to start? If you have a Windows laptop, please download and install Construct 2 before the workshop (it’s free). If you have a Mac, you can run the program in a Windows virtual machine such as, Virtual Box or VMWare. Origin sims 4. Alternatively, we have Windows laptops with Construct 2 installed that you can borrow for the duration of the workshop.Perfect for beginners, and especially ideal for artists!
Everything is much faster, to screen and to file. Up to a factor of 4-5 times.For several reasons, the laptop is optimized for battery life, the Mac Pro for speed. Unfortunately the Nvidia GT 750M is not really optimized to OpenCL, while the D500 is.In short – choose the Mac Pro for studio work, and leave the Macbook Pro for field work.Regards,Lionel. As far as I know the problematic AMD drivers are in release 10.9.3 and prereleases of 10.9.4.
This has only been confirmed on the new Mac Pro. Not the older one with the 5770 card. We have no reports about OpenCL failures using the current OSX 10.9.4 release (or the 10.10 pre-release).Now a days 1GB RAM is not a lot.
Image Processing Tutorial
It is enough to run Capture One, but may not be enough if you run Photoshop and Capture One at the same time.The knowledge base from our support has not been updated to include the newest and best graphics cards – like the dual AMD D700, or dual AMD R290 (for PC). For the older Mac Pro, the AMD 5770 is about the best you still can buy.-Lionel.
Hi Antoine,I assume your laptop is a Macbook Pro? If so we already use both GPU, Iris and the Nvidia.GTX680 is a fairly good GPU, do you also run Photoshop at the same time?
If so the GPU memory is used up, and the driver has to swap memory in/out, like when the Mac system memory is full, and everything goes really slow.Processing Credo files is a split between CPU and GPU. On purpose not all cores of the CPU is used, and the GPU is saturated. If you disable OpenCL, all CPU cores are saturated.For the best speed, the Dual D700 based Mac Pro is recommended.Best regards,Lionel. Hi Lionel,Not sure if this thread is still open, I hope you can advise.I was running into issues on my Macbook Pro laptop – Me working faster than the Macbook Pro could handle.
So I decided to get a 5,1 Mac Pro tower, and have it specc’ed up. Delivered yesterday and I have installed the bare minimum for processing – C1, PS CC, Photo Mechanic. And it is running so much faster, could get the processing of files to slow down at all with 200 5Ds images being saved out to 16bit tiff’s – 3-5 secs each. Very pleased.However I do have a big issue, and having read this thread on your article I am coming to the conclusion is it an OpenCL or Hardware issue.When I use the local adjustments layers in C1 8.3.3 and the brushes I get a screen lag of around 3-5 seconds before it starts drawing. I had both OpenCL boxes ticked and thought I’d try turning them off as part of my elimination of potentialtrouble makers. I found the drawing lag was reduced to about 1 second in C1.
Image Processing Python
Not such lag at all in PS CC. Could this be C1 as PS is fine, or the Graphics Card not having enough RAM (as you have suggested above). Would it be worth changing the card to the AMD HD7950 you mentioned as ideal, or is there a better card now as you wrote this article a year ago.ThanksDominicThe machine is specc’d as follow.2 x 6 core 3.06Ghz processors48GB Ram500Gb SSD2TB Internal PCie 7600 Working DriveAMD HD5780 1Gb Graphic Card. Hi Dominic.Getting the old Mac tower does not really help you a lot – I am sorry.
Also the video card with only 1GB video ram is not recommended. The best option is to get a Mac Pro (late 2013 – D700 video card) – this will give a significant better experience drawing layers.On a side note Apple silently released a new Macbook Pro – with a really good videocard (for a laptop). I expect this machine will perform better then the old Mac Tower.
All this being said, we are actively working towards getting a better experience drawing layers in upcoming Capture One releases.-Lionel.