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Google Photos — Bait Meet Switch

23 Nov

Google Photos blog post announcing their new Google Photos service.

In case you missed it recently, Google Photos has decided to end their free unlimited photo hosting service. Beginning in June of next year users will be limited to 15GB of space before being asked to pay for more storage. How much you’ll have to pay will depend on how much storage you use. Unfortunately for me, I have more photos than fit their top tier $ 100/year plan, so even if I wanted to pay I’d be capped out of the service.

While I don’t begrudge Google, a trillion dollar company that makes billions of dollars a year, from wanting to make even MORE money, I am offended by the bait and switch approach that they took with Google Photos. Offering a user the first hit for free is classic dealer marketing. A lot of time and energy goes into organizing your photos on ANY photo sharing site and when someone spends hundreds or even thousands of hours organizing their photos at a site only to be priced out of the site, those are countless hours that you will never get back.

Fortunately for me I’ve spent a lot less time using Google Photos for the past few years. Google’s consistent bad faith across photo hosting/sharing products has left me very skeptical of anything they do anymore.

Some of you may remember Picasa (Google killed it). I was a user of that. I also was a big user of Google Buzz (they killed that too). Then I put hundreds of hours into my photography on Google+ (once again RIP). We used to do photowalks and hangouts and lots of other fun things around photography with Google+. Here’s my old Google+ url.

Initially I was super excited about Google Photos, but that changed over time. I was disappointed that one of their early features, photo facial recognition, didn’t really work for me. It limited the service to 200 faces and unfortunately for me when the service launched it grabbed a bunch of faces of musicians I’d photographed performing at Coachella and chose those as the ones to tag. There was no way to delete those and have it choose people who were actually my family, friends, neighbors, etc.

I was also disappointed that the hours and hours and hours I’d spent keywording all my photos in Adobe Lightroom were stripped out of my uploads to Google Photos. I’m not sure why Google would want to remove one of the best ways for me to search my photos from their service but for whatever reason they strip this data.

Still, Google Photos was free (even though it downsized my photos). It’s hard to complain about free — until they locked my gmail. Last year I received a rather ominous message from Google threatening that unless I paid them for more storage they were going to turn my gmail off.

It turns out that even though Google Photos claimed to be able to convert my photos to high quality JPEGs with free unlimited storage, that TIFF files generated by the software program Analog Efex Pro (ironically a former Google owned product before they jettisoned that as well) were not being converted by Google Photos and were sucking up my gmail storage which was then demanding payment from me. They actually locked my gmail and I missed several important emails that were blocked during this fiasco.

By this point I was about ready to delete my Google Photos account — except I could not find ANY way to delete my Google Photos account. That’s right you can’t just delete Google Photos. You have to delete your entire Google account including your Gmail!

While this is my unhappy story and experience with Google Photos, many, many users were duped into signing up for a free service that they thought would protect, as Google put it, their “lifetime of memories.” Now Google is demanding money from these users.

To me it seems wrong (even evil — remember their old motto “don’t be evil” that they also abandoned?) that Google would bait and switch so many users on this product. You can’t/won’t get the many hours that you spent organizing your photos on Google Photos back. Some will just begrudgingly pay up. What I see is one of the world’s largest companies who used a classic monopolistic tactic to grab market share by pricing out and hurting smaller competitors and now wants to profit from their move.

Once burned shame on you. ~~Twice, three times, four times, five times~~, six times burned, shame on me. I will never trust Google with another product again.

Thankfully there is an alternative to Google Photos, good old trustworthy Flickr. Here is a thoughtful analysis done by Jeremy Zero comparing Google Photos and Flickr.

I’ve been using Flickr since 2004 and as long as I can remember my Flickr Pro account has remained unlimited. Flickr/SmugMug CEO Don MacAskill even recently re-iterated Flickr’s commitment to honoring their unlimited service. While Flickr may not be a trillion dollar company or make billions of dollars every year like Google does, they are a small company that cares about photographers and your photography. They also do a great job storing and sharing your full high-res, uncompressed, high quality images (and they even retain your photo keywords when you upload them there). I feel much better supporting an ethical small business than a trillion dollar company using monopolistic bait and switch tactics to try to drive the smaller guy out of business.

You can find me on Flickr here. If you are an American Photographer come join the American Photographer Group I administer on Flickr and say hello.

Thomas Hawk Digital Connection

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‘We’re confident that they can deliver’: We talk to AP’s Director of Photography about switch to Sony

24 Jul

J. David Ake, Director of Photography at The Associated Press.

One of the world’s largest and oldest news agencies, The Associated Press, has just announced that it is switching to Sony for all of its photography and videography equipment. We spoke to AP’s Director of Photography, J. David Ake, about why the agency decided to make the switch, why it chose Sony, and what it means for AP staff photographers and videographers.

The following interview has been edited lightly for clarity and flow.

Thanks for joining us, David – what do you do at AP?

I’m the Director of Photography at The Associated Press, I’m responsible for stills photo reporting worldwide. That’s a team of a few hundred staff photographers, fifty or so photo editors, and we produce about 3,000 images a day from around the globe. I’ve been at the AP for 20 years, and previously I was a photographer for UPI, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters.

Is it a coincidence that this announcement coincides with what would have been the opening week of the planned 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo?

Actually, yes, this just happened to be when we could get the dotted line signed! COVID-19 slowed things down a little bit, we were actually hoping to do this a little bit earlier.

How long have you been working with Sony on this project?

The AP has been thinking about switching to mirrorless on the stills side for a couple of years. We like the advantages [like silent shooting] which means we can be whisper-quiet in places where a DSLR shutter sound is disturbing. We like the super-fast autofocus and we like the light weight of the cameras.

We tested cameras from several manufacturers in really harsh zones from the Arctic to the rainforest, to hostile environments, to hurricanes. The overwhelming response from the photographers was that they really liked the Sony equipment: the way it worked, the way it felt, and the image quality.

The Sony Alpha a9 Mark II is a camera that Sony says was made specifically to meet the needs of professional photographers in demanding environments, and at major sporting events. The relatively few major hardware updates from the a9 were almost all intended to cater to this demographic.

Then we started talking to our video colleagues who were about ready to do a change-up of their gear too, and we started thinking “well if we went to Sony for video and stills, what would that do for our visual storytelling?” We liked the idea of having the color quality and the image quality being close to the same between stills and video equipment. So if a stills photographer helped out a video colleague with a little filming, or B-roll, it would fit in the edit. And if we were to pull a frame grab from a 4K video camera it would have the same basic feel as a photograph from a stills camera.

And the lens mounts are the same, so if a videographer was working with a stills photographer, he or she could borrow a 600mm f4, or a stills photographer could try a cine lens to get a certain look. It just gives us some unique opportunities.

Up to now, has AP been using a mixture of different platforms, from different manufacturers?

Yes, we have. We used one manufacturer for stills, and a different manufacturer for video. And we’ve been happy with those brands, we’ve used them for years, and they’ve supported us with their equipment. It was really the thought that we wanted to go mirrorless that took us down this path, and then we found that the synergy between video and stills could be really good, and Sony could support both of those at the level that we needed. And maybe that could open up some opportunities for visual storytelling in future that we hadn’t previously recognized.

It’s probably going to take us a little over a year to complete this switch

I’m excited, because both teams now can really work together well.

How many photographers and videographers will start using Sony equipment?

We have a few hundred staff photographers around the world, and about that many video cameras [in our equipment pool]. And probably into the thousands of freelancers, regular and occasional. This switch to Sony applies only to the staff photographers and videographers.

The freelancers are independent contractors, what they use is up to them.

Can you give us an idea of the scale of this investment, in terms of camera bodies and lenses?

Well if we’re kitting each photographer and videographer out with four or five lenses and a couple of camera bodies, that’s a large investment. It’s probably going to take us a little over a year, maybe a year and a half, to complete this switch worldwide. We’ve got photographers in some places that are very difficult to get gear to!

Sony is currently the only manufacturer to offer native mirrorless long-telephoto prime lenses. Lenses of this kind are a prerequisite for professional sports, although Canon and Nikon’s latest mirrorless cameras can accept EF and F-mount lenses via adapters.

Do you have a sense of the ratio of a9-series to a7-series cameras that you’re going to be onboarding?

The vast majority of the stills photographers will get a9 Mark IIs. We will get some a7R IVs for the videographers, and a couple for some of our entertainment shooters who do a lot of portraits. But the standard kit will be an a9 Mark II.

On the video side there are six different cameras that might become part of the kit, from broadcast cine cameras all the way down to small palm-sized cameras, depending on the assignment. But we have six cameras spec’d-out on the video side.

What convinced you that Sony could provide that level of support your photographers and videographers might need at major events?

Well Sony has committed to us that it will. And we have done some tests, we’ve done events where they did provide the level of support that we needed. This is not new for Sony. On the video side, Sony has been supporting its cameras in the field for a really long time. They’ve shown us that they’re committed to doing it, and so far we’ve been happy with the level of commitment.

The proof is in the pudding of course, once we’ve got this all rolled-out, but we’re confident that they can deliver.

Tokyo 2020 never happened, but by this time next year, AP photographers and videographers in Japan will be shooting the proceedings on Sony equipment.

You mentioned the logistical challenge of replacing all of your stills and video equipment, are you planning to introduce a training program for your staff?

Yes. Our goal is to get photographers together, collect their old gear, issue them with new gear, and give them a day or so with Sony technicians to run through the menus, how to clean the sensors, how the cameras work and so on, before we put them out in the field.

What are the first big events that you expect AP photographers will be covering with Sony equipment?

The US elections in November, followed by the Olympic Games.

What’s the biggest shift you’ve seen during your career in photography?

For me personally it was film to digital. I got one of the very first digital cameras in 1995. It was a huge shift, and very enlightening – there was a sense of freedom. It changed the world for photojournalism. And I think mirrorless is going to turn out to be a really big change, too. The fact that these cameras are very fast, very quiet and very light will allow us to go places and do things that we haven’t done before.

Editors’ note: Barnaby Britton

The news that The Associated Press – one of the world’s oldest and best well-known news agencies – is switching to Sony is highly significant.

For decades, whether or not a brand could be considered ‘professional’ has been defined in part by whether organizations like AP purchased its cameras and lenses for their staff photographers. While the number of salaried photojournalists working in agencies around the world today is relatively small, it’s hard to overstate the PR value for any brand of having its cameras and lenses appear in the hands of pros on the sidelines at events like The Olympic Games, watched by millions of people all over the world.

For at least forty years, Canon and Nikon have owned the sidelines, and along the way, both companies have developed a sophisticated systems to support professional photographers at major sporting events. Can Sony compete with these well-established companies when it comes to service and pro support (not to mention reliability)? Apparently AP is pretty confident in Sony’s (and its gear’s) performance so far, but as Mr Ake says, ‘the proof is in the pudding’.

Sony is still the only company to offer both a truly photojournalism-oriented mirrorless camera and a range of native mirrorless fast telephoto prime lenses

There is no doubt, however, that Sony is very serious about competing in the professional market. The a9 Mark II is arguably the best sports camera in the world right now, and two years after Canon and Nikon joined the full-frame mirrorless party, Sony is still the only company to offer both a truly photojournalism-oriented mirrorless camera and a range of native mirrorless fast telephoto prime lenses. Apparently, for AP, the cross-compatibility of E-mount lenses between a large number of Sony’s stills and video cameras was another point in the company’s favor.

From a sales and revenue standpoint, the fact that Sony just sold a few hundred cameras and lenses is probably not all that significant. But the AP contract is a huge vote of confidence in the brand from an agency synonymous with professional photojournalism, and one that Sony has been working for years to earn. Canon and Nikon just got put on notice.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Capture One 20 Review: Time to Make the Switch from Lightroom?

11 Jan

The post Capture One 20 Review: Time to Make the Switch from Lightroom? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

It’s that time of year – time for a Capture One 20 review.

In a huge change to the schedule, Phase One took the bold step of renaming it Capture One 20 instead of the unlucky for some Capture One 13. Let me know your thoughts on this bombshell below!

Okay, I admit it. That is simply an excuse to get you to read on. But is there more than a simple name change to this update? A coat of polish if you will?

Well, honestly, yes and no.

The best thing is that, unlike last year, they have added Catalina support in version 12. This means that Mac owners don’t have to upgrade this year unless they want to. I (and may others) appreciate things like this, bravo Phase One, bravo.

Capture One themselves said that this update aimed to make the software more accessible and easier to use. Simply put, they are after Lightroom users who are unhappy with Adobe.

This update does make Capture One 20 feel more Lightroomesque (yeah, I made that word up). It improves the workflow for existing users as well as adding some useful tool updates.

Another Year, Another Capture One release. Could this be the one that makes you change?

Overview

So let’s start with the list of new features list.

New user interface
Faster culling of images
New HDR tools
New color editor
New crop tool
Improved copying of layers
Improved noise reduction
Improved support for DNG files

Now, these all seem to be small changes when taken individually, but do they add up to a whole package that makes it worth the upgrade? Or perhaps more importantly for many of you, is this the upgrade to make Lightroom users make the jump?

Let’s look at these upgrades individually.

New user interface

You can tweak the layout until you find your perfect workspace. The new scrolling area makes a huge difference.

This is one of the little things many users of Capture One have been asking for what feels like forever. (Finally, Capture One!)

Actually, it even has a scrollable section. Better than that, you have a pinned area, where you can keep tools you always need, along with a scrollable area. That means you no longer need to keep minimizing and maximizing tools.

However, this does mean there is a workflow change for regular users of Capture One. You can no longer simply scroll on a tool to change sliders. Now you need to hold down the alt key to alter tools.

To me, this is great as it stops any mistakes when editing. However, you can alter this in the preferences and use the Alt/Option key to scroll through tools instead.

I do love this update – it means you can customize it to exactly how you want your tools and not have the hassle of minimizing tools. I am sure there are Lightroom users who are thinking, “What the hell! You call this an update?”

Well, yes. This is one of the features that will make moving across from Lightroom easier and more intuitive.

Faster culling of images

Culling of images in Capture One 20 is now much faster. As a wedding photographer, it makes a world of difference to my workflow. You can set the software to automatically move to the next image once you rate it, either by star rating, color rating, or both. This simple tool saves a lot of time.

A new color editor

The color tool redesign is a welcome addition.

Well, they say it is new. In reality, it is another user interface update that makes the tools more user-friendly. Along with full layer support, it is more useable.

Capture One 20 has reduced the real estate that the basic color editor takes up. You now have 8 color segments with sliders for Hue, Saturation and Lightness. These are customizable, so if you are looking to isolate a specific range, and the standard segment just doesn’t work, you can simply customize it.

Direct color editor

This is a nice touch that again helps speed up workflow (sensing a theme yet?).

When selecting a color within a photograph, if you continue to hold your mouse button down, you can alter the settings of the selected color range with your mouse (and the alt key).

By sliding your mouse vertically, you alter the saturation. Move it horizontally, and you change the hue. Finally, hold down the Alt/Option key whilst moving horizontally to change the lightness of the color.

New crop tool

So many upgrades this year make Capture One 20 smoother to use. The crop tool is a perfect example of this.

I’m beginning to sound like a broken record. This is by no means groundbreaking – it should have been fixed several versions ago – but cropping is faster and easier than ever before.

When you hit the Crop tool, the first thing you notice is the bold handles. This means it is much easier for you to grab the handles and crop the image. These handles also disappear when you are cropping in or out of the image, which is a nice touch.

Capture One 20 also allows cropping to the center of the image by holding down the Alt/Option key. It also freezes crop ratios when using the unconstrained option by holding down the shift key.

Lastly, it is easier to switch to the rotation of the image. Instead of having to change to the Rotate tool, you simply move outside of the crop area, and it becomes active. It is also noticeably smoother (on my computer at least) and easier to fine-tune than ever before.

Improved support for DNG files

Capture One 20 also offers better color profiling for DNG files. The improvements are subtle, but they are there. If you use DNG files, you will see a slight improvement in the rendering of colors, with them appearing more natural. However, how much of an improvement will depend on the camera the DNG comes from.

Improved copying of Layers

The ability to choose which layers to copy across is a great improvement in this current version.

There are three really great improvements to working with layers in Capture One 20.

Firstly, it is the ability to decide which of the layers you want to copy across. This is great for when you want to have layers that do not want copying across, such as specific retouching layers, or you want to copy your color edits across to a series of images, but not everything else.

This brings me to perhaps the biggest improvement, it pastes copied layers on top of any existing layers. This is huge and removes one of the previous frustrations when using layers in Capture One.

Lastly, you can now easily copy layers between cameras. This can be useful if you have two photographers on a shoot using different cameras. This is a tool that, if you need it, is great. But for many users, this won’t be a deal-breaker.

Improved noise reduction

A small but noticeable improvement to the way the software handles noise is seen in Capture One 20

Okay, it’s time to bring out the big ones – the two new feature updates aimed at getting existing users to upgrade.

First is the improved noise reduction.

They have changed the noise reduction algorithm in Capture One 20. There is definitely an increase in performance here, both in the standard reduction applied at import and when using the tools. The colors in high ISO images tend to look nicer (especially skin colors), and you can reduce more noise than in the previous version.

This is one of those tools that suddenly make this upgrade a no-brainer if you shoot a lot at high ISO.

New HDR tools

The New HDR Tools allow fine-tuning that has been missing from Capture One for years. This has several users excited. Those looking to move from Lightroom will feel much more at home.

Again, this is more of a “finally!” moment than a “WOW” moment.

The new HDR tools include a black and white point slider. This makes things so much easier in a practical sense and especially if you are moving from Lightroom. Also, the redesign of the sliders mean you can darken shadows rather than just recover them and the same with highlights.

It is great to have this feature, but it should have been developed a while ago. It makes working with shadows and highlights in Capture One 20 so much better.

This finally means no more tweaking the levels just to get the right black point. Again, this is something that Lightroom users have had forever, which brings me nicely to my conclusion.

So, Is it Worth The Upgrade?

This is one of those upgrades that really isn’t exciting. Just like when Apple revealed IOS12, this is not going to be full of new features. Instead, it’s about making the workflow better and making it much more intuitive for Lightroom users to move across.

I think the fact that Phase One updated Capture One 12 to run on Catalina OSX says a lot. In the past, you needed to upgrade to the newest version to use the latest operating system.

As someone who uses the software constantly, the updates are worth the price tag. It really makes editing quicker and easier.

I no longer find myself wishing for fixes to tools quite as much. The new user interface is much nicer than previous versions too. The addition of a black point and white point in HDR tools is great, while the big plus is the noise reduction improvements.

But is it worth the $ 159 to upgrade?

It is going to be hard to justify for a lot of people. The best advice, as always, is to try it for 30 days and see. There may be features that either individually or collectively make it worth your while. However, you may be able to invest that money more wisely.

Should I move from Lightroom?

No Capture One 20 review is complete without the Lightroom question. This is the bigger question and, in my opinion, the main point of this upgrade from Phase One’s perspective.

They have made the software much more user-friendly. The UI tweaks really are good. They are very Lightroom-like, meaning that you will find it much easier to come over to this software.

I have never got on with Lightroom. I tried it briefly when Apple stopped supporting Aperture but found myself preferring Capture One. To me, it is a better piece of software.

Phase One is definitely trying to persuade you to switch over to them, with this upgrade more likely to push more people to Capture One. It gives a more polished performance than ever and fixes some UI issues that long term users have wanted for a while. They even have a monthly subscription model if you don’t want to pay upfront.
It may seem like an expensive outlay at $ 299, but if you are a Fuji or Sony shooter, you can purchase Capture One 20 for $ 129. At that price, it really should be something you look into.

So, if this version can’t persuade you to switch from Lightroom, nothing will.

Have you tried Capture One 20? What are your thoughts? Are you looking to make the switch from Lightroom? Share with us in the comments.

The post Capture One 20 Review: Time to Make the Switch from Lightroom? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

Digital Photography School

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Nisi introduces the ‘Switch,’ a filter system with independently rotating holders

26 Sep

Filter system manufacturer Nisi has introduced a new filter holder that allows photographers to rotate two filters independently of each other, in much the same way that Lee’s Tandem operates. The Nisi Switch attaches to the existing 82mm filter holder and provides an additional rotation point so that the forward filter can be twisted separately to filters in the main holder.

The system is designed for those using graduated filters to make tackling mountainous horizons easier and so that graduated filters can be placed at more than a single angle to allow photographers to control different areas of the scene individually.

The Switch is part of the company’s 100mm filter system and will cost around $ 99. Those without the current 82mm filter holder will also need to buy a V6, a V5Pro or a V5 kit as well. These kits start at $ 169. For more information see the Nisi website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Capture One Pro – Should You Make the Switch?

14 Jun

The post Capture One Pro – Should You Make the Switch? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

This may be a familiar scenario? You’re on a shoot, and you’ve tethered your camera to Lightroom. Everything is going well, but you still have many shots to do. The clock is ticking, and you can feel the time crunch. Out of the blue, Lightroom crashes, and you have to unplug everything and restart your computer. All while your client is tapping their foot and breathing impatiently down your neck.

Welcome to the reality of tethering in Lightroom.

Now don’t get me wrong, Adobe Lightroom is a great program.

I have used it for years. It’s a powerful database for your image files. Lightroom has excellent color management tools and other features, such as noise reduction and spot removal, that make it the only program that many photographers use. In fact, the speed and stability of tethering in Lightroom is one thing that has improved by leaps and bounds in 2019.

But if you shoot a genre of photography that requires tethering, like food or still life, or if you’re a portrait photographer, you still may want to consider moving over to Capture One Pro (COP).

For years, I personally resisted making this change. I didn’t want to learn yet another program or complicate my workflow. But when Lightroom kept crashing and freezing on a career-changing shoot with a big ad client, I decided to make the switch. As a still-life shooter, I find that COP is unbeatable.

If you’re a pro-shooter, or semi-pro, I would say Capture One Pro is a must. If you’re a hobbyist, you still might find learning this image processor worth your while.

This article is not meant to be a tutorial. Rather, I want to walk you through the features and benefits of using Capture One Pro. There are tons of resources online if you want to learn how to use the program, many of them found in Capture One Pro when you log onto the interface.

What is Capture One?

Capture One Pro is a RAW file editor and management system. It’s been around for about 20 years and is made by Phase One, a Danish manufacturer of open platform-based medium format cameras.

The software supports Phase One’s own cameras of course, as well as over 400 DSLR’s, such as those made by Canon, Nikon, and Sony.

In fact, COP has entered into a relationship with Sony. If you’re a Sony user, Capture One Express is a free imaging editor that comes with your camera that includes some of the essential editing and workflow features found in Capture One Pro.

Getting started with Capture One

The first thing to know when getting started with this software is that the interface is nothing like Lightroom. For those used to using Lightroom, Capture One Pro will be confusing to you.

This is often what frustrates Lightroom users in the beginning, causing them to give up before they get started.

There are many differences between the programs. What has become intuitive for you to do in Lightroom, may not work in COP.

COP has the library features of Lightroom with the advantages of Photoshop to work in layers.

It’s an all-in-one solution for many photographers.

Advantages of using Capture One

So why is Capture One worth a new learning curve? Let’s take a look:

Superior tethering

As you may have gleaned from the introduction, tethered shooting is incredibly stable in COP, whereas Lightroom is known to be super-glitchy.

Another advantage is that COP has a built-in Live View function.

If you’ve used the Live View function on your camera, you may have noticed that you can only use it in natural light, or when you’re using a constant light source like an LED or the modeling lamp on a monohead.

However, Capture One offers a Live View function within the program itself.

If you’re a food, product or still life photographer, this feature will drive your productivity through the roof. You and your stylists can make the incremental tweaks necessary in still life photography, all while viewing the components within the frame on a computer or laptop monitor.

In addition, it has an Overlay feature. It allows you to upload cover art, such as a product packaging layout or a magazine cover, so you can make sure that your subject fits into the parameters required by the project.

Sessions versus Catalogs

Both Lightroom and Capture One Pro double as RAW photo editors and organization software for your image files. However, their organizational structures are not the same.

Lightroom can open one Catalog at a time. These Catalogs can be divided into multiple Collections and Collection Sets.

In COP, photos are organized into Sessions. These are ideal for separating single client sessions, and various collections. For example, stock photography or personal photos. This is a better approach to large sets of images.

Similarly to Lightroom’s Collections, you can create Session Albums and move your images from several folders on your hard drive to a Favorite Session folder without physically moving them.

COP creates an automatic folder structure within the Session. It creates four default folders every time you start a new session: Capture, Selects, Output, Trash.

The Capture Folder contains all the images that were shot tethered or imported from your SD card. Once you make a selection of your favorite images, they will automatically be moved to the Selects Folder. If you want to delete specific images, they will be moved to the Trash folder by default. However, they are not permanently erased – you can move them back.

The Output Folder is the folder where your exported images will be sent unless you choose a different folder.

The power of Layers

Capture One Pro offers the functionality of the Lightroom Library interface, with the power of Photoshop Layers.

Both Lightroom and COP provide global adjustments that alter the entire image, as well as a set of tools for local adjustments you can apply to smaller portions of the image.

However, COP includes the option to create local adjustments on multiple layers. Lightroom users have to switch from Lightroom to Photoshop to access multiple layer adjustments.

COP’s layers options are less powerful than those in Photoshop but more powerful than Lightroom’s single layer tools.

Sure, you can do some masking type of adjustments with Lightroom with the adjustment brush and other tools. After all, the adjustment tools in Lightroom have improved with every upgrade.

But if you’ve made several adjustments and need to go back a few steps, remembering which adjustment you made can be confusing.

With COP, you have a clear overview over of all the adjustments that you applied to the image.

You can create radial masks and linear masks, and you can fill masks over the whole layer and erase parts of the mask. Also, you can create masks by luminosity, applying adjustments to only the highlights or shadows in your photo.

Last but not least, you can change the opacity of these masks.

For example, if you’ve have created a color treatment you had in mind, but the colors are too saturated and bold, you can turn down the opacity to reduce the strength of those colors. All while keeping your color treatment intact.

Better color management

There is so much flexibility when it comes to color management and color grading in COP.

First of all, Capture One has individual color profiles for every camera. So, when you import the image files, you get something similar to the preview on the back of your LCD screen.

Lightroom files, however, have a more neutral starting point. This is great for photographers who favor more muted palettes.

Conversely, in COP, the colors look brighter and more vibrant before you make any adjustments. The adjustment options in both programs will give you similar results, but the starting point will be slightly different.

The color tools in COP are also incredibly powerful and versatile.

While Lightroom has the HSL (Hue-Saturation-Luminance) panel with sliders and RGB curves adjustments, COP offers a few more ways to work with color.

You can use the Levels Tool, Tone Curve, Color Editor, or the Advanced Color Editor.

The color options include shadow, mid-tone, and highlight adjustments for Color Balance and a channel dedicated just to adjusting skin tones. COP also has a luminance curves adjustment option.

Some disadvantages to using Capture One

One caveat to using Capture One is that as a less-popular image processor, there are far fewer options when it comes to supporting third-party products like presets and plug-ins.

However, COP has a feature called Recipes, which are similar to presets.

The other major disadvantage is cost.

For US$ 10 a month, you can have both Lightroom and Photoshop.

COP is US$ 20 USD a month if you choose the subscription option. It’s $ 180 USD if you pay for an entire year at once.

Unlike Adobe, however, Capture One also offers the option to buy the latest version of the software outright for $ 299. Adobe now offers a subscription-based service only – much to the ire of many photographers.

Take Capture Pro for a test run

The best way to get started with Capture One Pro is to download the 30-day free trial and import some of your images from your hard drive.

Set aside some time to go through the tutorials and really get to know the program. Think about how you might set up a workflow were you to make the switch from another RAW editor such as Lightroom.

To sum up

Like any program, there are advantages and disadvantages and there. There is no perfect program.

The bottom line is that you want to make an informed choice. Hopefully this introduction to Capture one Pro has helped you understand some of its benefits.

Do you use Capture One Pro or considering making the switch? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

The post Capture One Pro – Should You Make the Switch? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

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Mirrorless Users Will Switch Back to DSLRs, Ricoh Executive Claims

24 May

The post Mirrorless Users Will Switch Back to DSLRs, Ricoh Executive Claims appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

The Pentax K-1 Mark II 36MP Weather Resistant DSLR.

Imaging Resource recently released an interview with a group of executives from Ricoh, the company that produces Pentax cameras.

When discussion turned to mirrorless cameras versus DSLRs – and decreasing DSLR sales – things got especially interesting.

Said Hiroki Sugahara, General Manager of the Marketing Communication Department:

Currently, mirrorless is a newcomer, so of course many users are very interested in the new systems, they want to use [them]. But after one or two years, some users who changed their system from DSLR to mirrorless [will] come back to the DSLR again.

When questioned by the interviewer, Sugahara further explained:

The mirrorless camera is very convenient to shoot, because users can [preview the final] image before shooting. But I believe the DSLR has its own appealing point, because users can create their own image from the optical viewfinder. People can see the beautiful image through the optical viewfinder, and then think how they can create their pictures–for example, exposure level setting or white balance or ISO [sensitivity]–and then imagine how they can get [the result they’re seeking].

Sugahara concluded:

So the DSLR market is currently decreasing a little bit, but one year or two years or three years later, it will [begin] getting higher.

Could Sugahara be right? Might DSLRs soon be making a comeback?

Personally, I don’t think so. While some people do follow the latest trends, mirrorless cameras have the specs to back up their popularity: they’re lightweight, they’re compact, and they produce top-notch images. And mirrorless systems will just keep getting more and more appealing, as electronic viewfinders improve and mirrorless lens-lineups expand.

Of course, there are reasons to stick with a DSLR. For one, DSLRs tend to be more rugged than mirrorless cameras. And electronic viewfinders can have lag issues. But mirrorless technology is improving, and how many photographers will switch back to DSLRs for a more rugged body?

Not to mention the questionable reasoning employed by Sugahara. Sure, the occasional photographer may not be happy with an electronic viewfinder. But will photographers really prefer the greater challenge provided by a DSLR optical viewfinder, as Sugahara seems to be implying? In my experience, capturing stunning photos is hard enough. Photographers won’t want to make it harder on themselves.

What do you think? Will DSLRs rebound? Or is mirrorless the system of the future?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

The post Mirrorless Users Will Switch Back to DSLRs, Ricoh Executive Claims appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

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Video: Nigel Danson on his switch to mirrorless and the Nikon Z7

16 Dec

Renowned UK-based landscape photographer Nigel Danson has been using DSLRs for years. In this video, created exclusively for DPReview, Nigel discusses his experience using the Nikon Z7 and why he’s excited about mirrorless cameras. (Spoiler… beautiful scenery ahead.)

If you enjoy this video, visit Nigel’s YouTube channel where you’ll find dozens more, including topics such as Master your telephoto lens photography and improve fast and Why you don’t need perfect light to shoot the best photo.

Visit Nigel Danson’s YouTube channel

Opening
Introduction
Size and Weight
Electronic Viewfinder
In-Body Image Stabilization
Video
Ergonomics
Stopping for a Quick Shot
Sensor and Image Quality
Opportunities for Improvement
Conclusion

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Should You Switch from Photoshop to Affinity Photo?

22 Jun

If you are considering the switch from Photoshop to Affinity Photo, you might wonder how it will affect your photo editing workflow. And how will just a tiny loss in features (for a big drop in price) affect your options for photo editing? Keep on reading to find out how your workflow will change, what you will miss and what Continue Reading

The post Should You Switch from Photoshop to Affinity Photo? appeared first on Photodoto.

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Here’s how much it would actually cost a pro to switch from Canon to Sony

25 Apr

Read on for a non-scientific look at the cost of switching from Canon to Sony. Note: you’ll need a lot more cash than shown here.

The Sony a9 is here and with the ability to shoot 20 fps with AF-C, it’s likely to make a lot of sports photographers curious about switching to the Sony mirrorless system. We’re already impressed as heck. After all, it is meant to face off directly with the Canon 1DX II and Nikon D5.

We’ve talked about the structural considerations that may prevent some working pros from switching systems. But let’s imagine that those logistical concerns aren’t a problem, or you’re a freelance photographer who isn’t working with an employer’s supply of lenses. What would it actually cost in dollars and cents to switch systems?

We surveyed four Seattle photojournalists and found out what equipment they consider essential on assignments. Interestingly, their kits all consisted of a lot of the same gear and all four shoot Canon. Once we got a sense of what goes into a pro’s bag, we estimated what kind of money that kit might fetch if it were to be flipped. Finally, using our grand total, we looked at how much kit they could replace if they went Sony.

Before diving in, it is worth noting that switching brands is never a cost-effective move. And someone truly considering making the move from Canon to Sony, or Nikon to Canon, or Nikon to Sony, can assume a loss going in. Also all pricing estimates are current as of publishing, but are subject to change with time.

In the bag: the ideal kit

Below we’ve listed out a sports photography kit based on our feedback from working photojournalists. All four photographers shoot with two bodies minimum, and occasionally use a third. Interestingly, none have upgraded to the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II or 5D Mark IV, though for the ‘Value if purchased new,’ column we used the price of the latest version of each camera, since that’s what they’d likely buy, if anything needed replacing.

We look to used camera retailer KEH for pricing estimates. Note: selling used gear is not an exact science – you might be able to get more or less depending where you sell – but KEH tends to be a good industry standard. And for the sake of simplicity, we assumed all gear is in well-used but working condition (KEH calls this category ‘Excellent,’ just below ‘Excellent Plus’ and ‘Like new minus’). Below we’ve broken down the payout for the whole haul of gear, plus the cost if purchased new for comparison.

	Estimated value on KEH (w/ accessories)	Value if purchased new
Canon 1DX (x2)	$ 2000 x2	$ 6000* x2 (1DX II)
Canon 5D Mark III	$ 1200	$ 3500* (5D IV)
Canon 35mm F2 IS	$ 275	$ 550
Canon 85mm F1.8	$ 200	$ 350
Canon 135mm F2	$ 500	$ 1000
Canon 16-35mm F2.8 III	$ 1030	$ 2000
Canon 24-70mm F2.8	$ 435	$ 1700* (version II)
Canon 70-200 L IS II	$ 1030	$ 1900
Canon 300mm F2.8 IS II	$ 2950	$ 6100
Canon 580 EX II	$ 140	$ 480* (600EX)
Canon LP-E6N battery (3)	$ 0	$ 65 x3
Canon LP-E4N (2)	$ 30 x2	$ 165 x2
Grand total:	$ 11,820	$ 30,105

*This number reflects the price of upgrading to the latest version of each piece of gear

Wowza that’s a lot of kit. For the most part we’re looking recouping less than half the new value for each lens sold used (ouch!). So with $ 11,820 in pocket, how much kit could be bought back in Sony gear? Read on…

Making the switch

It isn’t completely fair to price it out what previously was used equipment against brand new Sony gear. So to make things more even, we’ve included new and used prices where applicable.

“There is no exact replacement for each
piece of kit.”

Also important: the Sony FE system is nowhere near as vast as the Canon EF lens family and as such, there are not exact replacements for each piece of kit, something you can read more about in our recent article Sony a9: Why being better might not be enough.

One example of this: all four photographers mentioned using a prime tele – either a 300mm F2.8 or 400mm F2.8 (we used the former in our example). Sony does not yet have a 300mm F2.8 – the closest lens they make is the new 100-40mm F4.5-5.6, which is far from a perfect substitute. We’ve included it in our chart below, but this lack of long primes is certainly something that may keep sports shooters from switching.

Equivalent Sony gear	Estimated price new	Estimated price used if applicable
Sony a9 (x2)	$ 4500 x2	n/a
Sony a7II	$ 1550	$ 1200 (Ebay)
Sony 35mm F2.8	$ 800	$ 620 (KEH)
Sony 85mm F1.8	$ 600	n/a
Sony Zeiss Batis 135mm F2.8	$ 2000	n/a
Sony 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS	$ 1350	$ 790
Sony 24-70mm F2.8 GM	$ 2200	$ 2000 (KEH)
Sony 70-200mm F2.8 GM	$ 2600	n/a
Sony 100-400mm GM	$ 2500	n/a
Sony HVL-F60M flash	$ 550	n/a
Sony a9 vertical grip	$ 350 x2	n/a
Sony NPFW50 battery (3)	$ 50 x3	n/a
Sony a9 battery (2)	$ 80 x2	n/a
Grand total:	$ 24,160	$ 22,870

Full system switch

Using our example, the cheapest one could go full-on Sony, with most of the same kit is $ 22,870. After applying the $ 11,820 discount from having sold off all the Canon equipment, a photojournalist would still have to cough up about $ 11,050 to make the switch. Or they could simply take that $ 11,820 and buy a couple of a9 bodies and maybe a lens.

“A photojournalist would still have to cough up about $ 11,050 to make the switch.”

But wait…

Although there’s a drop in performance and features when using Canon glass on a Sony a9 with adapter, for some photographers this lower performance level may still be sufficient (at least in the short term). In that case our photojournalists would only need to switch their cameras, batteries and flashguns.

Just swap the bodies

Two Sony a9 bodies with grips, and a used a7 II with batteries and flash would cost about $ 11,760 plus another $ 800 for two metabones adapters bringing the grand total to: $ 12,560. If our photojournalists were to sell their Canon bodies and accessories to KEH, it would put $ 5,400 in their pocket, meaning they’d have to shell out about $ 7,160 to make the switch. This doesn’t sound quite so bad. Another option would be to simply switch one body for the Sony a9 to get the fast burst rate, and hang onto the rest of the gear.

“Another option would be to simply switch one body for the Sony a9 to get the fast burst rate, and hang onto the rest of the gear.”

On the other hand, if or when our photojournalist upgrades to the latest versions of their camera bodies – having sold their current models and used the cash to step up – it would cost $ 10,300 to make the upgrade to two 1DX II and a 5D IV, so that cost is probably waiting for them at some point down the line.

Notably, if they were starting fresh with a new system, the cost of entry is somewhat similar: $ 30,105 for the full kit in Canon and $ 24,160 for the kit in Sony. However, these numbers are skewed by the fact that we are comparing a $ 6100 Canon tele prime to a $ 2500 Sony tele zoom. If we ignore those two, the price difference is even closer: $ 24,005 for the Canon sports kit and $ 21,660 for the Sony.

The takeaway

Switching systems is a headache and sports photography gear is crazy expensive. Like cars, cameras lose a lot of value as soon as they go from ‘new’ to ‘used’ condition – essentially, as soon as you take them home from the store. Not for nothing are most pro photographers familiar with the concept of depreciation from their tax returns.

It’s hard to say whether sports photographers or publications out there are considering making a switch to the Sony system with the introduction of the a9. The four photojournalists we spoke with all seemed intrigued by what it offers, though. Whether they’d actually considering switching is another story.

“Switching systems is a headache and sports photography gear is crazy expensive.”

One thing is for certain: Sony is pushing deep into territory previously only inhabited by Canon and Nikon and it is only a matter of time before making the switch to mirrorless doesn’t seem so crazy – even for pro sports shooters. Then again, the camera is only one part of the equation. A 20 fps bursts with continuous AF and no black out seems nice, but if you don’t have the right glass for the job, that spec won’t get you far.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Making the Switch from Phoneographer to PRO-tographer

16 Feb

Your Instagram feed is looking incredible these days. You’ve mastered VSCO and your point of view is strong.

But now what? Ready to go from Insta to pro? We’ve got a few pointers to help you make the change.

We chatted with Jackie Barr, a New York based photographer who has gradually made the switch from Instagram-only to full-time professional.

She shared a few tips with us for getting feedback, finding a starter camera and more.

(…)
Read the rest of Making the Switch from Phoneographer to PRO-tographer (856 words)

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