Cambo’s Tech Ground-Glass + Viewer

September 25, 2008 | News

Cambo showed a new viewing bellows and ground glass for their wide-angle technical bodies at their Photokina booth. The combination of ground glass and a light-blocking bellow viewer offers a usable ground-glass-focusing solution to photographers shooting untethered in the field.

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Team Building

September 23, 2008 | CI Team

The Partner’s conference before Photokina is designed for the international partner base to learn from one another in order to become a stronger whole. We have two days of internal conversation covering all topics of software, hardware, accessories, and partnerships. All of this in an incredible atmosphere of a globally historic hotel.

Yesterday started off with Phase One’s primaries in Musketeer’s costume and ended with a full Lederhosen ensemble. Now even though I took pictures during these events I must assure you that it is in your best interest to not witness these as I have. You will thank me for it, trust me.

Instead, I will show you one team building event that has us all in muscle cream and heating pads as I speak. Someone had the brilliant idea that we should have a football tournament between members of Phase One and the partner base. And by football I unfortunately mean American Soccer. Of which, I have not played since Jr. High School and I hated it then as well.

But of course we tried our best. Interestingly, 4 Years ago at another photokina I was presented the award of “the person who succeeded the most with the least amount of talent.” This was after a marathon Formula 1 event between the dealers where I drove NASCAR style, bumping and blocking, to the strong dismay of every single European in the event. I have to say I did my best to win that award again but I was dethroned by Knowlege Integrated’s Walter Borchenko. He was by far superior to me in this category as you can see. : )

By the end of the match, our team placed in 3rd out of 8, mainly through the efforts or our captain, P1 CEO Herik Hakonsson, and a steller player from our Barcelona partner. We North Americans threw or weight around and bullied our way but were only bit players to their European excellence.

In the end we had a great first day of team building. And in true Phase One fashion, concluded the day with one hell of a party. A long drive through the pitch dark German forest opened to a small secluded Bierhaus. We had a wonderfully traditional meal with ample amounts of beer and wine. But to everyone’s suprise, within minutes of the meal’s end, this quiet and quaint little room quicly transformed into Coyote Ugly East! Dancing girls and shooters! What a trip. Let me just say that this picture is tame and is the only thing that I can show. More to come soon!

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It’s About the Relationships

September 23, 2008 | News

Our president Dave Gallagher is at Photokina getting real-world tests of new equipment, strengthening our relationship with our industry partners, and generally having a great time. On his behalf I am posting the below image taken by his wife at a team building soccer game. As a dealer we often find situations where we need special accommodations made for a customer. In these cases it is often our close relationship with Phase One which helps us take care of our customers. The world of high-end medium format digital is different than the world of DSLRs; how many Canon customers have their problems resolved by having their dealer negotiate directly with the president of Canon? Becoming part of the Capture Integration family of clients means having direct access to an enormous pool of resources.

Update: Dave has now posted an extended entry about his experience of team building.

Dave Gallagher, President of Capture Integration, and Henrik Hakonsson, President of Phase One during a team building game of soccer at the dealer-meeting prior to Photokina. Only a select few premier dealers were invited to the dealer-meeting.

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Leaf Shutter Lenses

September 22, 2008 | News

This article is being revised live as more information comes in. Come back soon for more details.

Phase One has announced a new line of branded leaf shutter lenses.

The first lens to become available will be the 80mm leaf shutter lens. This will be followed by more leaf shutter lenses. Detailed specs on these lenses as well as availability will be posted shortly.

These lenses will make the Phase One system the first system in the medium format digital world to use a dual shutter system. This will give photographers ultra-fast shutter speeds (up to 1/4000th) when shooting available light, and a fast flash sync speed of 1/800th when shooting with strobes.

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New Lower Prices for P30+

September 22, 2008 | News

This article is being revised live as more information comes in. Come back soon for more details. 

The top selling 31 megapixel Phase One P30+ will be reduced in price.

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Further Details on the P65+

September 22, 2008 | News

This article is being revised live as more information comes in. Come back soon for more details. 

Phase One has released more information about their upcoming system, the P65+.

• Aperture & Shutter control with P65+ when used with Phase One 645 and Capture One 4.5.
• No need for a mask. What you see in the viewfinder is exactly what you get.
• On-Screen Bubble Level for real-time horizon leveling
• On-Screen grids and ratings for a even more sophisticated non-tethered experience
• Two quad-core processors inside the back allow write speeds of up to 133 mb/sec
• Sensor was designed and is owned by Phase One; Dalsa is only manufacturing it.
• Higher Quality Live View with 4 times the refresh rate (now 5-7 fps)
• Pixel Binning unlike anything ever seen before. Allows variable resolution and good ISO 1600 performance.
• Trade-in deal will be offered for any 22mp (or higher) digital back (including from the competition).

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Phase One & Leica: Best Together

September 22, 2008 | News

Leica has once again revolutionized the world of photography with a digital S-System that’s breaks the 35mm mold and becomes the worlds first true Medium Format DSLR. This new camera dwarfs its DSLR competition with a new 30mm x 45mm sensor yielding an astounding 37.5 megapixels. The Leica S2, with its premium AF objectives including everything from ultra wide to super telephoto, is an absolute photographic highlight. The S2′s metal body is appreciably smaller and easier to carry than similar models from other camera brands and yet it’s also nearly twice as fast thanks to ultra modern processor technology.

This just-announced “Medium Format” Leica S2 will feature sensor technology, software, and firmware developed with assistance from the experienced engineers of Phase One and will be sold through Phase One channels. This promises the quality and sophistication of Leica with the engineering prowess, experience, service, and support of Phase One.

Dr. Andreas Kaufmann and Henrik Hakonsson, presidents of Leica and Phase One respectively shake hands yesterday at Photokina. A broad strategic alliance has been formed between the two companies to combine the quality and sophistication of Leica with the engineering prowess and medium-format experience of Phase One.

Pre-Order the Leica S2

Capture Integration is taking a list of pre-orders for the S2. Fill out the form below and we’ll contact you with details.

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Capture One 4.5 Pro

September 22, 2008 | News

Update: Since this article Capture One 4.5.2 has been released. 

Release of Phase One’s professional photographic workflow tool, Capture One 4 Pro, will be made available to the public on October 15. Capture Integration will be hosting the countries first and finest seminars to introduce photographers and assistants to this new professional workflow software. We’ll also be testing it through and through to make sure our customers can put their trust in it. Check back soon for seminar dates.

Capture One is the preferred raw developer and tethered-shooting program for most of the high-end photographic community. The upcoming release features:

Lens+ Technology: Built-in correction of pin-cushion, barrel-distortion, chromatic aberration, purple fringing, vignetting, and sharpness fall-off without leaving the raw format. This is specifically customized for nearly every lens in the Mamiya, Hasselblad, and Contax line. While other medium format systems are becoming increasingly closed Phase One is not only remaining open, but in fact is increasing it’s level of support for a wide variety of medium format and large format platforms.

Sessions / Color Editor / Styles / Profiles / Overlay / Batch Renaming / Moire Reduction: All of your favorite professional workflow tools from Capture One 3.7.9 Pro, absent from Capture One 4 (non-pro) are returning with improvements in Capture One 4 Pro.

Multiple Monitor Support: Intelligently make use of additional monitors for a faster and more powerful workflow.

Customizable Workspace with Floating Tools: Arrange the tools you use most often all in one place to avoid having to switch tabs.

Nikon Tethering: While the October 15th release will not include Nikon tethering, Phase One is working hard to make this a reality.

Personal Key Management: Capture One is a two-activation license, meaning you can install a single copy on both your laptop and desktop. Now you’ll be able to log into your account at PhaseOne.com to manage your activations, so when you upgrade your computer you always have access to your licensing.

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International Partners Meeting

September 20, 2008 | CI Team

My wife and I just arrived to an incredible hotel, Steigenberger Grandhotel Petersberg, in the small town of Koenigswinter, Germany. We are a day early for the biennial Phase One dealer meeting. Only a select number of US dealers are invited so we are always grateful for the invitation. Tomorrow will be a day of products announcements, technical information, and teambuilding the Danish way. It is always an enjoyable few days before Photokina begins. I will try to keep everyone up to date with any new product or technical information that will be allowed to leave the presentation room. Right now you will have to settle for the few images that we shot today on our day off. Enjoy.

_{Our room can be seen by the open window in the top floor. Embarassingly large and full of history.}

_{Is this considered drinking and driving in Germany?}

_{40 hours of being awake, its time for some rest.}

_{A relaxing evening before the next two crazy days.}

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Demos Always Available

September 18, 2008 | Landing pages

Capture Integration strives to be an open resource for those looking for information on high end digital photographic products. We encourage (by appointment) photographers to stop by the studios we maintain in Atlanta and Miami Beach to experiment around with the latest gear.

If you would like a demo just complete the form below and we will contact you!

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Firmware Update for P+ Backs [3.2.6]

September 15, 2008 | Tech, Tech Features

Introduction

New firmware has been released for all the P+ Series digital backs. The firmware updaters will update the firmware in P+ digital backs to:

• Main code: 3.2.6
• PAVR: 1.0.7
• FPGA: 1.6.3

Download links

Firmware download: 3.2.6

How Do I Update My Firmware?

The link above will allow you do download the update program. To minimize a small possibility of problems* you should do the following:

• Insert a fresh battery into the digital back
• On the digital back set: [Menu > Configuration > Power Source > Battery]
• On the digital back set: [Menu > Configuration > Storage > Autodetect]

Then you can launch the updater and proceed with the extremely simple on screen instructions. The whole process should take only a few minutes.

*The only real possible snafu during a firmware update is that the back would become physically disconnected or run out of battery power during the update. By switching to battery power and making sure the battery is full this possibility is eliminated. Neither of these steps is necessary, but they are good ideas.

What’s new?

New camera special application camera modes: “Camera Mode” feature is introduced to facilitate use with Schneider electronic shutter USB control and certain specific industrial applications.  A New “Camera Mode” menu item is introduced inside “Configuration” menu.

• Camera Mode
• Normal (default)
• Mode 1 (Schneider electronic shutter option)
• Mode 2 (Aerial application)
• Mode 3 (Industrial – available only on Hasselblad V version)

In general if the digital back are not used with any special setup as described  above, and with additional special timing cables the Camera Mode should be left in “Normal” position.

Bug Fixes

• General image artifact improved on some digital backs (column artifacts, centerline, and rings artifacts)
• Overall improved image quality at long exposures (visible at exposures more than 30 min.)
• P 21+ Extreme Long exposure enabled (now works for more than 25 min.)
• FireWire power circuit protection enabled (if user mistakenly inserts the FireWire connector wrong way around at computer end)
• P 25+ / Intel Mac tethered retransmitting lost data error corrected

Known Limitations

When using a digital back on a 645 body at f stops that are outside the range of f2.8
to f22, f-stop metadata information may not be correctly listed in the RAW file.

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The Ideal Tethered Setup

September 9, 2008 | Tech Features, Top Articles

Tethering Checklist for Max Reliability

Foreword

Phase One, Leaf, and Mamiya tethering is extremely robust; digital backs are designed from the ground-up to tether, unlike dSLRs which add tethering as an after-thought feature. Out of context this document may make it seem like any minor thing can cause problems. Instead we encourage you to understand the document in the context of its intended audience: 1) digital techs who are fired on the spot if something goes wrong, and 2) photographers trying to troubleshoot an unusual problem on their own.

What Do We Mean By ‘Ideal’?

Saying that the below recommendations comprise an ideal tethered setup is not to say that other setups can’t be stable. Many of our customers have great success with a variety of other setups, and following these recommendations often needlessly safeguard against rare problems that may never arise. They are extremely conservative guidelines. So use these options if your goal is to achieve the absolute highest reliability or as a way to troubleshoot any problems you experience.

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Phase One Tethering

Use Default Settings as a Starting Point

While there may be settings you wish to change from defaults, such as the [Configuration > Power] Setting, it’s a good idea to restore defaults so that you begin at a known-point, and then change whatever settings you know you want to change. Obscure settings such as [Camera Mode] and [Shutter > Zero Latency] can have adverse and unexpected results when accidentally set (e.g. by a well meaning assistant or by the previous user of the digital back in a rental situation). Other settings like [Configuration > Storage > CF Card] will directly prevent tethering.

IIQ-Large

This file format will ensure the highest quality. IIQ-Small has slight compression, which is unnoticeable most of the time, but can cause inferior image quality when an image is very overexposed or underexposed. The quality of IIQ-S is better on a Phase One IQ series back than on previous Phase One backs and may warrant consideration.

Back Powered From Battery

[Menu > Configuration > Power Source > Battery]

[Applies to P and P+ backs only. Does not apply to P25 non plus and P25 non plus]

This is ESSENTIAL. Many laptops, and even some desktops, have firewire ports which do not produce consistent and sufficient firewire power. Low or variable firewire power can cause many types of hard-to-diagnosis problems. Using the computer’s firewire power will work with most of the time. However, for maximum reliability and for troubleshooting, use battery power.

OR

You can also use a powered firewire hub such as the one we sell (part # UB-FW-PWR) which has been tested for this purpose. This replaces the firewire voltage from the computer with a more consistent and full firewire power based directly off AC power.

Power Management > Battery Charging set to Fast if Relevant

The IQ series will intelligently charge the battery in the back either “Fast” or “Slow” (you can also disable charging if desired). The “Fast” setting is useful when the laptop or desktop it is tethered to is powered from AC and you are shooting quickly. It will ensure the battery in the back is charged faster than it is disspated – making sure you always have a charged battery and do not suffer from any quirks caused by a nearly depleted battery.

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Phase One, Mamiya, and Leaf Tethering

15′ Double Shielded Firewire 400 Cable – unkinked

Specific 30′ and 33′ cables often work reliably (we sell one of each which we’ve tested with good success). Likewise there are many 3rd party firewire cables which work well. However, for maximum reliability, and for troubleshooting nothing beats the 15′ cables provided by Phase One. In addition you should wrap your cables carefully and avoid hard angles (both in storage and in use) and sources of crushing/kinking such as rolling over the cable with a cart. A good quality such as the cables we sell on our eStore have been proven to take a lot of abuse, but at some point any cable will mechanically wear to the point where it may short. A digital back connected to a computer with a shorted, cheap, or kinked cable may not connect, may take longer to connect than normal, or may lock up or not fully boot.

Gaffe Taped Firewire Cable

Firewire 800 cables have the tendency to “walk out” as the cable is strained in each direction. A small piece of gaffe tape on both the bottom and top of the MacBookPro-to-FW800-cable connection does a lot to ensure the cable will remain securely plugged in. This is good advice whether you are working with a digital back, an external hard drive, or any other FW800 device.

Any FW cable can cause problems when slightly pulled out, including, but not limited to failure to connect, taking longer to connect than normal, and locking up the back (e.g. it will not boot past the splash screen).

No Other Firewire Devices Plugged in (e.g. a Firewire Hard Drive)

For maximum reliability or if you are experiencing problems be sure that no other firewire devices are plugged in to the bus. This includes different firewire ports because depending on the computer’s internal configuration these ports may well be routed through the same internal bus.

Careful of Computer Heat

While Phase, Mamiya, and Leaf digital backs can handle the heat the computer used to tether may not. We have seen early MacBookPro laptops in particular which stop working well when in direct sunlight. Specifically the firewire port on these laptops may become non-responsive and lose the connection to a digital back. Keeping the laptop shaded, or using a program like SMC Fan Control to keep the laptop from getting to hot can increase stability.

 

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Any Tethering to Capture One

Use the Right Version of Capture One

Capture One can be activated as “Capture One Pro” or “Capture One DB” or “Capture One”. If you want to tether a dSLR such as a Nikon or Canon or older Leaf digital back then you must use Capture One Pro. You can check the current version activated by going to “About Capture One”

Cleanly Installed Capture One

Phase One always tests new versions of Capture One to make sure that if you upgrade from the latest version that installing the new version over top of (and replacing) the last version won’t lead to problems. However, it is always a good idea to uninstall the previous version before installing the new one (how to unistall Capture One on a Mac). This is especially critical if you are upgrading from an installation which is several versions old.

Tether to a Mac Pro (rear portr) or MacBookPro

The Macbook, Mac Mini, and iMac are all consumer grade computers which are not well suited for a professional tethered workflow. These computers can and will work, but for the best and most consistent results use one of these professional Apple computers. On a Mac Pro use the rear port.

Absolutely Fresh Batteries

Some camera bodies such as the Mamiya 645AFD will continue to function when batteries are low but not empty. However, they may occasionally misfire as the battery approaches empty and this can cause a variety of strange symptoms on the digital back. The same applies to the digital back. The back will continue to work when the back is flashing an empty battery icon, but may experience glitches or hiccups and if the back dies while writing a file this can cause the last image to be lost. Likewise some Nikon and Canon Cameras will start to misbehave prior to turning off as the battery nears empty.

Updated Firmware

Each camera and digital back has firmware. Firmware should be kept up-to-date at the same speed as the rest of your system. So if you’re using a version of Capture One from 2010 but you’re two versions behind on the firmware version of your digital back then it would be advisable to update your firmware. Make sure after a firmware update to reboot the back and set [Menu > Configuration > Restore Defaults] on the P+ series or [Menu > Restore Defaults] on the IQ series.

In particular the P40+ and P65+ firmware 5.2.2 (and later) increases the speed and reliability of the reconnecting the back after a firewire cable has been disconnected. This firmware update greatly improves the experience of tethering when using Firewire 800 cables which tend to disconnect (physically) easily.

Leaf and Mamiya digital backs automatically update/sync their firmware version with whatever version of Capture One you use them with. This prevents the possibility of using older firmware with newer software.

Some Canon and Nikon cameras had firmware updates which may effect performance while tethered. Capture One is always developed and tested with the most recent firmware available and using Capture One with a Canon/Nikon with old firmware may result in bugs/quirks.

Fresh Computer with as Few Other Programs Running as Possible

Macs aren’t known for spyware/crapware (at least compared to windows), but any computer can become burdened down with background programs and processes that can wreak havoc with the computer’s stability. Capture One can work perfectly fine while a hundred other programs are launched, but for a production environment it is best to keep your tethering machine as clean as possible. Our Backup Solutions for Before and After the shoot White Paper includes a way to backup your OS and applications. It’s a great idea to install just the OS, Capture One, and essential photo applications and utilities and then make a backup of that setup from which you can boot (plug in via firewire and hold option when booting) for times of trouble and confusion.

Capture Folder Should be on a Internal Hard Drive with Plenty of Free Space

Shooting to an external hard drive is not recommended. Some photographers shoot to an external hard drive to maintain a backup of the shoot. If this is desired see our Backup Solutions for Before and After the shoot White Paper.

The stability and speed of the entire computer (and therefore Capture One) is compromised when the hard drive is almost full. It’s a good idea to always have 10+ gigabytes of space free on your tethering machine, and avoid shooting it all the way to capacity. The computer will become unstable and slow far before Capture One finally tells you there is no space remaining.

Cleanly Installed and Up-to-Date Operating System

The Migration Assistant is a handy way of moving all of your data, documents, images, and programs from your old mac to a new mac. However, it is not perfect, and often leaves behind problems (extraneous or corrupt system files, permissions issues, missing library files etc) – it also perpetuates any crap that has been accumulated over the course of many years, system updates, program installs/uninstalls etc. We strongly recommend that when you buy a new computer you do not use the migration utility but instead go through the hassle of transferring files from the old computer to the new computer manually and installing all of your programs from the most recent download available of them.

Avoid Interference

If a firewire cable passes over a major source of electromagnetic interference it can create lines in the image or other forms of image-errors. Avoid draping the firewire cable over power packs, generators, APCs, strong magnets, or cell phones, strong speakers, or microwaves.

Avoid Rapid Reconnection

When a digital back or camera disconnects from a computer it takes the operating system 3-5 seconds for it to realize it is no longer connected. If the back is reconnected during this 3-5 second period the system will likely produce an error message or simply fail to connect. If/when you unplug a back or turn a back off or camera you should wait 5 seconds before reconnecting. A Phase One back should reconnect in under 10 seconds every time. If this is not the case try turning the back off for a full 5 seconds and then turning it back on.

 

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