It is essential, from time to time, to test your software processing tools against each other to examine how well they interpret RAW files from different camera systems. After all, every camera manufacturer uses different RAW formats and processing systems that interpret sensor information through various algorithms; similarly, every processing software has its own way of interpreting RAW files. In addition, cameras produce images at different resolutions with different pixel pitches. All of these issues can affect image quality and the extent to which one can adjust RAW files before they degrade to a point where the quality is unacceptable.

To compare what might happen to images from either Capture One or Lightroom when heavily processed, I initially processed both using each application’s default auto-process setting. The results of this process show a quite different approach: Capture One seems to be more concerned with preserving the highlights and therefore favours a darker exposure.

Looking at the two images at 600 percent, it appears the Lightroom file on the right shows more artifacts on the clean white surfaces—this is much more apparent in the darker areas of the image.

The two images were then processed in two Nik Applications using the same two customized presets. The intent here is to push the two images, which now have the RAW processing algorithms from each application, into a single TIFF file to see if there is a difference in how they hold together.

The following are the close-ups of the two images that were run through the NIK applications.

References

• Lightroom vs. Capture One for Professional Editing: An excellent comparison of the two programs.