Capture One 16.5.0 Beta 1 Review: Is This the End of Presets? (2024)

My top choice of software for post-processing photos is slowly but steadily making my life editing a lot smoother. In the latest beta version of Capture One, we’re introduced to new features titled Match Look and People Masking, along with a couple of other additions and some user experience improvements. In this review, we take a look at how these features can make your editing time a lot less than before

Gear Used

We tested the beta version of Capture One Studio (v16.5.0.4) on my Apple M1 Mac Mini, using images from my Nikons J5, Z6, Z6 II, and Zf. For the sake of this article, we’ve tested out only the new features listed below. Capture One provided us the link to download the beta

Below are new features that Capture One will be releasing in v16.5.0 (which we tested in the Beta version given to us)

Match Look

While I attended Capture One’s introductory webinar, where their reps began demoing the new features, a wave of realization crept over me. And it wasn’t one of those jubilant feelings when I realized this feature was going to dramatically change the way I approached my editing. It was a feeling that went more like, “Oh no, they did not just introduce this, did they?”

The Match Look feature is a great addition. If you’re an editor, an end consumer of any of the Capture One editions (Pro / All-In-One / Studio). But I immediately began to think about the many creators in the photography community who sell presets and styles that are compatible with Capture One. If the Match Look tool really performed as well as expected, then it meant anyone who wanted to recreate a look that was offered as a paid preset could now just as easily download a reference image that the preset was applied to, get Capture One to mimic it, and then save it as a preset of their own. I can’t imagine those who specialized in making a side income off their presets would be happy about this. I wrote this down as a question in the Q&A section of the webinar, and their reps acknowledged it at the time. They did, however, say that the Match Look tool wouldn’t replicate a preset all the way but would more or less get you a close approximation of the look you were hoping to recreate. Of course, I had to test this out to see if it held up.

I applied a film-like preset to the above image in the latest Capture One beta software. Then, I dragged the preset-applied image into the Match Look tool. I ticked all four options available (Normalize, Light and Contrast, Color Adjust, Color Tone). You can see what each of these is broken down into below.

The image I chose to have matched was taken in the same location and on the same day as the previously seen image.

What you see above is the unedited image. Below, I’ve added two edits that you can compare side by side. On the left is this image with a copy/past of adjustment settings from the earlier image. Technically, this is as good as applying the preset directly to this image. On the right is the version with Match Look was applied.

I would tend to agree with the Capture One reps here. The Match Look version on the right isn’t an exact copy of the image with the preset applied. It is similar, no doubt, but it’s far from being close. There is a lot less saturation and contrast, which can be instantly seen as the main difference. Capture One has however, been able to closely match the feel of the preset applied image.

You can choose to apply the Match Look edits to a new layer, except in the case of black and white adjustments. If, after matching the look, you want to further tweak the image before saving the look as a preset, you can do this too.

I’m going to post a series of images below. The sequence to view them will be as follows – Inspiration image, Unedited image, Match Look version.

As you can see, Match Look isn’t a one-click solution to replicate the look and feel of a source image. At this point I’d argue it only makes it visually look about 50-60% of the source. Much like presets were when they were first introduced, this too is a good starting point to get to what you hope to achieve with an edit. Maybe with more AI coming into Capture One, it can improve in the near future.

People Masking

Almost exactly a year ago, Capture One introduced AI masking in version 16.3, which, for the most part, did a very good job at selecting areas of your photographs without you having to do much manual work. While that helped you select subjects as a whole, the newest variation takes it a step further. Yes, Adobe has had this for some time now in Photoshop and Lightroom, so it’s great to see Capture One users also getting the same kind of possibilities.

Located under the Layers and Masks tool, you can now harness the power of AI in Capture One to select your subject’s body skin, facial skin, eyes, eyebrows, lips and hair. It doesn’t quite have as many sub-masks (such as beard, etc.), but I think this could eventually come in, too, with an update. These masks don’t have to be created one by one as separate layers. You can select multiple options and then get Capture One to deliver a combo mask on which you can perform localized edits.

Seems to work great when there’s one person in the frame. But what if there’s more than one?

That’s not quite what I’d hoped, but it’s also not unexpected. Capture One masked the visible hair of both subjects in the frame. What was surprising was that it didn’t pick any portion of the significantly visible beard hair on both persons in the frame. Unfortunately, there’s no beard mask option either. It would seem like the only way at the moment, should you want to perform masking on less than all visible persons, is to have the AI mask everyone, then manually erase it off the people you don’t want the edits on.

A cool feature is that, since the masking is applied on separate layers, you can still apply Styles to them. Capture One says that if you save a Style with Layers made with People Masking, their adjustments will be included, and the mask will be recalculated when applied to new images.

Content Credentials (BETA)

There’s a fresh addition to your workflow—a tool called ‘Export Content Credentials.’ You’ll find it in the Export Window. You can integrate it directly into your workspace as well. You’ve got options here. Choose whether or not to include Content Credentials. You can also opt to show the Producer’s name (which, more often than not, is yours). And if you can decide if you want to reveal the edits and tweaks you made to the image. Content Credentials are only available when exporting jpeg and tiff files. The information is added to the exported file, increasing its size by about 10-100 kb.

If you want to know more about the Content Authenticity Initiative and why it’s so needed in today’s world, check out this article explaining how and why The Phoblographer is a member of this great initiative.

Other Features Introduced

In addition to these three main features, Capture One also introduces Cloud setting management, allowing you to upload and download various settings between your devices. This makes it easier when you have Capture One across multiple devices. Simply upload your preferred settings to the cloud from one system and then download it off the cloud to the other. It is even cross-platform compatible with Windows and Mac systems. Share and sync settings like Export Recipes, Shortcuts, Workspaces, and Styles. It goes without saying that you need an internet connection to be able to achieve this.

You’ve also now got Background replacement by Photoroom, also still in beta mode. This feature is only available in the All-in-One plan and Capture One Studio. It appears this is a collaborative feature between Capture One, and Photoroom which is company that creates AI enabled editing software.

Capture One is using AI for all the right ways to aid photographers perform their edits. Although these recent additions may not be quite as competitive as the entire AI feature suite offered by Adobe, it’s great to see them bringing more offerings to their users.