How many raw converters?

I use the free Faststone Image Viewer [will handle RAW files and basic editing] but I use it just to first check on my shots, sort and delete. It used to be that those remaining would then go into DxO Photolab which I've had for years. However when I got my A1 they were very slow off the mark to provide the requisite module and could only handle jpeg. At the same time ON1RAW were right on the ball with A1 recognition available and I gave it a try and after a short trial bought it. I'm a lazy editor apart from portraits which rarely find their way here and their AI develop and no noise are excellent with just a few tweaks. DxO have just got a new upgrade to PL5 and for the first time I haven't upgraded so I guess that says it all....

jvandegr wrote: ...I moved to Capture One and never looked back. Nothing really comes close anymore for quality of conversion, user interface, and the ability to do anything I need in a few quick steps. I paid over $150 for version 12 years ago and it's still going strong. Quite the deal, now that I think about it. It's great having just one app for image organizing, processing, editing, and printing.....

Enthusiastic comments like these are why I'm forming the hypothesis that people who do successfully shift to C1, end up concluding it really is that good. I do like the cataloguing system and conversion tools more than I ever liked Lightroom.

keith_h wrote: ... And then since 2017, ON1. I like it, they work hard to improve it, I have no issues handing over money for the updates. It took across the LR catalog and settings, I can't see any reason to change.

I've used some of their plugins in the past, and they were good. So I get a lot of their adverts pushing their converter now. What makes you prefer it to LR?

Wētāpunga wrote: keith_h wrote: ... And then since 2017, ON1. I like it, they work hard to improve it, I have no issues handing over money for the updates. It took across the LR catalog and settings, I can't see any reason to change. I've used some of their plugins in the past, and they were good. So I get a lot of their adverts pushing their converter now. What makes you prefer it to LR?

Its multiple tools in one so there is no need to send your image to Photoshop for example to add text or other tweaks. This makes the workflow consistent.

The interface is more evolved than Lightroom I think (LR6 anyway), making it faster/easier to use. There is huge power there too, and a lot of information online to teach you how to do just about anything you can imagine, and a whole bunch of stuff I never thought/heard of. Lots of power, all in the one place.

My edits are very light, the less I touch an image the better. But on the occasion I've wanted to make some fairly big changes, I've been able to quickly find out how to do it and then get it done.

Speed, although its been a while since I used Lightroom on a desktop computer to be fair. With the GPU doing much of the grunt work, ON1 flies.

The DAM is very good and pretty quick too. I keep all my images on a NAS, works great. Search is quick and easy, metadata management likewise. I can quickly lay my hand on any image so long as I tagged it properly.

Price/pricing model. I will gladly pay for what I need. Adobe's subscription model gives me a bunch of stuff I don't want and for a while there was offering no worthwhile new features. It's a lazy way to maintain a revenue stream from mature software.

On the other hand, every year with ON1 I think I'll stick with the current model and every year they bring out something I am happy to pay for. There are at least two major releases a year. Win!!

And finally I guess, I am satisfied with the images it produces quickly and easily.

I still take Lightroom 6 on the road (the last stand alone version), but this is because I lack a laptop that has the right OpenGL version to run ON1. It's old. But anything that's processed on the road always ends up in ON1 anyway.

@Silver

I think the longer one is involved with digital photography, the more raw converters we tend to dabble with

It's been interesting so few though, have dabbled with Silkypix.
Can confirm C1 does get better as you become more familiar with the UI.