1. you’ll get an error message stating that the card is not readable/valid
2. you’ll be able to shoot to the card but receive error messages when the camera goes to save a capture or receive sporadic error messages – the resulting files may or may not be readable on the computer

Obviously #2 is worse than #1 because you’ll think that things are ok when they are not. To help avoid this we’ve listed below the CF cards that Phase One has specifically tested with various Phase One digital backs. These are NOT a comprehensive list of all cards that will work – many many other kinds of cards are fully compatible. This list however represents complete assurance by direct testing.

Non Plus Backs

Consult KB Article

Phase One P20+, 21+, 25+, 30+, 45+

Approved cards on Firmware 3.2.6 or above

• SanDisk Extreme IV 2 GB
• SanDisk Extreme IV 4 GB
• SanDisk Extreme IV 16 GB
• SanDisk Extreme III 1 GB
• SanDisk Extreme III 2 GB
• SanDisk Extreme III 4 GB
• SanDisk Extreme III 32 GB
• SanDisk Ultra II 2 GB
• SanDisk Ultra II 12 GB
• Kingston 266x 2 GB
• Kingston 266x 4 GB
• Kingston 266x 8 GB
• Kingston 266x 16 GB
• Lexar 300x 16 GB
• Lexar 300x 8 GB
• Lexar 300x 4 GB
• Pretec 333x 16 GB
• Pretec 233x 64 GB
• Delkin UDMA 2 GB
• Hoodman 133x 2 GB
• Hoodman 133x 4 GB
• Hoodman 280x 4 GB
• Hitachi MicroDrive 6 GB

Phase One P40+ and P65+

Cards verified or re-verified on firmware 4.5.6 or higher

• SanDisk Ultra II 12 GB
• Hoodman 133x 2 GB
• Hoodman 133x 4 GB
• Hoodman 280x 4 GB
• Lexar 300x 4 GB
• Lexar 300x 8 GB
• Lexar 300x 16 GB
• SanDisk Ultra II 2 GB
• SanDisk Extreme III 1 GB
• SanDisk Extreme III 2 GB
• SanDisk Extreme III 4 GB
• SanDisk Extreme III 32 GB
• SanDisk Extreme IV 2 GB
• SanDisk Extreme IV 4 GB
• SanDisk Extreme IV 16 GB
• Kingston 266x 2 GB
• Kingston 266x 4 GB
• Kingston 266x 8 GB
• Pretec 333x 16 GB
• Delkin UDMA 2 GB

Cards verified or re-verified on firmware 4.7 and higher

• Kingston 266x 16 GB
• Pretec 233x 64 GB

One major application of this image enhancement tool is for portraits. The best way to see the effect is, of course, by applying it to your own work. However, below is a basic primer that demonstrates what positive and negative clarity does for a portrait, along with how you might adjust an image after a large clarity change. You can view the small summary below or Download this as a layered Photoshop Document for a closer examination.

Leaf Cameras Supported for Tethered Capture in Capture One 5.1 DB:

- Leaf Aptus II 10, Aptus II 8, Aptus II 7, Aptus II 6, Aptus II 5
- Leaf Afi II 10, Afi II 7, Afi II 6

Leaf Cameras Supported for Tethered Capture in Capture One 5.1 PRO:

- Leaf Aptus 75S, Aptus 65S, Aptus 54S
- Leaf Afi 7, Afi 6, Afi 5
- Leaf Aptus 75, Aptus 65, Aptus 22, Aptus 17

This tethered support is offered for Leaf backs as-they-are and does not require a new firmware (though you should ensure your firwmare is the latest available) or hardware update. Many Leaf photographers already own Capture One 5 Pro for use tethering the Nikon or Canon or for processing their Leica or other camera’s raws – those photographers can update their software for free to 5.1 and plus in their Leaf and use it tethered immediately. Users who own Capture One 3 Pro or Capture One 4 Pro can upgrade to Capture One 5.1 Pro for $99*

Live View for Leaf backs is not yet supported, but R+D expects to be able to implement Live View for some backs soon (no details can be provided at this time since they are seeing what can be made to work as we speak.

Stability and Performance

Shot-to-preview time is currently a bit slower than Leaf Capture. This is an area of performance that R+D anticipates being able to improve in the coming months. C1 has always had incredibly fast shot-to-preview times with Phase One cameras, even those with very large files like the P65+, so stay tuned for further improvements in performance.

Capture Integration (our company) has earned a reputation for being careful with it’s recommendations for software updating in appreciation for just how important it is for tethering software to be rock solid stable. Although Phase and Leaf have tested this release with a variety of leaf backs and computers I would still advise that anytime such a large improvement is made (adding tethered support for 18 different backs in one release – let alone a new brand/type of back) that caution is required and that you should test your own specific setup extensively before using it on a job. We will be happy to report back here our findings as we, and our customers, start to use the new version with Leaf backs and we encourage you to do the same. Of course we also encourage you to do your own due-diligence – if you experience problems please read our Ideal Tethered Setup which, though catered to Phase One backs, still contains a useful checklist for Leaf owners, and to contact your Leaf dealer to see if you’re running the latest firmware for your camera. Often the forums get flooded by implied issues which are actually user error – and that doesn’t help anyone.

Support for Leaf tethering in Windows is being called “preliminary”. So be especially sure to test your specific setup before using it on a job.

FREE Trial

ALL users will be able to do a 30 day full-featured trial of Capture One. Even if you’ve already done a trial of 5.0 you are eligible for a free trial of 5.1.

Other Features and Bug Fixes

Auto Select New Capture - Auto Pause (on/off): allowing you to decide whether clicking on an image during tethered capture should pause the selection of new incoming images or not.
Spot Removal – previous spot removal only worked well for dust, new spot removal works for zits, dirt, and, apparently flies.
Advanced Noise Reduction – available for advanced users to easily modify the type of noise reduction based on their intended use, includes surface noise reduction which targets noise in areas of continuos tone (e.g. the paint on a smooth/shiny car), and fine grain which was borrowed from Leaf Capture to allow the introduction of a fine and uniform grain to help mask unpleasant noise in very high ISO or for aesthetic effect
Underline Acceptable – In 5.0.1 and 5.0.2 the underline key was disabled during text entry – in 5.1 this is fixed
Negative Clarity – used to enhance the smoothness of tonality in a portrait
Inverted Color Selection in Color Editor – the color editor is the most powerful tool in Capture One and this new tool makes it more flexible, allowing you to select the inversion of a particular color for editing
Improved Metadata Handling – GPS location and aut0-importing of metadata stored in compatible sidecar files generated in other programs
Improved Sorting – including sort-by-process-state and more intelligent sort-by-name
Aspect ratio available from Crop Cursor drop down – brought back from the days of version 3.X this option saves you time when switching cropping aspect ratios and just plain makes sense
Faster loading of recent folders – similar to the near-instant loads for folders which are assigned as favorites Capture One 5.1 now includes sophisticated recent folder handling
Faster loading of large folders – catalog shooters will notice improvements when opening folders with many hundreds or thousands of raw files.

10% Discount for purchase

Capture Integration offers an easy way to purchase Capture One online at a 10% discount. Check out our step-by-step instructions on Buying Capture One.

Installation

We recommend that for the best experience you remove the application, application support, and preference files of any previous Capture One version before installing Capture One 5.1. This is not “required” but it has been our long standing experience that doing so is a good idea. See our uninstall instructions for a comprehensive guide, but for the purposes of an upgrade you can skip all the steps except the application, application support, and preference files. If you skip this step and experience a weird glitch, bug, or strangeness, then close the program and delete the application support and preference files.

Training Available

Capture Integration is known throughout the world and the web as a leading expert in Capture One. If you are a Leaf user who is considering purchasing or using Capture One you should subscribe to our newsletter. We’ll be announcing March classes online specific to Capture One 5.1 for users coming from Leaf Capture in our next newsletter.

Parting Thoughts

When Phase One purchased the assets and took on many of the employees of Leaf we received many calls from Leaf users asking when they would get to use Capture One. Now, just a few months later, this support is being offered even back to the Aptus 17. This is a good day for Leaf users and for Phase One, which has just expanded it’s user base enormously.

*depending on when you bought your Capture One 3 Pro license you may be entitled to a free upgrade to version 5 Pro. Check with your dealer or look in your account at phaseone.com > my account (sign in) > license management > select your license.

Further Editors note: GetDPI also runs some of the best photographic workshops in the world. They have one spot remaining in their upcoming Salton Sea workshop starting Feb 28.

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By Jack Flesher of GetDPI.com

Thanks to our good friends at Capture Integration, I was able to borrow their Cambo W-RS tech camera with a Rodenstock Digiron HR lens mounted in a Cambo TS lensmount for a quick field test.

Some background. I have avoided investing in a tech camera kit since one of the main features I wanted was separate tilts and swings up front with rise, fall and shifts at the back, and only recently has that option become (readily) available. Sinar released the Arctech about a year ago, and to date I have not been able to even look at one, though I understand there are a few floating around. Arca recently introduced their RM3D tech camera that incorporates a front standard tilt with rear rise/fall and shifts, all while using a dedicated focusing helical on the camera for all lenses. Without going into laborious detail, both of the aforementioned solutions will accomodate my desires, but if I understand their operation correctly, require some added camera gymnastics to get a combination of swing, tilt, rise and focus at the same time. For me, that trio is an often desired combination of movements when photographing three-dimensional subjects with broad near-far subject distances. Which brings me to the main feature that intrigued me about Cambo’s TS lensmount solution — it allows separate tilt and swing adjustments up front on the lens axis while allowing rise, fall and shifts at the rear. (There are a few excellent view camera choices which offer all of these movements, even independently at both ends, which is an obvious advantage for precise adjustments. However a view camera makes for a significantly larger package to transport, is more complicated to set up and use, and is virtually impossible to use hand-held, so I leave them out of the tech camera discussion.)

So armed with the Cambo and 40 HR, I mounted my P65+ back and set out to photograph a decent test subject. In this case, an old passenger train car. I’m going to get straight to picture examples showing results, and leave out all the preparatory discussion on how to use a tech or view camera. While the how-to portion is a worthwhile discussion, it’s lengthy, and most folks considering a tech camera purchase will already know the basics of working them. For those of you who don’t, you’ll hopefully at least be able to see why a camera with movements is worth considering.

Click on the images below to view at 100%.

Here’s the “normal” shot. For this one, the Cambo is leveled and zeroed, meaning no movements of any kind have been made:

The first problem we note is my shadow is in the image, which is an absolute no-no. So the first movement I make is rise, or back fall. Here I used 5mm rise, and note it has the effect of moving the camera to a shooting position several feet higher — note that the camera has not moved at all, the only adjustment is 5mm of rise:

Note that my shadow is gone, and I have more room over the train car, all good things. The three red squares indicate where I’ll be pulling crops from. The far left is the “near” subject point, the center is the “focus” point and the far right is the “far” subject point. Our goal is to get all of them into acceptable focus. I shot all of these frame at f10 as that is near the ideal performance aperture for the lens before diffraction starts deteriorating the fine detail. Here are the crops from the frame with no tilts or swings and only the 5mm rise:

First the focus area, and as you can see we have good focus:

Next the far end, and you can see we are well out of focus, having run out of DoF:

Finally the near end — and note it is in good focus as well. This is because it happens to lie in the same plane as my main focus area:

Next let’s take a look at what happens when I add one degree of swing toward the train car. (Note that from years of experience of shooting Large Format view cameras and tilt-shift lenses, I have a pretty good idea how much tilt or or swing I am likely to need to solve most problems, so I had a good idea where to start for this one.) Anyway, as you can see, focus has clearly improved over the frame above, though still a bit soft for my tastes:

Now for the near zone. Unfortunately our swing has moved the plane of focus closer to the camera at this side of the frame and now our near end is seriously out of focus:

Here is where the “magic” of having tilts and swings comes into play. Let’s take a look at what happens to the image when I now add one degree of forward tilt while keeping the one degree of swing.

First the far end. Wow, pretty darn sharp!:

But what about our near end? Well, presto, it popped back significantly too. Not perfect, but all-in-all a very good compromise IMO:

Note that I also took a set using 1/2 degree of tilt and 1/2 degree of swing. This combination ended up favoring the near end slightly at the expense of a slightly softer far end, for roughly the same final result. I opted for this version as it worked best for the entire side of the car, keeping critically sharp along it’s entire length, which I felt was the more important subject. As with most things, there are compromises, and it’s physically impossible to render all points on a three-dimensional subject in perfect focus on a two-dimensional sensor. But at least with some minor camera movements, we can get a lot closer than we can without them.

Here is a shot of the tilt/swing side of the Cambo, taken when the settings were at the 1/2 degree points:

Here’s a closer shot of the scale at the 1 degree marks:

Here’s the rise/fall side of the Cambo showing my 5mm of rear fall:

Tip: If you shoot a tech or view camera, you will probably want some type of hand-held meter and some kind of viewing device or optical finder. Sure you can guess the exposure, then use the histo on your back to get it nailed, but we usually want to get closer to start. You can pay upwards of $500 for a good spot meter, then spend another 20 hours really learning how to use it properly, and you can also pay several hundred dollars for a good viewfinder with masks for your lens focal lengths — and I do own both. Or alternatively, you can do what I did for these images — carry a small digital camera and use it as both a meter and a finder! In this case, I used my GF1. For my P65+ I divide the mounted focal by three to get the GF1 focal — in this case the 40 needs a 13mm on the GF1, so the wide end of my 14-45 was near perfect. By pointing the GF1 at the train with the lens set at 14mm, I was quickly able to determine the ideal position for the tripod with the tech camera, as well as the proper direction to point it. Next we have exposure. Really easy, just set the GF1 to ISO 100 and using Av mode with the appropriate aperture plus a one stop correction for the P65+ being at ISO 50 and we’re done! To wit, the very first frame I took with the Cambo was the frame I used above with my shadow in it — I was that close out of the gate! If you use a DSLR, you could also use the lens distance scale to help judge the focus setting for your tech lens, but that’s a much heavier and larger solution. In the case above I just estimated my desired focus distance figuring my desired focus point on the train was about 5 meters away. So I just set the Digiron’s scale to 5 M and fired, hitting it right on.

Conclusion. I like this camera a lot. A whole lot. It is easy and intuitive to use and relatively compact and thus easy to transport. Plus it’s fast to set up and adjust. And I really like that Rodenstock Digiron HR! It is stunningly crisp to the corners of my P65+ frame, which is a tough oder to fill for any lens. I suspect the 70 is equally as good as this 40, and my preferred trio would be those and a 135 in the TS mounts.

So is there any bad news? Yes, at least for me, and that’s the groundglass. Estimation in the field is fine when distances are long, as you rarely need more than a degree or two of tilts with an 80mm lens, or half that with a 40 and twice that with a 150. But when distances get closer and lenses get shorter, movements and focus becomes far more critical and even minute changes can impart a significant change in the image. Thus for critical work, I absolutely need to be able to compose on a ground glass. To use a GG on the Cambo W RS, you need to remove the digital back and mount the GG. Once you have composed, you remove the GG and remount your digital back. I have an aversion to mounting and unmounting a digital back in the field, especially in cold or wet conditions when I am likely wearing gloves. A dropped back during that transfer seems a likely accident waiting to happen, and that will be an expensive accident when it does happen.

Here is where the aforementioned Sinar and Arca tech cameras have an advantage — both have sliding backs available as options. Here you mount your back and the GG on a slide which you simply move to position back or GG behind the camera. When the GG is in viewing mode, the back is protected by a cover on the slide. Very cool. But it also adds weight, and size and cost, and all of a sudden your compact tech camera isn’t so compact.

On the upside, for my uses in the field I think I can get away with estimation probably 80% of the time. For critical work, I’ll usually be in the studio where swapping out GG’s and backs is less of a hazard, so maybe I could live with the Cambo GG arrangement — but it sure would be nice to have a sliding back option… I think I’d really like to test drive the Arca with it’s sliding back and the same 40 Digiron before I make my investment — switching platforms is expensive — but the Cambo is definitely a compelling solution as it sits.

An added note on the Cambo leveling/pan base. If you look at the last image above, you can see the base under the camera. It is a very elegant affair, quite compact for what it does, and also extremely rigid. The base has three leveling screws, two situated at the rear to the sides, and one up front on axis. To level it, you simply dial one of the rear knobs to get side-side (roll) level. Then you either adjust the front knob or move both rear knobs the same direction to get fore-aft (pitch) level. And you’re done, easy. The head pans about the lensplate axis, which I assume is going to be very close to nodal for most of the lenses you’d mount. FInally, it is topped off with a degree wheel for reference and even has a set of adjustable click-stop indents you can set for 15, 30 or 180 degree intervals.

Here’s a closer shot of the base showing the two rear adjusting wheels and the three-position click-stop selector. Note that I have a generic Arca-style plate mounted to the bottom so I could more easily mount it to my existing Cube. And obviously, if you already have a head like the Cube, this leveling base is somewhat superfluous. But if not, this is a good option for this tech body:

Join the discussion: http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13238

At the top of the Arca Swiss Cube is a quick release for the nearly universal Arca Swiss quick release system. Quick Release plates from Arca Swiss itself are always the same width, but third parties may use the phrase “Arca Swiss compatible” even though their plates are slightly wider or narrower. To allow for this variation in size the cube has an adjustable screw which widens or narrows the quick release.

If you over-loosen the quick release the “jaw” will pop off and the springs/washer/net may go flying. So first: try not to do that!

However, if you do have this happen to you we have written this article to make it easier for you to reassemble the quick release.

The final working assembly

From left to right: the nut, washers*, springs, jaw, release lever.
*there are three washers – in this picture you can’t see the second washer under the first.

With all the above pieces removed…

1) place the nut and washers in the small hole in the middle of the cube as shown below

2) place the two springs in their respective holes on the side of the cube

The cube will now look like this:

3) push and hold the jaw onto the side of the cube – the springs are quite strong and it’s helpful (but not necessary) to have someone hold the jaw in place using one finger on top of each of the two springs.

4) push the screw of the release lever through the hole and thread the three washers and nut – you may need to use a small screwdriver (or a bit of trial and error and shaking) to get the screw of the release lever to thread the three washers and nut.

5) tighten the final assembly using the nut

Formatting CF cards for use in Leaf Digital Backs on a Mac computer running OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard requires that you Select Options > Master Boot Record under the formatting options in the Disk Utility.

For full instructions download and read this Leaf Support PDF.

It is not unusual for cameras to not support new generation cards right away. What makes this worth a blog entry and your attention is that the NAME of the card was not changed, so digital techs and photographers who have come to rely on the Extreme III series for reasonably priced, well performing, and reliable cards for Phase One backs need to note the subtle difference in the design of the card. The new cards have “30MB/sec” written on them.

Right now version 4.8 firmware is only available for the P40+ and P65+ although a release of 4.8 for other P+ backs is under development.

Below is an image of both versions of these cards in 4gb capacities:

• LEFT: the classic Extreme III 4.0gb card which works with all Phase One P+ backs.
• RIGHT: the new Extreme III 4.0gb card with the 30mb/sec tagline which will only work with P+ backs with 4.8 firmware or higher (currently only P40+ and P65+).

The only significant change in this version is a bug-fix for a rare error involving LCCs applied to EIP files.

As of today we recommend you only download/install the update if you use or might use LCCs in conjunction with EIP files. We will investigate further to see if there are any other benefits.

If you do update we recommend, as we always do, to completely uninstall the previous version of the software prior to installing the new version (instructions on uninstalling Capture One).

If you are still using version 3.7.X we strongly suggest that you upgrade to version 5.0.1 which Capture Integration endorses as being a fast, powerful, high-quality, and most importantly, stable version.

However, in an effort to support customers who purchased Capture One 3.X and do not wish to upgrade to version 5 Phase One has released 3.7.X. There are no other changes to the software other than to eliminate this Y2K10 problem.

Download Capture One 3.7.9 for Windows.

Note that this applies to the Pro and DB versions of Capture One only. There is no fix for the LE version so LE users need to upgrade to version 5.

More Information on why you would want to set the camera this way.

On just about every camera this requires changing a custom function or two. Soon owners of P40+ and P65+ digital backs will be able to set the custom functions of a DF body using the digital back’s LCD. Until then here is way to set this configuration using the DF Body.

Summary

Set CF#12 to Option 1
Set CF#9  to Option 1
Set CF#10 to Option 2

Step-by-step

1) Rotate your Mode dial to “CF” to access the custom function list.

2) Under CF#00 rotate the thumb dial to select Custom Function Set A. This allows you to make changes from the defaults which will be stored in Set A. This also allows you to set up three different custom function sets (e.g. for three styles of shooting or for three different photographers sharing a camera) and also allows you to always return to the default settings (by selecting — instead of A B or C) without having to “reset” the camera.

3) Rotate the front finger dial to function #12 and then the thumb dial to set custom function #12 to option 1. This sets the AF-L button to be an AF-On button so instead of locking focus it engages the AF engine.

4) Rotate the front finger dial to function #9 and then the thumb dial to set custom function #9 to option 1. This switches the AEL (normally on the rear) and AFL (normally on the front) so that now the rear button engages Autofocus.

5) Rotate the front finger dial to function #10 and then the thumb dial to set custom function #10 to option 2. This removes autofocus from the shutter release.