Why Capture One Pro for the iPad is a Big Deal

I fell into Capture One Pro, not because I was looking for a new photo management app, but because I had been abandoned. My Aperture images were frozen in time, like a woolly rhino in permafrost. Aperture was discontinued by Apple, and I needed a way forward. It was 2015.

Learning Capture One Pro was like learning to drive all over again. It was a herky-jerky affair — lots of tire marks on the curb. But over time I became comfortable. And it’s now the home for my professional assignments.

Actually, it’s more like a vault. There’s no cloud connection or mobile app. My pictures have checked in to Hotel California. I upload the shots, perfect them as best I can, and they sit there on the hard drive unless I physically extract them via a fairly intense export command.

As a result, I can’t use C1P for my everyday work.

“Oh, you’d like to see that cute shot of little Timmy? Well, hang on, let me go get the computer, fire it up, and launch my photo application. Would you like a drink while you wait?”

That’s so 2012.

The reason why I haven’t jettisoned C1P for a more connected workflow such as Lightroom is because its tools are so darn good. I open a RAW file from my Fujifilm camera in Capture One, and I feel like I can do anything with it…