XF Feature Update 2, Capture One 9.1

[aztwang]

As of Today 3/18 new firmware out. XF 2.01.2 , IQ250 4.01.2 and there's one out for IQ 160 & 180

Cheers


Don

 

[DougDolde]

As of Today 3/18 new firmware out. XF 2.01.2 , IQ250 4.01.2 and there's one out for IQ 160 & 180

Cheers
Don

Oh great they released it too soon

 

[Wayne Fox]

Wayne

I just checked again, I focussed with the af to the close point, don't think this matters, flipped across to the stacking screen and saved that point as start point, then half press shutter to get back to main screen, used af to focus on far point, flipped back across to the stacking screen and set that point as the far point, selected the number of shots and pressed the rear button to start the process. Does that not work for you?

Mat

nope. I also disabled the focus function on the rear button as mentioned by ken, still doesn’t work. then I reset the camera to defaults thinking some other setting I’m using may be causing the problem. No difference.

If I autofocus on a point, then flip over to the screen (why should I have flip back and forth between screens?), setting one of the buttons just puts a 0 in the box. The current motor position setting shows a question mark. Touching the question mark homes the lens and then moves it to an arbitrary position. If I then flip back and autofocus, then back to the tool, the motor position again shows a question mark. clicking either button simply enters a 0 as the focus point. I’ve been trying everything I can think of for a while now, and nothing works to use autofocus to set the points.

Edit: I just installed the new firmware mentioned above, no change. Interesting the release an update one day later and don’t bother mentioning why.

 

[Patrick Collard]

I work for a corporate studio and we just took delivery of three new XF systems. Is there a way to look thru the camera without it being turned on? It is a real pain to keep the camera powered on while I prop out a set and check composition. The batteries seem to drain very fast. Would using the "Simple" mode described earlier help save the battery?

Thanks,
Patrick

 

[GrahamWelland]

You can set the power management option for the mirror to be down and not perform MUP on power off.

 

[dougpeterson]

I work for a corporate studio and we just took delivery of three new XF systems. Is there a way to look thru the camera without it being turned on? It is a real pain to keep the camera powered on while I prop out a set and check composition. The batteries seem to drain very fast. Would using the "Simple" mode described earlier help save the battery?

If you're in a still life or product setting you can also use the USB3/1.2BC spec or FW800, or the FW-AC options for power. Depending on which of these methods, which back you have, and what you're doing (eg little live view or lots of live view) this will either eliminate the need for battery changes or greatly reduce them. There is also an AC-to-XF solution coming soon.

 

[Christopher]

Or just use a USB battery pack

 

[Patrick Collard]

Thanks Doug and Christopher. I am using the XF and an IQ360 tethered to a Mac Pro using a firewire 800 to thunder bolt adapter. The battery still drains pretty fast. We also use the Manfrotto 410 geared head which will not allow us to change the battery on the back while it is mounted to the tripod. The problem with that is we shoot in layers using different exposures a lot and the battery will sometimes dye in the middle of the shoot. It then becomes very difficult to maintain registration when we remove the camera from the head to change the battery.

Is there any camera body that can be used with the IQ360 that doesn't need to be powered on to look thru the viewfinder (DF, DF+, Mamiya 645 AFD, or similar)? We are using the new Schneider 35mm, 55mm, 80mm and 120mm lenses (blue line). Our photographers are not using any of the new features on the XF. We set everything manually including focus like an old manual everything camera. We are coming from Hasselblad 501CM bodies.

I am trying to get my head wrapped around this new system. I'd like to get the camera interface simplified as much as possible so I can focus on the photography and no the camera. It can be so frustrating that we leave the expensive Phase One gear in the studio for location work and shoot our Canon gear instead (we have found it more reliable, not what Phase wants to hear I know). Your help is greatly appreciated.

Patrick

 

[GrahamWelland]

Is there any camera body that can be used with the IQ360 that doesn't need to be powered on to look thru the viewfinder (DF, DF+, Mamiya 645 AFD, or similar)? We are using the new Schneider 35mm, 55mm, 80mm and 120mm lenses (blue line). Our photographers are not using any of the new features on the XF. We set everything manually including focus like an old manual everything camera. We are coming from Hasselblad 501CM bodies.

...

Patrick

As I said earlier, you DON'T NEED TO HAVE POWER ON to view through the XF body if you set the option Power Management -> Mirror Down :facesmack:

 

[dougpeterson]

Thanks Doug and Christopher. I am using the XF and an IQ360 tethered to a Mac Pro using a firewire 800 to thunder bolt adapter. The battery still drains pretty fast. We also use the Manfrotto 410 geared head which will not allow us to change the battery on the back while it is mounted to the tripod. The problem with that is we shoot in layers using different exposures a lot and the battery will sometimes dye in the middle of the shoot. It then becomes very difficult to maintain registration when we remove the camera from the head to change the battery.

Is there any camera body that can be used with the IQ360 that doesn't need to be powered on to look thru the viewfinder (DF, DF+, Mamiya 645 AFD, or similar)? We are using the new Schneider 35mm, 55mm, 80mm and 120mm lenses (blue line). Our photographers are not using any of the new features on the XF. We set everything manually including focus like an old manual everything camera. We are coming from Hasselblad 501CM bodies.

I am trying to get my head wrapped around this new system. I'd like to get the camera interface simplified as much as possible so I can focus on the photography and no the camera. It can be so frustrating that we leave the expensive Phase One gear in the studio for location work and shoot our Canon gear instead (we have found it more reliable, not what Phase wants to hear I know). Your help is greatly appreciated.

Patrick

It sounds like you might benefit from some on-site consultation training with your dealer. If they don't offer such as service we'd be glad to offer you on-site consultation/training. Forums are great to answer the questions you know to ask (which I have answered below), but it's not great to find out what you don't know you don't know.

As Graham says the mirror behavior can be changed, but this is band-aid. You want a proper power solution. There are several that I outlined above.

If you're using the FW>Thunderbolt convertor then you aren't getting enough power to run/charge the back; the Thunderbolt convertor doesn't pass enough power to do so. Instead we would recommend (for a studio scenario) to use a Thunderbolt Hub which has a native FW power port which will provide sufficient power. Alternatively a FW-AC adapter with a USB cable would provide you slightly faster image transfer especially if you ever shoot in bursts. Please make sure you change the power management settings on the back to Slow Charge for FW and Fast charge for FW-AC.

As for instability... if you're having any instability with an XF and IQ3 you should work with your dealer to find and eliminate the source of that instability. That combo should be rock solid. Maybe user error like an errant setting (e.g. turning on zero latency on a body where that isn't correct), maybe bad accessories )like using an older battery you had from a previous back that isn't a 3400mAh battery or a bad cable), or corrupted firmware, or an errant setting or... of course without knowing what instability and without working with you on troubleshooting all I can do is speculate. I'd also avoid the thunderbolt>FW adapter; it's quite good but not as good as a native FW or USB option.

As for simplicity I'd suggest considering some or all of the following:
- Stripping all non-used icons out of C1's toolbar
- Removing all tools not used in C1's toolbar
- Consolidating tool tabes in C1 down to 5 or 6 tabs
- 2 monitor setup with browser only on 2nd monitor
- Removing the unused tools (e.g. timelapse) from the XF menu
- Switching the XF interface to the simple mode
- Removing AF from the shutter release
- Removing all functions from the additional two buttons
- Removing ISO from the third dial
- Saving all of the above as workspaces (C1) and Save>Settings (XF)
- Setting up a Session Template for your desired folder structure, naming, and output
- Switching to Profoto Air lights and use the XF's built-in Air Transmitter (less cables, batteries, connections to worry about)

 

[strok]

After updating both latest firmwares my IQ250 now has a vertical white strip line in left side of screen (live view only) (1px wide).

 

[gerald.d]

One of the neat basic features of the XF is that it has a TIMER!! (awesome feature), which all modern cameras should have, i.e. you can time a shot beyond 30".

A lot of timelaspe work, for at least astro shots, will be more like 2 minute shots or longer, so the wear on the shutter won't be that bad, but if you are wanting to create a timelaspe video from daylight work, then yes, you will put quite a lot of wear on the shutter, as most times these are a series of 5" or 10" shots over a long period of time.

For me, the 35mm DSLR or gopro even type cameras are better suited for timelaspe in daylight.

But for sure you can do it now, and since the daylight exposures most times are less than 10" all Phase One backs, CCD or CMOS could do this.

Great to see this added for sure.

Paul C

I've done multiple 24+ hour timelapses with the ALPA FPS, which I believe uses fundamentally the same shutter as the XF.

Never had a problem with it.

I'd strongly recommend people to use Phase One gear for timelapse work!

Personally, I'm looking forward to creating some 12K timelapses. Only the IQ3 100 can create those. Nothing else comes close.

Kind regards,

Gerald.

 

[DougDolde]

I've done multiple 24+ hour timelapses with the ALPA FPS, which I believe uses fundamentally the same shutter as the XF.

Never had a problem with it.

I'd strongly recommend people to use Phase One gear for timelapse work!

Personally, I'm looking forward to creating some 12K timelapses. Only the IQ3 100 can create those. Nothing else comes close.

Kind regards,

Gerald.

What good is a 12K time-lapse? What are you going to show it on? It would make more sense to use the IQ180 in Sensor Plus mode. You'd get a 5K file and the ability to show night sky. (Pats self on back for realizing I can do this now !)

 

[Patrick Collard]

Thanks Graham for the mirror tip. I will try it Monday when I get back in the studio. That will be a big help if I can look thru the camera without it being on.

Thanks Doug for all the suggestions.

A consultation with the dealer would be great but the company won't pay for it (I have to figure this out on my own). We would have to change 15+ Speedotron packs and 40+ heads so the Profoto stuff is out too. The PocketWizard stuff we use seems to work fine. If I can get the XF interface simplified and the power issue solved I can make the rest work.

As for the cables and power/tethering, is there one solution for Mac Pro and MacBook Pro? Neither of them have firewire. It is Thunderbolt or USB only. Do I buy those cables/adapters from you or another source?

 

[gerald.d]

What good is a 12K time-lapse? What are you going to show it on? It would make more sense to use the IQ180 in Sensor Plus mode. You'd get a 5K file and the ability to show night sky. (Pats self on back for realizing I can do this now !)

How does it make more sense?

 

[Wayne Fox]

I've done multiple 24+ hour timelapses with the ALPA FPS, which I believe uses fundamentally the same shutter as the XF.

Unless you have a LS lens ...

 

[Wayne Fox]

I uploaded a quick unlisted video to YouTube here https://youtu.be/-g9S-4gaIf0

which shows what I am interpreting from the descriptions I have read as the way to use autofocus along with the new focus stacking tool. Those of you who have been able to use autofocus with the tool, could you take a look and let me know if I’m missing some little thing, or if my camera just doesn’t seem to be operating the same way?

I’ve reset the camera to defaults to make sure it isn’t a setting I’ve changed, and I’ve tried this with 3 of my 4 lenses (40-80LS, 75-150 non LS, and 240LS).

thanks

 

[aztwang]

After updating both latest firmwares my IQ250 now has a vertical white strip line in left side of screen (live view only) (1px wide).

This is a known issue. Check with your dealer. Not sure if there is a fix yet.

 

[aztwang]

I uploaded a quick unlisted video to YouTube here https://youtu.be/-g9S-4gaIf0

which shows what I am interpreting from the descriptions I have read as the way to use autofocus along with the new focus stacking tool. Those of you who have been able to use autofocus with the tool, could you take a look and let me know if I’m missing some little thing, or if my camera just doesn’t seem to be operating the same way?

I’ve reset the camera to defaults to make sure it isn’t a setting I’ve changed, and I’ve tried this with 3 of my 4 lenses (40-80LS, 75-150 non LS, and 240LS).

thanks

I watched your video. Dumb Question....Did you watch Phase Ones Focus staking video? Follow those steps, at least I did and it works fine, first time I tried it it worked. You adjust focus with rear and front dials. Take a look ...again if you have seen it and try again.

Don

 

[GrahamWelland]

Impressed with the new firmware so far. They gave my iq150 the XF control menu and shutter/lens controls so I'm super happy! :thumbs:

No exposure heat map so phase one are still money grabbing b******ds as far as that side of functionality is concerned since they insist on supporting this only on iq2/3 series. :thumbdown: