

The file doesn't look harsh and has a more pleasing look. In my mind, Capture One does a better job at representing the lighting and skin tones. The other major difference between the files is how the lighting looks. I find that Capture One is a little too aggressive with how much sharpening it applies. Lightroom also does not apply as much sharpening compared to Capture One. Having said that, one could argue that Lightroom does a better job at remaining true to what Canon is aiming to produce with its cameras.

However, personally, I find the processing from Capture One to be more appealing.

This can be useful if you prefer to have a little more punch in the skin tones. On the other hand, both the Lightroom and Canon JPEG lean a little more in the orange and magenta tones. For instance, the Capture One exported file appears less saturated and leans more into the earthy tones.

Even if no adjustments are made to a file, images exported from different software will look distinctly different. When you export images from Capture One or Lightroom, each software will apply its own interpretations. Below we have the first comparison that we can take a look at. This is not a benchmark by any means, although it can serve as a point of reference to some degree. No adjustments have been made to this image. This first image that we're looking at is a JPEG file straight out of the Canon EOS R6. We will take a look at some of the other models from Canon too however, in order to accomplish a deeper dive, a single image should suffice. In this first of the series, we will be looking at Canon cameras, focusing primarily on an image taken with the Canon EOS R6 and the RF 50mm f/1.2 lens. For this reason, I'll be comparing both pieces of software with a wide range of camera manufacturers to determine which of the two is, in fact, the better option. As great as Lightroom can be when it comes to bulk editing, Capture One is described as being the better choice if you want to get the most out of your raw files. There is a common argument circulating that Capture One will produce better-looking files compared to Lightroom.
