Capture One 6.3, CI Certified

September 15, 2011 | Capture One, Tech, Tech Features

As usual we have been testing the latest version of Capture One on a variety of Mac machines under both 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and 10.7 (Lion). We test Phase, Leaf, Mamiya, and Canon tethering. We do extensive LCC testing and work with large sessions.

In this case we are happy to report that Capture One 6.3 has passed all of our testing with flying colors. Nothing is perfect, but we have found 6.3 to be rock solid, very fast, and otherwise very polished.

For customers with 10.6 or 10.7 we strongly recommend Capture One 6.3.

The usual caveats apply. See the bottom of the original Capture One 6.3 Release blog post for those caveats.

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Capture One 6.3, Lion Supported

September 7, 2011 | Capture One, Tech, Tech Features

Update: We have now tested Capture One 6.3 for enough time to draw a strong conclusion. Read More.

Capture One 6.3 is now available for download at phaseone.com. If you are upgrading from version 3, 4, or 5 please see our article on Saving 10% on Capture One Pro.

Lion (OSX 10.7) Compatibility

• Lion Style Fullscreen (when using Lion)
• Lion Style Scrollbars (when using Lion)
• OpenCL supported in Lion
• Keyboard Shortcuts now works
• Importer no longer crashes
• Several minor artifacts/issues in Lion

General Enhancements

• Improved Wide-Angle Tech Camera LCC algorithms
• Schneider 150mm LS lens added to Lens Correction

Camera Specific Improvements

• Enhanced support for Samsung NX10 and NX11
• Improved noise defaults for IQ180
• Improved noise defaults for Olympus ZX-1
• Improved default colors for Fuji X100
• Support for Olympus E-P3 and E-PL3
• Preliminary support for Sony NEX-7, NEX-5N, SLT-A77, SLTA65

Bugfixes

Editorial Comments

We believe professional photographers should continue to hold off on adopting Lion as the OS on their production computers (especially if they tether). New Mac OS releases always contain significant bugs (often affecting Capture One users). These bugs often persist for a few months after release. While we have been running release candidates of 6.3 with few, if any, glitches we’d encourage caution when changing your OS. It is easy to consider it “just another upgrade” – you should not; it is a major and fundamental change to the software on your computer.

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 critical software or their 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. We recommend SuperDuper.
5. The user has the time to do a clean install. This means removing the previous version before installing the new version in the case of a software update. For an OS that means doing a erase+install.

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IQ Firmware: Live Preview & More

July 28, 2011 | Tech, Tech Features, Top Articles

Firmware 1.33 Now Available

Phase One has released firmware 1.33 for the Phase One IQ series (Phase One IQ180, Phase One IQ160, and Phase One IQ140).

Compared to firmware version 1.19 this firmware offers the following improvements:

• Live View is now available on the IQ display
• IIQ Small file format is now available
• New Specific camera mode for Mamiya RZ PRO IID
• General stability improvement

IIQ-Small

IIQ Small (IIQ-S) format is a lossy compressed format. It sacrifices a very small amount of image quality in exchange for a much smaller raw file. It does not change the resolution of the system and can be used in either full-resolution mode or Sensor+ mode. Those seeking the absolute highest image quality will still want to use IIQ Large (IIQ-L) format, which compresses the raw without any loss of quality. However, the IIQ-S algorithm has been greatly improved from the algorithm used in the P+ series, opening the door for photographers and applications where a very minor loss of quality (producing files still far beyond that of almost any other camera system) is acceptable in exchange for increased speed and reduced storage needs.

Live View

The Phase One IQ series is the first digital back in the world to offer Live Preview on the LCD of the back without the need to tether. It’s important to note that the Phase One IQ series uses a CCD sensor so the frame rate and range of acceptable lighting/contrast conditions is well below that of CMOS based dSLRs. However, in conjunction with variable ND filters to control the amount of light hitting the sensor Capture Integration is hopeful that the Live View will offer an extremely useful tool for the composition and focusing of technical cameras such as the Arca Swiss RM3D and Cambo Wide RS. We will be performing extensive tests.

Download Links

• Phase One White Paper on Live Preview
• Download Firmware 1.33

Install Instructions

Update should be performed with the digital back disconnected from the camera, and without FireWire or USB connected. Also make sure you have a fully charged battery in the IQ back.

• Download the latest IQ Firmware from the link above,
• Transfer the .fwr file to an empty compact flash card and insert it into the IQ’s compact flash card slot.
• Select “Update Firmware” from the Firmware menu and the IQ back will automatically detect and implementthe update from the card.
• After upgrade the digital back will have to be rebooted, a full reboot is performed by removing the battery from the IQ back, and reinserting it.
• After rebooting select [Menu > Restore Defaults] to ensure the back is on default settings.

Note: If you have any issues with the update, the “Restore Firmware” option will revert to the factory installed firmware version. If you experience errors you can use the menu “Dump Log” to transfer Log information to the CompactFlash card – this log file you can use to send to support for further analysis

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Firmware 5.2.2 for P40+ and P65+

July 22, 2011 | Tech, Tech Features

Firmware 5.2.2 has been released for Phase One P 65+ and P 40+ digital backs. It solves an issue where the digital back would not reconnect when the FireWire cable had been disconnected. As noted in our blog entry about this issue this was particularly noticed when using computers with FW800 ports since FW800 cables are more prone to being pulled out of their port on the computer than a FW400 cables.

We strongly recommend this update for all users of Phase One P40+ and Phase One P65+ backs. Capture Integration has tested this update on P40+ and P65+ units in our rental inventory and found it to greatly improve the speed and ease with which the back could be reconnected after the cable was disconnected.

Capture Integration is also very encouraged that Phase One has shown loyalty to it’s customers in addressing this issue caused by Apple’s change in the firewire spec on a product even though the Phase One IQ Series is now the focus of it’s development.

You can download the firmware updater and read the install instructions at phaseone.com.

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Capture Pilot Adds Camera Control

June 30, 2011 | Capture One, Tech, Tech Features

Capture Pilot 1.2 Released

• Camera Control
• Improved Server List
• General minor performance/stability improvements

Now Control Your Camera from the iPad/iPhone

Just two months ago Capture One 6.2 added additional control of Canon and Nikon cameras. In addition to the existing tethering capabilities and ability to trigger the shutter from the software the user can now control Shutter Speed & Aperture. This is great for a variety of niche workflows, and for the huge market of digital techs who are assisting an otherwise busy photographer during a shoot.

Now Phase One has gone further, integrating this camera control (Phase One, Mamiya, Nikon, Canon) into Capture Pilot, their iPhone and iPad App. In an update released today  this control will be provided as an in-app purchase of $14.99.

Download / Install

If you already have Capture Pilot simply check the App Store’s “Updates” tab. If you’re downloading for the first time visit the App Store on your iPhone/iPad and search for “Capture Pilot” or download through iTunes and then sync your device.

Best Practices

In addition to the instructions provided in the official documentation, Capture Integration has compiled a list of Best Practices for Capture Pilot to ensure a smooth, fast, easy, and stable connection. For instance if Bluetooth is turned on the connection will be terrible as Bluetooth interferes with the WiFi connection.

Screen Shots

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Self Timer for Capture One

June 28, 2011 | Capture One, Tech, Tech Features

The Need for a Self Timer

Tethered shooters will know that Capture One can trigger the camera from the computer. However, in some specific situations you may wish to trigger the camera from the computer with a delay. This would allow you to, for instance, hold your own reflector/light when shooting still life solo.

Capture Integration Has Done All the Work

Capture One does not feature a self timer, but if you’re an Apple user you can make one very easily. The solution is a VERY simple AppleScript. AppleScript is allows the user to write a sort of mini program. It can be extremely complex and daunting if you want to do something very complicated. However, all we need it to do is tell the computer to wait for a few seconds and then simulate the keyboard shortcut Command-K. This sort of simple need is very easy to do in AppleScript, even if you have no experience with programming. But don’t worry we’ve done all the work for you! Just fill out the form below and follow the instructions to install the AppleScript on your computer.

Usage

Download and Install Instructions

Complete the below form to receive the download link and install instructions.

Continue reading Self Timer for Capture One…

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Hyperdrive Colorspace UDMA Review

June 15, 2011 | Guests, Tech, Tech Features

- Video in this blog entry provided by Mark Esposito

One of our wonderful customers was kind enough to post a video review of the Hyperdrive Colorspace. This device allows him to download the CF card from his Phase One P+ digital back and visually confirm the images have been downloaded. This provides him a backup of the images when traveling without a laptop.

A few notes for clarity:

• Only the file extension .TIF is supported. Read this note about .IIQ vs .TIF file extension for clarity and how to change this on your back.
• This is likely not compatible with the IQ series (due to requiring a .TIF file extension)
• The lines you see on the LCD are a result of the way the video was captured.
• You can only view the embedded preview, not the raw file. So no zooming in on the image to e.g. check focus.
• The histogram is based on the embedded preview, not the raw data and may vary from the P1 histogram on the P+ LCD.

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The Wisdom of Waiting – Media Pro

May 10, 2011 | Tech, Tech Features

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, Capture One 6, or this new Phase One Media Pro 1.0.0.

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 and Media Pro Updates

Capture Integration is constantly testing new releases of Capture One and Media Pro 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

Buy at 10% Off

Assuming you’ve read the above you can Buy Phase One Media Pro at 10% off from Capture Integration using the Phaseone.com website.

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Phase One Media Pro Videos

May 10, 2011 | Tech, Tech Features

Update: These videos, and more, are now available at our main Phase One Media Pro product page. Including the option to Buy Phase One Media Pro at 10% Off.

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Phase One Media Pro – Capture One Integration

 

Phase One Media Pro – Capabilities

 

Phase One Media Pro – Metadata Swap Compatibility

 

Phase One Media Pro – Image Rendering Integration w/ Capture One

 

Phase One Media Pro – Media Pro Improvements

 

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Phase One Media Pro – Our View

May 10, 2011 | Tech, Tech Features

Phase One Media Pro Released

Today Phase One announced the release of Phase One Media Pro. We thought our customers would appreciate a little elaboration from our point of view.

Buy Capture One 10% Off

Capture Integration is proud to offer Phase One Media Pro at 10% off

The Executive Summary

Capture One: Manages a Particular Session at a time. Great tethering workflow. Fantastic raw-processing quality.
Media Pro: Manages a Catalog of All your Images. Great tools for mass-metadata entry.

Backstory

Phase One, based in Denmark, released its raw workflow program Capture One* in 1998, nearly a decade before the release of Adobe LightRoom or Apple Aperture. Originally it only processed raw files from Phase One digital backs. But after developing the patented algorithms for processing raw files Phase One opened Capture One to processing raw files from 35mm dSLRs. This early lead in creating and refining the math and techniques for raw processing has paid dividends in image quality. Capture One has been widely regarded as producing the leading image quality (color, detail, noise, transitions, lens correction). See a recent comparison to LightRoom.
Read More about Phase One Media Pro

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Phase One Media Pro Press Release

May 10, 2011 | News, Tech, Tech Features

Below is the Press Release – See Capture Integration’s view of Phase One Media Pro or Buy Phase One Media Pro at 10% off.

Copenhagen, May 10, 2011

Announcing Phase One Media Pro

Phase One, the world’s leading pro photography equipment provider, today released Media Pro. Originally created by iView Multimedia, this professional digital asset management software has recently been known as Microsoft Expression Media. In its first release since Phase One’s acquisition of the product from Microsoft last year, it has been re-christened Media Pro.
Media Pro is a professional photo manager built for photographic, video and multimedia collection management. Media Pro offers a flexible and intuitive way to catalog, organize, and utilize digital media assets.
Its strength is in organizing photo files, no matter where they are stored — on shared folders, CDs, hard drives, DVDs or other media. It’s an application comprising visual catalogs which can be easily and quickly browsed, searched, and annotated.
Images within these very large catalogs (Media Pro now supports more than 128,000 files per catalog) may be non-destructively edited with Capture One and other image editing applications. They may also be converted into other file formats. And all catalogs may be archived, backed up, published via slide shows, web galleries, and distributed via email, contact sheets, prints, and other custom options.
Read the rest of the press release for Phase One Media Pro

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Not Recommending C1 6.2

May 2, 2011 | Capture One, Tech, Tech Features

Update: Limited to many-core Mac Pros

The crashing and freezing problems we reported below from our testing of Capture One Pro 6.2 seem to be limited to Mac Pros with 8 or 12 cores. Phase One is aware of an issue effecting certain Mac Pro models and is working very hard to release a new version which corrects this issue. Until then we advise users with Mac Pros to continue using 6.1.1. Other users (not using Mac Pros) should feel free to update to 6.2 as the problems we reported should not effect you.

It should be noted that Phase One was extremely responsive to our emails that we were experiencing issues. They were right on top of things and very eager to help us identify the source of the issues we were having so they could be fixed ASAP.

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Crashes & Freezes

At this time Capture Integration is not recommending it’s customer upgrade to Capture One 6.2. We have experienced a variety of crashing/freezing problems on three different computers along with several user calls. None of the issues we’ve experience have been dire, but crashes cost time and cause lots of stress, especially during photo shoots. It’s very possible these issues are related and limited to our specific setups (or even user error or hardware failures) so we will continue testing and if we can isolate the cause to something unusual/specific about our setups we will update this recommendation. Otherwise, please plan on skipping version 6.2 and waiting for 6.2.1. [Please note if you are reading this that the Update at the top of this page specifies that these issues are limited to Mac Pro users].

If you’ve already installed 6.2 and are experiencing problems we recommend Uninstalling Capture One 6.2 and reinstalling 6.1.1 from the Phase One Software Archive – it should take less than 10 minutes and does not affect any of your image adjustments, selects, or raw files.

Also note that we only test and comment on the Mac version of Capture One.

Our Philosophy on 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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