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Phase One IQ4 phone tethering / transfer feature?
- Thread starter onasj
- Start date
Mexecutioner
Well-known member
Will be IQ5 only....
Greg Haag
Well-known member
Rodrigo, have they given up on this for the IQ4?
Mexecutioner
Well-known member
I honestly don't know Greg, I was being facetious, but 2 years is more than enough time to deliver something they promised from day one. I am not a programmer, but it cannot be that hard, unless they made a hardware blunder that makes it impossible. They may have a hard time confessing that the $45K we spent on this back won't get us the features we signed up for. I don't get why, it worked perfectly on my IQ3100.
The long development cycle certainly has me worried. My guess is they bit off more than they could chew. While most users would be perfectly happy to just have Capture Pilot work as it always has, there certainly is potential for a lot more thanks to the powerful nature of the IQ4 platform that they always remind us of.
Instead of trying (and likely failing) to be everything to everyone, they should have started small and built from there. I.e come out with a basic app for remote control of the back, or a simple image browser.
I don’t want to oversimplify the development process or anything, but no phone app should take two years that doesn’t involve graphical engines and art creation (I.e games).
Instead of trying (and likely failing) to be everything to everyone, they should have started small and built from there. I.e come out with a basic app for remote control of the back, or a simple image browser.
I don’t want to oversimplify the development process or anything, but no phone app should take two years that doesn’t involve graphical engines and art creation (I.e games).
Mexecutioner
Well-known member
Same here
Paul Spinnler
Well-known member
The fact is back sales for "bespoke photography" aren't doing so well. It is a though environment - Fuji, mirrorless line-ups, C-19. You move backs easier in industrial and repro. Like Vatican buying 8 backs at the same time, etc. The other day the P1 sales rep called me asking if there's anything I need. I laughed - not gonna by an achromatic at list. Lol.
If I was a software engineer you also might want to do cooler things than a "capture pilot" - ie work on C1, which really credentializes you as a software engineer and opens up paths to Adobe - better pay, US, stock - or a lateral move into the hip areas of software, ie AI, visual recognition, crypto with a recognised player.
Engineers might have quit, etc. which makes ramp-up time for new ones high. On top they are working on automated LCC correction, I understand, for XT.
So in the end - as evidenced by the low amount of people on LuLa and here - there's not many people buying P1 gear anymore I think. Surely less of a hype now amongst photographers than a few years back.
If I was a software engineer you also might want to do cooler things than a "capture pilot" - ie work on C1, which really credentializes you as a software engineer and opens up paths to Adobe - better pay, US, stock - or a lateral move into the hip areas of software, ie AI, visual recognition, crypto with a recognised player.
Engineers might have quit, etc. which makes ramp-up time for new ones high. On top they are working on automated LCC correction, I understand, for XT.
So in the end - as evidenced by the low amount of people on LuLa and here - there's not many people buying P1 gear anymore I think. Surely less of a hype now amongst photographers than a few years back.
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Paul Spinnler
Well-known member
I think they just don't have the resources. Probably team changes and lack of resources given focus on industrial / repro and prosumer photography. This is private equity owned. There's a directive to invest where the highest returns are - these are with C1 for the broader market at the moment. I mean this is the foremost forum for digital MF and there's barely activity. Lula is dead. It will come, I am sure, but we can only speculate what happened. It makes them more money to make sure the Fuji camera plays nice with C1 than to make some hobbyists in forums happy by pushing out another free firmware upgrade.
I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but C1 and P1 are no longer the same company. Although I am sure they obviously still work closely on many things, any app development for the IQ4 would be by P1 team, not C1 team.
Although as I think about this, since IQ4 "has Capture One Inside!" as they like to constantly remind us, I realize that the relationship must be complex. Even if they are different companies, if P1 is relying on C1 team/company for resources to work on IQ4 implementation of C1 and/or iOS/android app development for IQ4, then you are ultimately correct and they are likely prioritizing the lucrative Sony/Fuji/Nikon/Leica user base of C1 as that is obviously a bigger share of the market.
Unfortunately, the more they ignore apps like this, the further they will alienate what is left of their high end commercial user base as well, which will do nothing but continue to feed their decline.
buildbot
Well-known member
It’ll likely coincide with Capture O
Based on the amount of emails/interesting products from Phase One Industrial, they are concentrating more heavily on their drone and aerial business right now indeed. Anyone want to build a DIY medium format version of a sigma FP? https://geospatial.phaseone.com/cameras/ixm-rs150f
Somewhat in jest, perhaps they should be a bit more creative, and find a photographer+programmer and just gift them a IQ4 150 as payment for a working mobile app or something. (I'd do it!) Actually the easiest solution would be to open source/publish some specs for at least interfacing wirelessly with the back, and let others create for them.
Based on the amount of emails/interesting products from Phase One Industrial, they are concentrating more heavily on their drone and aerial business right now indeed. Anyone want to build a DIY medium format version of a sigma FP? https://geospatial.phaseone.com/cameras/ixm-rs150f
This is a screenshot from my dealer’s press release from November 26th of last year for Feature Release #8. I think nearly five months is pushing the limits of what one may call “soon”, so hopefully there will be more information, umm.... soon.
I really hope that their emphasis on the possibilities of the XT platform in that press release doesn’t mean that there will be functionality that is unnecessarily exclusive to the XT. Given the behavior of some of the latest Feature Updates I fear they may leave us “regular” tech cam users out in the cold to try and drive users to the XT.
I really hope that their emphasis on the possibilities of the XT platform in that press release doesn’t mean that there will be functionality that is unnecessarily exclusive to the XT. Given the behavior of some of the latest Feature Updates I fear they may leave us “regular” tech cam users out in the cold to try and drive users to the XT.
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Massive Si
Active member
There was already an SDK (called Capture Core I think) - but it cost $3000 USD a year to access it, and I dont know what backs it supports (or even if its still available)
I was interested in developing an android app to access my IQ350 but not for $3000
I was interested in developing an android app to access my IQ350 but not for $3000
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Paul Spinnler
Well-known member
After the new PE owners took over the split the businesses up and looked into how to optimise the cost base of each and make sure everything has the right costs attached to it. This happened last year. Cutting unnecessary inventory with sales reps, re-working pricing across lenses and XT to make sure all margins are the same - this is why we saw price hikes. The hardware business got re-focused on repro, industrial because the bigger price tickets - ie sell expensive stuff to miliatary and corporates and museums; taking away capital from the core photo business which is less and less attractive.
C1 was separated because - well, software eats the world. It is far better to go fully mainstream and open up C1 as competitor to Adobe's software suite. Huge opportunity. Far greater than the 3-4k backs they sell p.a. Adobe has 10m Lightroom subscribers and 90% market share. C1 can break in, but not DXO, which is why they positioned their pro-Raw stuff ahead of the chain and not alternative to Lightroom et al.
I think the glorious days of MF are over, tbh. Hassy made a super smart move with the X1d series. In terms of MF gear Fuji sells 10k+, then comes Hassy X1, then Phase, then Leica S with maybe 1k - at least that's my understanding.
Best thing for Phase would be to aim for a 10k plus unit sub 10kUSD mirrorless system compatible with XT, XF.
Massive Si
Active member
and support for Hasselblad raw
Still leaves me scratching my head that P1 has an industrial back that uses the GFX100 sensor but they chose to exit the 33x44mm market, and no one else has stepped up with a back that uses this sensor to date....seems like a niche in the MF world with room to grow for tech cam users or folks that want 100mp BSI medium format but don't want a GFX or to spend the $$ on a P1.
It's curious following the IQ4 story. I don't have a horse in this race, but objectively speaking, it looks like they either released the back before it was really ready or got overzealous in their marketing. Seems like most people are happy enough with the IQ4, at least the image quality, but the mobile app it seems like they've been saying "soon" for two years....even some of the potential of the platform, like auto-LCC with C1 inside on the XT, isn't there [yet]. Does kinda make you wonder what their priorities are and where their business model is heading.
Thanks for the insight. You are obviously way more familiar with the situation than I am!
If I was running Phase One right now, I think a 907x-like product (with an EVF perhaps) that could leverage existing backs coupled with a new lens lineup, and an eventual self contained mirrorless body with an EVF that also works with those lenses would be a step in the right direction. They seem to be abandoning 44x33 so a "full frame" sensor would be a unique offering in the mirrorless, but would almost assuredly price the system out of the $10k range.
Since I'm running Phase One, my iOS application will allow a phone to fully control all IQ4 and XF functions, behave as a "navigator" when using an external HDMI monitor, and allow entering of shift and lens metadata when using non-XT tech cams. It will also interface with X shutter lenses via a power/control dongle so they can be used with non-IQ4 backs and/or film (a man can dream). When running on a tablet such as an iPad Pro, some image editing functionality will be exposed, maybe even as far as running the M1 version of Capture One once it is ready? Lots of possibilities...