Master the art of black and white photography with the most comprehensive range of darkroom-inspired controls to help you create stunning monochrome images.
I do the majority of my edits on my X-T1 and X-E1 RAF files in Capture One 10.1, but have always liked the ease and results I got with Nik Collection Silver Efex Pro back when I used LR, so for now Im sticking with SEFx for B&W while I continue learning the still new to me Capture One. All X100s & via Capture One Pro = Lightroom = Silver Efex Pro 2 = Lightroom (RAW conversion to a reasonably flat image then imported to Lightroom & sent straight to Silver Efex for push process +3 Agfa APX Pro & light coffee toning and finally back to lightroom for exposure, dodge / burn, contrast, etc, and final vignetting). The Silver Efex Pro interface is clearly easier to use than Capture NX's Side-Note: Color Efex Pro 3.0 for Capture NX 2 It would not be a complete comparison to not at least acknowledge the fact that Nik Software does offer its Color Efex Pro 3.0 plug-in suite for Capture NX 2. In previous versions of Capture One one could add Nik Color Efex Pro as an allowed application in the plugin panel in Preferences but this option no longer exists. 'Get more plugins' takes one to a webpage.Of course one can navigate (with many clicks) to this plugin each time from 'Edit with', but one could do it with one click before. Both Capture One and Lightroom can merge multiple shots together to net one with more dynamic range. The technique, High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging, can be used to blend multiple.
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UNIQUE ALGORITHMS FOR BETTER RESULTS
To create great black and white photos you need more than a simple desaturation tool to remove the color from an image. Silver Efex Pro is the most advanced black-and-white photo plugin you’ll ever use. With its unique algorithms and an array of tools and adjustments for changes like brightness, contrast, and amplifying whites, you get total control of your digital darkroom. Silver Efex Pro’s advanced Grain Engine produces lifelike recreations of classic black-and-white film with superb levels of accuracy.
Silver Efex Pro Capture One Review
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20 Legendary Films
Silver Efex Pro includes an exclusive range of filters and effects that can emulate the look of classic film emulsions like Kodak Tri-X 400, Ilford Delta 100, and Fuji Neopan. With Silver Efex Pro’s unique range of custom presets, you can manipulate the grain structure of your images and the contrast characteristics to accurately reproduce some of the world’s most iconic black-and-white films.
Designed for ultimate precision
Silver Efex pro includes Nik Collection’s exclusive U Point technology that lets you make adjustments exactly where you want them using Control Points. With U POINT you can boost or reduce contrast, tweak brightness, and apply structure to the smallest zones of your photos with absolute precision!
The most powerful suite of 8 photo plugins offering almost 200 high-quality creative effects as well as a range of innovative image-editing tools, all available with a single click while giving you non-destructive editing for total control.
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I tend to not jump from one workflow to another too often, because every software package has its own learning curve, language, and quirks. It can be frustrating to learn how to do something in one program and then relearn it in another (along with different menu settings, key commands, ect.)
That being said, sometimes it can be worthwhile to compare different software or processes to see if there is something that could further improve image and, more importantly, print quality.
Silver Efex Free
I had been using Lightroom 3 for developing of raw files since 2010, and was fine for my mirrorless Sony Nex camera. I then got the new Nikon and have been relying on that more than shooting MF film/drum scanning. Now I needed an updated RAW converter that supported the new camera and was still able to support OS 10.6.8 (long story).
Capture One Pro vs Lightroom
Fortunately Capture One 7 can run on Snow Leopard. I think Capture 1 is a little clunky and the 'development' stage can be unintuitive. At first I was simply converting the NEF to DNG with Capture 1, and then imported and developed as normal in Lightroom.
When I compared exported tiffs processed in Lightroom to those processed in Capture 1, the later were all sharper, with less apparent sharpening artifacts, along with better contrast and mid-tone separation.
After lots of testing, I found that while the initial de-mosaic processing of Capture 1 is actually better, but the black and white conversion isn't as good as what I am able to achieve in either Lightroom or Photoshop. I tried making multiple cloned variants with different B&W conversion settings to later mask out and blend in photoshop. None of that was as good as the B&W conversion done with Lightroom or exporting a full color tiff to convert Photoshop.
Local Adjustments
Capture One and Lightroom both have the ability to make local adjustments to the raw files before exporting, and I think capture one does it slightly better. It uses what are effectively adjustment layers and the ability to paint in the amount of adjustment. Lightroom does the same, but with adjustment brushes, that are not as easy to control (or figure out how much of an adjustment you are making). I prefer to use these tools to get the general lightness and darkness and contrast balanced, or local clarity increases in the this stage. Any additional tonal corrections and adjustments are then made in Photoshop, where adjustment layers and masks make this process easier/faster/more intuitive.
Capture One Pro vs. Silver Efex Pro vs. Photoshop
Its is no secret that I really don't like plug-ins. Most of the adjustments a plugin like Silver Efex or Topaz Labs black and white can do can be done with photoshop with an adjustment layer or two.
I also don't like the idea of 'film emulation' profiles. Film's grain structure is byproduct of film technology and chemical reactions, no matter how good the algorithms are, they can't recreate the structure of film grain—all it does is introduce digital noise.
However, after multiple tests of this image using different conversion techniques, modifying the default settings within Silver Efex Pro seems to have a slight advantage over some of the techniques I've used in the past.
I will go into detailed workflows of some those black and white conversions with Capture 1, Silver Efex, and Photoshop in a future post. Until then, here are some screenshots comparing those different techniques.
Silver Efex Pro Vs Capture One
I have included some 100% screen shots showing the difference in tonal separation and sharpness. Some of the deficiencies of the other conversions can be overcome with additional contrast control in Photoshop, but I still feel is it better to get it as good as possible before extensive dodging and burning/contrast control later on.
The Verdict
Silver Efex Pro 2.0
Well the verdict is still out. Some of the benefits of Silver Efex are the ability to define the emulation of the films spectral sensitivity in conjunction with color filtration, as well as changing the contrast curve of the 'film'. Most of the built in settings clip the shadows so I would not recommend using blind presets. The other contributing factor that might give Silver Efex the 'edge' is the ability to increase the structure settings, which seem to give a different result than an additional sharpening layer and settings when employing a photoshop B&W conversion layer.