Wake-Up Call for Sony Shooters

There is a wake-up call for prosumer Sony camera shooters, and it is called Capture One 8 (for Sony). Photographers are always on the look for a bargain, high value for money, an awesome deal, or simply a miracle. Problem is, we tend to look in the same corners of the imaginary room we live in. So, sit nice and tight for the wake-up call for Sony shooters.

Wake-Up Call for Sony Shooters

And every now and then, when the magic happens, we do not always notice it (or too late) because it happened where we did not expect it to happen.

Today, such an awesome deal is laying on the doorsteps of the before mentioned Sony shooters. They can get Capture One 8 for free! Now! Just download and install it, and go with the flow. Sony already paid for it.

Some Details, Please!

OK, you are woken up, now. So, what is all the fuss about? The Sony Cameras department wanted to go pro for their prosumer shooters and understood they needed a good quality raw imaging software product for it, to support their goal. They ended up with Phase One which tailored their well-known Capture One product into a “Sony Only” (say that aloud three times without breaking anything) version.

They came up with two product customizations, which have names familiar to Capture One diehards and aficionados: Capture One Express (for Sony) and Capture One Pro (for Sony). These are respectively the light and full-blown versions of their product line with the limitation that they only edit and process raw images from Sony.

Note: raw images from the Phase One family of cameras and backs are supported for editing and processing, as well as processed TIFF, JPEG and PNG files.

Free, You Said?

Yes, the “for Sony” light product named “Express” is free, the more sophisticated “Pro” comes for a fee. You get the same heart beating in both products, the processing engine, but in the Pro, you get more tools and real tethering with live view as icing on the cake.

My take is that Sony is paying a fixed (annual) fee for the exclusive rights on Capture One Express (the regular Express was removed from the market) and a fee per license for the dedicated Pro version.

No Downside?

I am not the half-empty glass type of guy but for the cynics among us, let’s give it a try. So Sony is playing nice with Phase One to compete with Canon and Nikon in the pro and prosumer space, camera-wise.

These brands have their larger footprint in the market, their own proprietary software some people use, and an SDK (Software Development Kit) to support camera features in third party software builders like Phase One.

Great for the Sony fanboys but should owners of cameras made by Canon, Nikon or another brand feel upset? On the contrary I think. Sony is paying (big?) money for the exclusive support in Capture One.

These additional resources will help developing and improving Capture One in the direction we all want: a professional and feature-rich program but not at the expense of speed or stability.

That is what Phase One had in mind for Capture One 8. And with a customer like Sony, they have all the reasons they need to go for it.

Before Going to Sleep Again

I should not forget to mention that the regular Capture One Pro ‘flagship’ version with support of over 300 camera raw file formats and tethering support for Canon, Nikon, and Sony plus the Phase One family, is still in the shop. You can buy both full or upgrade. An upgrade is possible from Capture One 3 and later to Capture One Pro 8.

Images in this post were made at a location for childcare for their website and adjusted with Capture One Pro 8. The new local adjustments like white balance were very helpful to get the desired result.

Thank You

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Best Regards,

Image Alchemist