Is Capture One a good alternative to LR?

Question

First I would like to say hallo, as it is my first post here.
Hi, I've been using LR for a few years now. Lately I downloaded trail of Capture One, and I found it very well made. Now I am bit confused with my preferences, should I stick with LR or move to Capture One? Big adavantage for me is that in C1 there is no need to import photos to catalog (there is no catalog at all). Can you describe your experience working with both aplications over time please?

Answer 1

1. You're always editing a preview in any editor.
2. Lr makes the best previews, and
3. Lets one faithfully edit them because they're camera specific
4. stores those previews for future reference, so
5. any RAW editor which tells you it isn't making a catalog (processing images into something intelligible) or denies you repeat access to the catalog it's made, is
6. Not good at all by Lr standards, so
7. Your only choice is Lr if you edit what starts out as a RAW file.
and 8. if you edit JPEG, you'll be amazed at the conversion to editing RAW, so
9. if you're camera, by definition, always makes a RAW file, use that so you'll be amazed, and find that,
10. the upshot is, chuck Camera nOne if it does not let you reference the catalog or doesn't edit RAW (which is what I suspect the issue to be).
Never used Camera One, but I cannot imagine not having a catalog.
The Lr catalog is about creating accurate thumbnails (in Catalog view) and 100%  (1:1) previews for non-distructively editing RAW files made by DSLR (or, amazingly, now, some high-end point 'n' shoots, I've heard tell).
See, if your shooting with RAW and then editing the result, you are editing a "preview" because RAW data must be interpolated into something intelligible to, well, in the end, the Human Eye (your monitor, the edit features of the program, etc). RAW, in it's raw format is (to be nontechnical and with an intended pun) just a bunch of black or white dots in a matrix. The tone and the hue are a matter of interpretation by your camera and by any editor you're using if you're processing the RAW files (or JPEGs, in fact). http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cameras-photography/digital/question362.htm
Two points about the link: It references only what a DSLR (single lens reflex) does when it talks about a prism directing to the viewfinder and then fractionally, allowing light to hit the "negative" or imaging sensor. Alas, very notably missing is that the CMOS sensor  (or CCD on some, still) has an array of Red, Blue and Green "filters" in front of it's pixels which "sorts" the photons which arrive at each simiconductor so that the blue photons hit the "blue-sensing" simiconductors. Your camera then knows that it read a "blue" photon. Also, the intensity is somewhat a matter of local averages because once the "electron" from the semiconductor carrys the information, it cannot give intensity data specific to the photon that started the process.
See Kodak's PDF on the Bayer array, they invented the thing: http://www.kodak.com/global/plugins/acrobat/en/business/ISS/supportdocs/ColorCorrectionfor ImageSensors.pdf
In fact, what you're seeing on the viewer on the back of your camera is a preview (in many a JPEG preview) of the shots which are always RAW files, by definition. But it's controlled by your camera, see? Well, Lr applies a standard specific to your camera to render those previews (which is always what your editing in any RAW editor). The catalog is a set of lesser previews which I find acceptable.
My point is that you are always seeing a preview of a RAW file whatever editor you use. Some are less faithful than the standard preview generator, Adobe's Camera Raw.
Aside:
In actuality, I usually make all of my catalog previews 1:1 (each pixel represented faithfully in Catalog module) so I can see what I will have in the Develop mode before I switch over (one cannot have a grid display Develop, so I cheat and make the Library show me a 1:1 on every image). The Develop module is not about viewing and arranging, keywording, rating, and generally managing your images, it's about, well, Developing them). Cataloging one's previews 1:1 uses a whole lot of memory, though. The standard's will suffice. What I'm saying is that Develop always renders a 1:1 preview so you can faithfully edit your RAW 'negatives.'
That's a RAW editor, in a nutshell.
What makes RAW great to work with is that it shows all data your camera gathered about each pixel. JPEG format compresses this information in "lossy" ways that I never knew when I was shooting with a point 'n' shoot to 'get used to digital' before I went to a DSLR, and shudder to think about now.
If you're editing JPEGs (which may be what Capture none is for), then disregard the foregoing.
If your editing RAW, erase Capture none from your computer, because, in Lr you've found a program which can faithfully represent images from all makes and models very well (all = vast majority) and creates an .lrcat file which references data (the previews) in the Previews.lrdata folder which is a compendium of the initial imports and of all of the edits you've made. These files are what you work with and may be differently named, of a different programatic process, and of vastly different 'quality' per application.
I'd say that an application that doesn't let you access them in Library style view, or doesn't save them at all, is chinzy.
So, if RAW is your game (if not try, set your camera to RAW and not JPEG or both if you want both to compare and can tolerate a massive reduction in the storage of your in-camera medium), chuck Camera nOne, it is a ridiculous alternative.
If JPEG is your game and I just blew your mind, set your camera to RAW (or both, if need be, to to compare). You'll be amazed at having the ability actually to edit the images from your camera (which are always born as RAW data at the very beginning).