Off the back of the announcement of the brand new Leica M8 yesterday, Phase One has dropped in to tell us that their Capture One workflow software is included with every M8. This software is designed to handle the compute side of workflow, helping you select, improve and perfect and then share your photos, both RAW and JPEG. The program is tailored more at the professional end of the scale than its competitors, with tools to remove digital banding or to embed 3rd party ICC colour profiles alongside the usual features. It is a lot more advanced but if you are getting an M8 you probably won't just be an amateur point-and-clicker.
Unfortunately the software is just the Limited Edition and not the PRO version, which is a bit strange because if I'd just forked out nearly £3000 on a camera then I would expect the best software to go with it. LE lacks PRO's advanced Capture settings for directly controlling your camera from PC and other features like RGB/CMYK proofing and IPTC tagging. At the same time, while it is a shame that it isn't PRO, it is a free piece of software - which is better than nothing.
Software Update
Making the most of a press release, Phase One has also announced that their software has been updated to work with the RAW modes of the latest cameras. The new Nikon D80, Canon 400D and Leica M8 are all supported now. In the update as well (to version 3.7.5) there are a number of other tweaks and the introduction of a new range of “Easy Grey” colour profiles. The update is free for existing users and can be downloaded from their website.
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