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Capture One’s NEW License Options (Terrible)on: February 12, 2023 at 4:35 pm
Kevin,
I would be interested in the LR workshop, but because of the time difference between our localities, I’d be most interested if it were recorded so it could be watched when convenient. Because the workshop is likely to span multiple hours, it would be nice if you published your notes or at least an outline contemporaneously with each session. That would make it easier to return to specific sections at a later date when a refresher is needed.
Thanks,
Bruce
Re: Capture One’s NEW License Options (Terrible)Reply #1 on: January 19, 2023 at 9:56 pmJohn – perhaps Black Magic makes all of its money with its hardware sales. Apple doesn’t charge for OS updates, nor does it charge for many of its software products, such as Pages, Numbers, and so on. Apple makes its money on hardware sales and now services. I’m not saying C1 is a well-run company, either. Subscriptions or mandatory maintenance are straightforward ways for software vendors to provide some level of predictability to their revenue stream. It’s the direction the industry (software manufacturing) is headed.
Re: Capture One’s NEW License Options (Terrible)Reply #2 on: January 19, 2023 at 8:38 pmI have no opinion about C1 and don’t view Adobe’s software offerings as the greatest thing since sliced bread. I also don’t have any comment on how C1 introduced its subscription model. I am writing this as someone who for a couple of decades used software that cost over $100K/seat just to get it in the door and even then required an annual subscription (15%/yr). I also have done my share of software development although only for use by my team. But this taught me what it takes to write software that will be used by someone else.
You all need to quit whining.
The costs of software development are HUGE. Costs include not just R&D for new features, but keeping up with changing operating systems, hardware platforms (including graphics hardware and software), and all while maintaining the software on older systems. We are now in a world where the software, its databases, and delivery services for that software and its online databases have to be shielded from malware attacks. And then there is tech support. I’m surprised that there are any established software companies that continue to exist without either a subscription model or a requirement that the software is updated each year (think tax software).
For those who say they are happy with version X and don’t need to upgrade, I would guess that you don’t plan to upgrade your OS, either. Nor do you have concerns about your computer becoming a bot due to malware as its OS ages and becomes more vulnerable. Given that you’re using the internet to read this, you clearly can’t claim to be immune. I have no sympathy for you.
Keep in mind that Adobe, C1’s owner,and the other software purveyors are not non-profit organizations. Publically owned companies have to answer to shareholders who have expectations around profitability. Privately held companies have to raise funds from private investors that have to be repaid in such a manner that those investors make a healthy profit relative to the risk.
I abhore the salaries US companies pay their CEO’s but my votes against them are among the minority. H1-B software developers are being paid better than they were, but still not what their US counterparts are paid. When all developers are paid the same for the same capability, expect costs to increase. Costs will continue to increase as developers reassess their priorities and increasingly refuse to work 60+ hour weeks.
From my perspective, the Adobe $10/mo photography subscription is dirt cheap even with its shortcomings, especially when you consider the rate of new feature development. I don’t use C1, and can’t comment on whether $15/mo is a good value. I suspect they weren’t arbitrary given that they had to know they would lose clients during the transition.
I have some sympathy for folks with a limited and fixed income. I can’t comment on your financial priorities. But prices are only going up from here.
Re: Colorbyte ImagePrint BlackReply #3 on: February 21, 2022 at 9:36 pmI have been using ImagePrint Black with a P800 for a couple of years. In my experience, the product’s profiles are definitely better than the ones that I created and at least as good if not better than, say, Epson’s profiles. It gives you access to some profiles that are no longer available on the web, and to versions designed for several lighting sources.
Not every photograph can be printed to exhibition tolerance without making some edits in tone and/or contrast that are unique to the individual photograph. The interface for this is very good. You don’t have to make a special version of the file to serve as a comparison when soft-proofing. My only complaints are 1) the tone curve is backward from the one in Photoshop and Lightroom and 2) you can’t move the endpoints of the tone curve.
They have made substantial improvements to the file display portion of the software, but there are some caveats. My originals are 2540dpi scans of 4×5 transparencies with the initial file size being 620MB or so. Add a few pixel layers while editing in Photoshop and I’m forced to save .psb files. ImagePrint won’t work with these, which requires that I flatten the files prior to printing. It also struggles with files that have masks saved as channels. Finally, it still takes a while to make the thumbnails when you have a large library of files. The workaround for the last problem is to place a copy of the files to be printed in a separate directory so as to limit the total number of files in the directory.
These are minor problems relative to the ease of use and access to a large library of profiles supplied with ImagePrint Black. I haven’t fully utilized all of the product’s capabilities, but would still recommend it based on those that I have.
Re: SONY A7RIV Pushed To The LimitReply #4 on: March 9, 2020 at 1:42 amHi Kevin,
One of the videos on the Topaz web site suggested that selecting the AI Clear button rather than the default DeNoise AI button after the plug-in opens is often adequate. I’ve been using this with manual settings and have found low to medium “Remove Noise” yields outstanding results. That same video notes that AI Clear does some post-capture sharpening, even with “Enhance Sharpness” set to Low. I’ve also found that I don’t need to use “Recover Details.”
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