Capture One 23 Beta 2 Review: Excellent Features Coming Up!

After switching from Adobe Lightroom Classic last year, I’ve enjoyed how Capture One Pro processes raw files. I particularly like their color science and how they work with underexposed images much better than Lightroom. But Capture One has been slow to bring some features into its repertoire compared to other software. Adobe is racing ahead now with AI-enabled tools that simplify editing for the average person. Plus, it's not like a decade ago; there are various image processing software vying for your attention. From what I’ve seen in the latest Capture One Beta version, there are some pleasant additions. I just hope they speed up their R&D and keep adding features faster.

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Capture One for iPhone is headed your way later this year. While we don't have a comprehensive list of features yet, it will probably have many features that Capture One for iPad does. It's great to see this app coming out, and I hope this means that Android users can expect an app soon too. Because we deserve an excellent alternative to Lightroom Mobile, too, don't we? There is no word on whether the iPhone version will be free, if it will have a different subscription plan, or whether it will be bundled along with the iPad version.

We tested the beta version of Capture One Pro 23 (16.2) on my M1 Macbook Air. Wireless tethering was tested with a Fujifilm XH2s that was loaned to us by Fujifilm. Other features were tested using raw and jpg files from various Nikon cameras of mine.

So the desktop version of Capture One Pro is coming out with a handful of new features. Most of these were designed to cut down editing time significantly. Having tested them out for a while now, I can say with certainty that the new tools definitely help in this. Particularly the last feature in our review, which is by far the most useful one for me.

The upcoming version of Capture One 23 (16.2) will include wireless tethering support for Fujifilm cameras for the first time. There are only three cameras supported at the time of release:

I’m surprised no GFX-mount Fujifilm cameras were included in the first release of the upcoming version of Capture One. I guess they need more time to get those huge-sized medium-format files across without any lag or loss.

Capture One Beta was already running when I connected the XH2s to the same Wifi network as my Macbook. I could see the XH2s in the dropdown list of cameras under the Tether module almost immediately after.

However, I could not see the live feed from the XH2s showing up on Capture One in the Live View window. I was still able to trigger the camera from the Macbook.

The camera was set to Raw + Fine jpeg file settings. The very first click I made crashed the software. Not a very good sign, I thought to myself. These things happen with beta versions, of course, and luckily there was no crashing for the rest of the testing. I (wirelessly) connected the camera again and fired off a series of shots.

On average, the raw file took about 12 seconds to wirelessly find its way to the tether folder on my Macbook. The jpeg file followed it around 2 to 3 seconds later. Not lightning fast at the moment, but no doubt Capture One will improve on this in future iterations. A convenient feature to have; hopefully, more Fujifilm cameras will be added to this list.

Here's something that photographers who mostly train their lenses on living subjects would find very handy. It's called Face Focus, but you’re more likely to use it like an eye focus tool. It's available in the Import window, and the Cull View feature introduced some months ago. Most of us have trouble culling the images in our sessions because we often have to zoom in individually on each photo to see if the subjects’ eyes are in focus. The Face Focus tool is about to make that task a lot quicker by introducing a handy window at the top of the Importer and Cull windows.

The software (I’m guessing using some AI training) intelligently identifies human faces in your photographs and shows you a small square preview of them in both the aforementioned windows. In my beta testing, I observed that animal (at least cat) faces weren't being picked up.

Capture One also seems to pick up the eye that appears to be nearest to the camera. Logically, this is the one that should be more in focus than the other.

The IT engineer in me decided to try testing a picture of a cake with a smiley on it; no faces were detected here too. If you still think there's a face that the software hasn't picked up, use Shift+F to toggle the Face Focus (essentially zoom) mode.

This feature is only available in either window's "Viewer" mode, not in the Grid view.

The above photograph has only a portion of the model's eye, but Capture One still picked it up for the Face Focus feature.

In portrait sessions, I cull photos based on how sharp or not faces are. This new addition to Capture One makes culling a lot quicker than before. A great idea from their development team

This handy feature allows you to quickly do two things. You can create custom keyboard shortcuts to open an image in another editing program, such as Adobe Photoshop. This makes it faster than having to right-click on the image in Capture One and choosing "Edit With."

You can also make custom keyboard shortcuts to quickly apply your favorite Style. This can be done from any Tool Tabs; even in Library.

I particularly like the second option as I don't export too many images from Capture One into other editing software. Being able to quickly apply styles to my photos is very handy when you have a handful of styles you like using often.

This was surprising to read because sometime last year, Adobe acquired Frame.io, so it's interesting to see a tie-up here between competitors.

Essentially this feature allows you to import images from your Frame.io account and publish them back to it.

Choose the Cloud Transfer icon at the top of your window. If you don't see it here, you can go to the customize toolbar setting and add it there. You’ll be asked to log in to your Frame.io account for the first time. This login will be saved for 30 days, after which you’ll be asked to log in again.

Pick an album from your Frame.io account to download images, and choose the folder you want them downloaded to. Once you’ve edited them in Capture One, you can publish them back to Frame.io.

Less than a year ago, I penned a piece on the lack of AI-aided dust spot removal features in photo editing software. Super pleased to see that out of the two biggies, one of them has decided to bring this feature to light.

Capture One Pro 23 introduces AI enabled dust removal in its newest version. A one-click solution to removing (most, if not) all of the dust spots that plaster themselves to your sensor and show up in your photos. If you’re a landscape photographer, you’d especially appreciate it. If you live in a dusty environment like I do, you’ll fall in love with this feature.

It's not perfect, but because it is AI trained, it can definitely improve sooner than later. First, you’ll need to add the Dust Removal tool in your Adjust tool tab. After this, you can select either Remove Dust or Remove Spot from the dropdown before clicking the button.

What I expected to take 20 to 30 seconds or so was completed in less than 5. Capture One Pro scanned the entire image quickly and got 90 to 95% of the dust spots cleared out. You can even toggle the tool to see where it made the changes.

There were way too many to count in some of my photographs, especially those taken months after the last sensor cleaning. So much so that I would miss out on many of those spots if I was manually cloning them.

I know for a fact that this feature will undoubtedly become one of my most used Adjust tab tools once it becomes available in the next release.

This is exactly the direction that AI usage in photography needs to go – aiding photographers to cut down the time they spend working on images. I’m not a landscape photographer as such, and even I have been frustrated to no end at having to clone out dust spots from photos that I’ve taken outdoors. Not everyone is confident at cleaning their camera's sensor by themselves and they often have to live with dust spots until their (usually infrequent) sensor cleaning appointments at the store.

One thing really impressed me about the Dust Removal feature in the beta version. It didn't touch any spots that were part of the actual image but weren't actually caused by dust on the sensor. It didn't clone out any tiny objects in the distance or birds flying over the horizon. And while it didn't pick 100% of spots in the frame, as the AI gets trained even more, this shouldn't be too far away.

Capture One says that Smart Adjustments will provide better results better going forward when applied to batches of images. This is another tool that is being enhanced using the power of AI.

They also say that preview generation is now much faster – up to 27% faster for raw files and up to 44% for DNG files.

On the whole, the team at Capture One has added a very handy set of features. You might not use all of them, but I don't see how you’d edit without using at least a couple of them from now on. I look forward to seeing auto-culling (based on images being out of focus or subjects’ eyes being closed), as this would be amazing to have when sifting through hundreds of pictures at sporting events. With Adobe adding AI enabled noise removal and Capture One adding AI enabled dust removal, the shift towards AI for editing software just became bigger.