Capture One 6 Styles

December 30, 2010 | Tech Features, Top Articles

by Doug Peterson, Head of Technical Services

One of Capture One’s most powerful features is the styles menu. These styles are free and offered without limitations / watermarking etc, though you do need to enter your email address to receive the download link.
Click here to read the rest of the article and download the styles.

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HDR via LCC in C1 6 Pro

December 28, 2010 | Tech, Tech Features, Top Articles

Why Use HDR in Capture One

HDR/Tone-Mapping has a bad name because of massive over use by the general photographic community. Like tilt-shift, vignetting, clarity, or art filters in Photoshop the technique can be (and very often is) far over used. However, at heart HDR is simply an automated way of applying dodge and burns to better use the dynamic range of a scene. In HDR/tone mapping the areas of the image that are generally bright are darkened and the areas that are generally dark are brightened.

The LCC tool in Capture One can be used as a round-about HDR tool. It’s not the most fully featured, but the image quality (color fidelity, tonal smoothness, etc) is excellent, it’s fairly fast to use, and there are a lot of advantages to a workflow that applies HDR/tone-mapping at the raw level.

Background of LCC

The LCC tool in Capture One is located in the Lens Correction tab. It evaluates overall trends in the frame, such as “the top of the frame is a bit red and a bit darker” so that these trends can be removed or reduced. It was designed to correct for color casts and light fall-off caused by the lens. Since LCC evaluates what areas of the image are generally dark and what ares of the image are generally light and then tries to even the lighting in the scene it can be used for HDR images.

Step by Step: Using the LCC Tool for HDR

1. Under the Lens Correction Tab select LCC > Analyze (exclude dust) and accept the default name
2. Uncheck Color Cast
3. Reduce Light Fall Off from 100% down to something in the 10-40% range
4. Adjust Exposure, Clarity, and Contrast as desired

Real World Example

Before and After from Above Video

Roll over the image with your mouse to see the “After”

Conclusion

Between Local Adjustments and using the LCC tool for HDR effects the user can now do more in Capture One 6 Pro rather than rely on manual retouching in Photoshop (which requires processing, opening, and re-saving).

Other Uses of LCC

• Dust removal from any/all raw files from a particular shoot by shooting a reference card
• Even out lighting (color and intensity) during Art Reproduction to within 1/100 of a stop variation
• Remove lens-vignette of any lens
• Remove color cast or light fall off from tilt-shift lenses

Other Before and After Examples

Roll over the image with your mouse to see the “After”

Roll over the image with your mouse to see the “After”

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First Look-Broncolor Senso & Litos

December 16, 2010 | News

When it comes to photographic strobe equipment, two manufacturers have traditionally stood at the top of the industry in terms of quality, features, system expandability, and naturally, cost: ProFoto and Broncolor.

While the high end of the Broncolor line has more than held it’s own in competition with ProFoto high end products, the entry level category has been a walk-off home run for ProFoto with the success of the Acute and Acute 2r system.

Light, speedy, reasonably durable, and affordable, the ProFoto Acutes (and current Acute 2R generation) have been the leading premium entry level lighting kit of choice for years.

At this year’s Photokina, Broncolor announced a new power pack, the Senso, and a new accompanying Lamphead, the Litos. We had the Senso/Litos Kit in our Atlanta office and took it for a few turns around the track.

At first glance, I looked at the Senso pack, and I thought, geez that looks well made. Solid. Just from that comparison alone, I felt like this is going to spur some competition to the Acute. The Acute feels a bit less robust next to the Senso, a bit less refined and polished, you can see those screws in the front. It’s misleading to some degree, but those rubber bumpers on the corners of the Senso and the simple, sturdy feel of the handle say – advantage Senso.

The Lamphead is a different story. If I dropped an Acute head and a Litos head onto a concrete floor, my money would be on the Acute head. But the Litos sure looks pretty. Stylin’. The Litos has a nice handle for adjusting the angle of the head, I liked that. It felt a little less clunky than the Acute in that regard. Of course the Senso can take every Broncolor head available (all 7 of them, Pulso G, Pulso 8, Pulso Twin, Unilite, Picolite, Mobilite-2, Litos, ), while the Acute packs takes the Acute/D4 single and twin heads, but not the Pro Heads or the Acute B Heads. So, if you prefer something different than the Litos head, you have a lot of alternative choices on the Senso with all the other Broncolor heads.

So, back to the Senso. The other day one of my clients, who has owned ProFoto and recently added Broncolor, made the comment that she really liked the Broncolor, but it seemed complicated by comparison (pointing to her Broncolor Mobil-A2R pack). I spent about 2 minutes going over the pack with her and then she realized it was so simple, she assumed there had to be more to it and she couldn’t figure out the “more to it” part. But there wasn’t. I showed her, you want more power? Press the arrow here for 1/10 stop increase or decrease. Press and hold the arrow for full stop increase or decrease. She was really looking for something like this:

This comes attached to the side of every Acute pack. Ratios and combinations. It’s a schematic for how you dial the power up or down on an Acute pack. With the Senso (and most Broncolor packs) you don’t need a secret formula. You just press the arrow up or down.

The Senso does come with some bells and whistles though. With the press of a button, you can display your energy settings in f-stops or watt seconds. It also has a built-in RFS unit with no antennae to knock off or break. The Acute R series includes a built-in pocket wizard, but it requires a screw-in antennae for signaling. But either pack can accept an external pocket wizard (or Air Sync) via an accessory cable. The RFS Wireless Transmitters for Broncolor are very underrated. They can remotely control an RFS broncolor Pack’s power settings. The battery life is good for years and they have a much smaller footprint than most other wireless transmitters. In the past they were way too expensive, but now are in the same price range as the pocket wizards.

Pricing for the Senso is in the same neighborhood as the Acute Series, depending on configuration. Performance-wise, the Acute still has an edge for flash duration, but in most other performance criteria, they are very close, or to the advantage of the Senso. I think Broncolor has a winner here – the kit is physically as small as the equivalent Acute kit, it feels more durable (the pack, anyway), it performs well, and is compatible with the entire Broncolor system. The Acute is still a great system, but now there are two excellent choices for premium quality, entry level strobe systems.

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Capture One 6.0.1

December 15, 2010 | Tech

A Bug Fix Release Only

Capture One 6.0.1 has been posted to PhaseOne.com today. It contains numerous bug fixes.

Documented in the release notes

Not documented in the release notes

• Can read/play .mp4 and .mkv movie files (in addition to .avi and .mov)
• Fixed copy/apply of local adjustments
• Fixed OpenCL bugs specific to AMD 5xxx cards on Mac
• Updated Nikon D90 color profile to “V3″
• Image not “shifted” when using “non-standard” dpi settings (Windows 7)
• Capture Naming default is using the session name
• You can now choose the Digital Back serial number in the token name tool
• Save ICC from Color editor on Mac fixed
• Fixed: Crop ratio is applied when changing tabs even when crop tool is not selected
• Other “minor bugs”

Links

Download now
Buy Capture One at 10% off through Capture Integration

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Setup Capture Pilot for iPad/iPhone

December 9, 2010 | Tech Features, Top Articles

Watch Intro Videos

How does Capture Pilot Work?

Capture Pilot is a two-part system:

• Capture Pilot Server – built into Capture One 6 Pro (in the Capture Tab)
• Capture Pilot (viewer) – an iPhone/iPad app available through the App Store (iTunes link)

Features

• Set a password (for sensitive shoots)
• Opt to share all images from the current shoot, specific folders (anything in your favorites list), specific images (by creating an album) or dynamically updated smart albums such as “recent five star images”, “green tagged images”, “50mm lens images” etc.
• Zoom to 100% ON the iPad with accurate 100% view of the image
• All image styles, adjustments, and corrections (e.g. contrast, curves, etc) made in Capture One are reflected on the iPad nearly instantly
• View (or not) an accurate histogram of the image
• View (or not) images as they come in in real time (i.e. auto-updating to the more recent capture)
• View past shoots including retouched tiffs or JPGs (great for client demos/pitches, pre-production meetings, or post-production consults)
• Lock (using the iOS preference) the orientation or allow the screen to be rotated to fit the image best
• Use it with ANY Capture One supported raw file, meaning tethered or untethered shoots with Phase/Leaf/Mamiya/Canon/Nikon
• Useable anywhere within the range of the WiFi signal; if needed multiple AirPort Extremes can be bridged together to have a wireless network that covers hundreds of feet or multiple floors of a building
• Very easy to use and stable – provided the “Ideal Capture Pilot Setup” is used as described below

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Possible Fashion Scenario

On a fashion shoot with an Art Director, Hair Stylist, and Makeup Artist on set the photographer tethers a Phase/Mamiya/Leaf/Nikon/Canon to a Mac Pro where a digital tech checks focus, keeps the images organized by model/look/shot and makes backups every 30 minutes. The Art Director is given an iPad with Capture Pilot running, a couch, and a cool drink. The Hair Stylist and Makeup Artist work on the next model, but keep an iPhone with Capture Pilot running next to their kits so they can browse through the shots of the day to ensure a consistent look to the images. The photographer has an iPad mounted on a tripod so that they can quickly reference the last shot (including zooming in to 100% and with any styling/adjustments/corrections applied) without walking back to the computer. At lunch the digital tech sets the Capture Pilot Server to share only green-tagged images so that the Art Director can browse through just the best shots of the day so far and provide his or her commentary while at the Food Services station 100 feet away.

Ideal Capture Pilot Setup

The stability/speed of the network you are using is very important. If you are using a cheap/generic wireless router, have several other computers/printers/devices using the same network the results will be understandably slow, unstable, or otherwise troublesome. This is not a workflow you want to run on a network on which you’re streaming wireless music for instance (as many studio photographers do). The most reliable setup we’ve found is to use an Airport Extreme or Airport Express to create a dedicated-to-ipad-tethering wireless network with a password. Only the tethering computer which is serving as the Capture Pilot Server, and the iPad(s) or iPhone(s) that are serving as Capture Pilot Viewers should join this network and it should not be used for any other purpose (e.g. transferring files, printing, etc).

Troubleshooting

• Are you signed onto the same network on both the iPad and the computer running Capture One?
• Is Bluetooth turned on? Bluetooth should be off. If it is not the result will be strong instability and poor performance.
• Are you using a dedicated wireless network as described above?
• Did you start the server in Capture One? (“Start Server” in the Capture Pilot tool under the Capture Tab)
• Are there any firmware updates available for your wireless router?
• Are you using the latest version of Capture One, the latest version of Capture Pilot, and the latest version of iOS?
• Try restarting the app on the phone by double-tapping the home button, then tap-and-hold on the Capture Pilot icon until an X appears to close it. Since iPhone/iPad iOS version 4 the iPhone/iPad do not actually close an app when you single tap the home button. This is great since you can quickly return to an App and it will pick up where it started, but not great in that if you want to “restart” and app you have to know this trick.
• Try restarting your iPhone/iPad.
• Try resetting the settings on your iPhone/iPad.
• Try deleting and then reinstalling the iPhone/iPad app from the App Store.

Our Opinion Today

After playing around with several computers (Mac Pros and MacBookPros) using various network setups we can recommend Capture Pilot, but only in the Ideal Capture Pilot Setup we describe above. In other configurations the results are not yet satisfactory with many dropped connections or error messages.

The Start of Something Big

This initial version of Capture One Pilot is just a beginning. It’s clear that Phase One is investing a lot in this technology and many features are in the works that will make it even more useful.

A Bit of Humor

Such Great Technology Often Leads to Daydreams

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25% off all FOBA products

December 8, 2010 | Promotion

This is the largest sale we’ve ever had on FOBA equipment. Until December 31 all products FOBA makes are 25% off their standard price. These are not demo units, used units, refurbished units, gray market, or open box units. They are brand new with full warranty.

• Studio Stands
• Ball Heads
• Laptop Stands
• Ceiling Rails
• Combitube Grip Sets
• Shooting Tables
• Copy Stands

The FOBA studio system offers photographers Swiss-made precision, rock solid durability, and an unmatched component modularity for an endless range of grip solutions to meet any studio’s needs.

Offer ends December 31, 2010. Restrictions Apply. Cannot be combined with other promotions, discounts or packages. Promotion duration may be limited by available stocks, act now!

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Broncolor 25% Trade In

December 8, 2010 | Promotion

Unique trade-in offer!

25% discount on the Verso, Topas, Grafit, and Scoro power packs.

Its time to trade-in and save!

As your Broncolor dealer we will exchange your working power pack (Broncolor or any other brand) and grant you a 25% special discount when purchasing selected Broncolor power packs. Now is the time to treat yourself to Broncolor’s world class quality at an especial price.

Choose from the best!

Broncolor power packs guarantee optimum light quality, short flash duration, lightning fast charge times, electronic stabilization of color temperature for unmatched color consistency during shoots, and individual power distribution are only some of the qualities of the outstanding Broncolor power packs. Successfully realize your lighting ideas without limiting your creativity.

• Verso A2 / A4 RFS with Power Dock
• Grafit A2 / A4 RFS
• Topas A2 / A4 RFS
• Scoro A2 / A4 RFS

Hands on Testing

One of our company philosophies is to do our own hands on testing rather than take manufacturer specs at face value. Our owner Dave Gallagher, and Equipment Specialist Taylor Lupton recently completed a series of tests of the Broncolor lighting system. Read about this Broncolor Test on our blog.

Offer valid through December 31st, 2010. Restrictions apply.

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Last Chance for Tax Deductions

December 8, 2010 | Promotion

Deduct Using Section 179*

The purchase of photo equipment is tax deductible if it will be used for business purposes. But to save on your taxes in March you need to make your purchase now. A few days delay could mean thousands of dollars in just a few months. Still making your decision? We have an unusually wide array of demo and used items in stock which would make great end of the year purchases. Read more at section179.org.

We’re Open Every Day but Christmas

See our About Us page for contact information for each team member. We encourage you to call any day until the end of the year except for on December 25. Or use the form below to send us an email and someone will get back to you ASAP.

Make	Model	Retail	Now
Cambo	Wide DS Body with adapter plate	$2,200	$1090
Cambo	RS leveling Head	$599	$299
Mamiya	AF 55-110mm f/4.5	$2,399	$999
Mamiya	645AF Auto Extention Tube #3 NEW	$269	$149
Mamiya	Angle Finder FA401 NEW	$499	$249
Mamiya	SD402 Type A4 Focusing Screen NEW	$199	$99
Mamiya	RS402 Remote Control for AF/DF NEW	$399	$149
Mamiya	300mm f/4.5 IF Lens NEW	$3990	$1,799
Tenba	ShootOut Rolling Backpack M	$226	$139
Leica	SF 24D Flash	$315	$225
Profoto	D4 Air 2400 w/s Generator	$7,587	$4,990
Profoto	Softlight Reflector for Ringflash	$384	$250
Profoto	Closeup Reflector for Ringflash	$384	$250
Profoto	D1 250 Air Monolight NEW	$1,105	$849
Profoto	2x2' Softbox	$330	$220
Profoto	2x3' Softbox	$375	$275
Profoto	3x4' Softbox	$399	$299
Profoto	4x6' Softbox	$720	$520
Profoto	1x6' Softbox	$480	$380
Profoto	Softgrid for 4x6' Softbox	$934	$350
Profoto	Softgrid for 2x3' Softbox	$703	$275
Profoto	Barndoors for Zoom Reflector	$221	$150
Profoto	20 Degree Honeycomb Grid	$111	$89
Profoto	Head Extension Cable for D4/Acute	$249	$175

Contact Us

*Note that we are NOT tax experts, nor do we hold any licenses or credentials for tax advice. Please consult with a tax expert before making any conclusions and do not take anything on this page as legal advice.

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The Wisdom of Waiting – Capture One

December 7, 2010 | Tech, Tech Features

Why Fight Bugs? (P65+ with Reversed Phase One 80mm)

About Software Updates in General

It seems that every time Phase One, Adobe, Apple, or Microsoft release a major new version of a piece of software we receive the same calls. Someone has installed the software and is using it on an important job. They are calling because a specific bug is getting in the way of them getting their work done, or because a feature has been changed, moved, or renamed and they don’t know how to do what they need to do.

note: “Version X.0” means the first version of the release – for example OSX 10.6.0 or Capture One 6.0.

Version X.0 software always has bugs. It is the nature of the modern software development and every software company is guilty of it. Version X.0 software is almost always updated (often within days or weeks) to X.0.1 with many bug fixes. The only reason to install X.0 software is to become familiar with new features or changes in advance of a more mature release.

Users have every right to be annoyed that X.0 software is publicly released with bugs. However, as a practical matter it is important to recognize that this is universally the case. When Apple’s OSX 10.6.0 (a.k.a. Snow Leopard) was released many early-adopters found broken features, crashes, freezes, and other bugs. When iLife ’10 was released the iPhoto update destroyed a (very) small number of user’s iPhoto libraries when updating from specific earlier versions of iLife. Both Adobe LightRoom updates had a few bugs which affected users updating image catalogs from previous versions. Apple Aperture updates have on several occasions caused frequent crashes with specific graphics cards.

About Capture One Updates

Capture Integration is constantly testing new releases of Capture One and has many customers who are kind enough to keep us informed about their testing. We recommend a user update software or operating-system only when:

1. The update contains an improvement, new feature or bug fix which is relevant to the user (“if it isn’t broke – don’t fix it”)
2. The update has been out long enough to give a sense of whether it contains any nasty bugs
3. The user has time/desire to do a complete test of anything workflow critical (e.g. tethering, processing, retouching, printing etc)
4. The user has a complete bootable backup of the computer

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Noise Reduction in C1 6

December 3, 2010 | Tech Features

By Doug Peterson, Head of Technical Services

Noise Reduction in the Age of Affordable Ultra High ISO Shooting

Both LightRoom and Capture One have come a long way in the last several years when it comes to processing very high ISO raw files. With the release of Capture One 6 comes further improvements in color noise reduction. To test this we reprocessed a raw file captured in a situation we feel is typical for a high-ISO photoshoot. This image was part of a photoshoot with a minimal crew of 4, hand held in a bar with a Canon 5d Mark 2 at ISO6400 with a 50mm f/1.2 lens wide-open using an off camera 580 EX flash synced with a Pocket Wizard TT1/TT5. This raw file has a lot of noise, but with the proper processing it can be presented with aesthetically pleasing grain and otherwise good image quality.

Poor Defaults; Great Flexibility

When first opened in Capture One the default noise reduction settings leave much to be desired. Especially for first time users of Capture One this is very disappointing and may lead to false conclusions about what is possible with Capture One for these files. The above screen grab (and below downloadable 100% files) show what is possible in Capture One with a minimum of adjustments. These adjustments can be saved as a style so that they do not need to be reapplied manually in the future, and with Capture One 6′s ‘Import With Style’ feature it can be applied from the moment the raw file is viewed for the first time in Capture One.

Read the Rest of this Article

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Aptus-II 12 at Capture Integration!

December 3, 2010 | News

A package arrived this morning and when we opened it, we found our brand new 80 megapixel Aptus-II 12 inside! Christmas is coming early this year. We’ll be doing lots of pixel peeping tests over the next several weeks, lots of comparisons. We plan on comparing files from different sensors, evaluating lenses to see how they handle sub 6 micron photosites. We’re eagerly anticipating the results and will post soon!

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Capture One 6 Released!

December 1, 2010 | News

The world’s most flexible digital photo workflow now delivers ultimate image quality faster than ever before

COPENHAGEN, December 1, 2010 — Phase One today released Capture One 6, its most advanced professional raw conversion and image editing software. Its incredible flexibility ensures the utmost in creative control, while delivering uncompromising image quality.

Capture One 6 converts raw digital image files from professional digital medium format systems and more than 170 different digital camera models into the most beautiful photographs. Based on the world’s most advanced image processing engine, Capture One Pro 6 supports a comprehensive digital workflow with opportunities to capture, convert, organize, edit, share and print images with excellent color and detail rendition.

Capture One Pro 6 has been built to support an upcoming iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch application called Capture PilotTM that will allow you to wirelessly view, zoom in on, and pan high resolution RAW, JPEG and TIFF images from leading DSLR and medium format camera systems.

A few of the new features in Capture One Pro 6:

• Local adjustments - edit selected areas of images non-destructively
• Black and white conversion – precisely adjust color channels to create split toning effects when converting to grayscale
• Keystone correction — reduces or eliminates perspective distortion while maintaining dimension integrity
• High-quality, simple to use printing options

Also available in Capture One Express 6:

The basic version of Capture One is now called Capture One Express. It is a complete yet simplified raw workflow software, ideal for enthusiast photographers. It shares many of the new features in Capture One Pro 6, such as:

• Enhanced metadata support including XMP sync, Auto Load and a GPS link to Google MapsTM
• A Loupe tool, which is a powerful magnifier to zoom into an image from 25 to 200 percent
• Integrated movie import, viewing and handling
• Search and filter that makes it easy to find, sort and organize images on the fly
• Advanced, token-based file naming
• Native 64-bit operation and OpenCL/GPU acceleration for substantially improved performance.

Strong Camera Support Backed by Experience

Phase One’s sole focus is photography. As the leading maker of professional medium format camera systems, it is known for its technical innovation and long-term experience in helping the world’s top photographers to achieve the highest possible image quality.

Besides supporting Phase One and selected Leaf and Mamiya medium format cameras, Phase One has developed tailor-made camera profiles in Capture One to support more than 170 different digital camera models, including those from Canon, Epson, Fuji, Konica, Minolta, Leica, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Ricoh and Sony.

Capture One 6 adds support for Canon 60D and S95. For a complete list of supported camera systems, please see http://www.phaseone.com/camerasupport

Availability and Pricing (Buy Now)

Capture One 6 for Mac and for Windows is commercially available in two versions: Capture One Express 6 and Capture One Pro 6.

• Capture One Pro 6 is available via download for $399
• Capture One Express 6 is available for $129
• Capture One Pro 6 upgrade from a previous Pro version of Capture One is $99

The Capture PilotTM application will be free, and Phase One will advise when it is available for download from iTunes.

About Phase One

Phase One is the world’s leader in open-platform based medium format camera systems and solutions. Phase One medium format cameras, digital backs and lenses are designed to deliver superior quality image capture and investment value. Phase One’s Capture One software helps streamline capture and post-production processes for both medium format and digital cameras. Phase One products are known for their quality, flexibility and speed enabling pro photographers shooting in a wide range of formats to achieve their creative visions without compromise. For more information, please visit Phase One at http://www.phaseone.com. Follow Phase One on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/PhaseOneWW

Phase One is an employee-owned company based in Copenhagen with offices in New York, London, Tokyo, Cologne and Shanghai.

Phase One and Capture One are registered trademarks of Phase One A/S. All other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

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