Capture One has released version 16.9 of its photo software for Mac and Windows. According to the release notes, three AI tools for portraits are being added: one against stray strands of hair, one against color differences on the skin, and one that evens out skin areas across the whole body. Capture One mobile 4.2.0 for iPhone and iPad is being released at the same time, with hair retouching.
According to Capture One, the models run locally on your device, and the images are not sent to the cloud for this. The manufacturer has not yet given German menu names for the new tools, and the release notes are only available in English.
How does hair retouching work?
Stray Hair Retouching, as it is called in English, needs only two sliders. Outer hair removes or reduces strands outside the hairstyle, including those that stick out into the face. Inner hair reduces stray hairs within the hairstyle.
If you want individual strands to stay or the model mistakenly detects something as hair, you protect these areas with your own protection brushes, as with the blemish removal Blemish Removal. The retouching works on each person individually, whose face must be visible in the image for this.
What changes with skin and color?
- Skin Tone Retouching matches color casts, discolored hands, and red noses to a target tone. Capture One suggests the target tone itself; with the eyedropper you pick a different one from the image. You adjust temperature, tint, saturation, and brightness separately for face, body, or all skin areas.
- Body Skin Retouching transfers the skin evening Even Skin from the face to the whole body. A slider determines how much skin texture is preserved.
- In the Advanced Color Editor, you can now enter target colors as RGB or HSL values, for example a client's brand color. A new eyedropper matches a color to an object in the same image or in a second image.
- According to Capture One, the noise reduction Enhanced Denoise works around 30 percent faster on raw files from cameras with a Bayer sensor.
What applies to subscriptions and perpetual licenses?
Subscribers to Capture One Pro, All in One, and Studio get 16.9 at no extra cost. A perpetual license, on the other hand, only covers the purchased version including bug fixes, so a license for 16.8 cannot be used to unlock 16.9.
For switching, Capture One tiers the discounts according to the purchase date of the old license. If you bought less than twelve months ago, you get 40 percent off a new perpetual license or off the first year of an annual subscription; after 12 to 24 months, it is still 20 percent. Subscribers collect 20 percent discount per subscription year toward a later perpetual license.
Requirements are macOS 15 or newer, Windows 11 from 23H2 or Windows 10 22H2 with extended security updates, and 8 GB of RAM. On Windows, 16.9 accelerates the AI functions on graphics chips from NVIDIA, Intel, and Qualcomm. Computers with mixed chips, such as AMD integrated graphics plus an NVIDIA card, run as fast as before as long as you do not disable the unsuitable chip.
What this means for you
Back up your catalogs and sessions before the update. Version 16.9 converts files from 16.8.6 and older when opening them. Afterward, only the backup takes you back to an older version.
For portrait and application photos, it is worth testing on a complete series. Pay attention to whether Outer hair spares hair clips, glasses temples, or earrings. You safeguard such areas with the protection brush. For product photos following brand guidelines, you enter the client's brand color once as an RGB value instead of adjusting by eye.
With a perpetual license, do the math: if you need none of the new tools, 16.8 remains an option. With a license that is less than twelve months old, switching is cheapest with the 40 percent discount. An introduction to image editing and image management with the program is offered by the Capture One Pro tutorial.
Capture One released version 16.9 on October 29, 2026.
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