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Another Phase One countdown on their website. What now?

Christopher

Active member
They are reading it, but reactions have been ,none existent‘.... the whole marketing stuff about the most powerful platform is the biggest joke ever.... I’m just glad I invested in Fuji as well, as the progress at phase one is like watching a dinosaur die...

What happened to XF firmware updates? I love the XF but there are so many thing they could I prove it... where are the IQ4 fixes? Where are the new features? When are the most simplistic bugs fixed in capture one? Where are the new XT lenses? Where is a XT roadmap? I could go on for a long time, but I’m not sure anyone at phase one gives a **** about their customers.... if I would work like they do I would be out of business very quickly.

It’s very sad to see a company I have been using and invested in heavily in the last 10 years go down that road.
 

darr

Well-known member
Darr,

I read Doug's comments a bit differently. He claims that the math in Capture One is the best, and I have yet to see better color conversion (where it exists), so I won't argue. B&W, I'm still undecided. Phase One and their product and firmware upgrades are, I believe, even more frustrating to the dealers than they are to us. We hold the dealers responsible, but they can't simply fix the problem. They DO yell and scream at the parent company (I'm extrapolating from Leica, where I know a lot more about the dealer/company relationships), but they can't make the firmware/upgrade/whatever suddenly appear.

Best,

Matt
Thanks Matt. As a past PO buyer, and as someone that will upgrade to a newer db in the future, reading the postings regarding PO’s lack of addressing their customers software needs has been disturbing. If they can develop their post processing software so well, why the lack of attention to their db software? It does not make good business sense!

Kind regards,
Darr
 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
Thanks Matt. As a past PO buyer, and as someone that will upgrade to a newer db in the future, reading the postings regarding PO’s lack of addressing their customers software needs has been disturbing. If they can develop their post processing software so well, why the lack of attention to their db software? It does not make good business sense!

Kind regards,
Darr
Just guessing here, but it sounds like a standard corporate restructuring screwup. They separate the C1 and DB teams in the org chart so far (like putting them in different companies) that they can't move a particularly strong trouble shooter from one project to the other. So there are, say, three strong people working on C1, and one harried programmer working on the DB firmware AND tethering AND who knows what else. Meanwhile, the tethering people on the C1 side aren't working closely with the DB guy, so you never get iPad compatibility.

Like I said, just guessing, and could be WAY wrong, but I've seen this scenario too many times for it to be unlikely. And certainly "they don't care about their customers" is the least likely explanation of all.

M
 

Jamgolf

Member
When I was deciding between XF and and H5X/H6X bodies, a big factor in my decision was firmware upgrades. Not long before that Phase One had pleasantly surprized IQ3-100 owners with an awesome firmware upgrade that included the *Electronic Shutter*. I assumed that with such a receptive hardware platform on the digital backs as well as XF, that such firmware upgrades would be the norm. Sadly nothing of any significant value has come out since then. What is the point of touting the upgradeability of a platform when there is no effort to actually provide features via firmware?

I sincerely hope that Phase One engineers/designers are working on projects more valueable than XT.

IQ3-100, Capture One and XF are products that I bought with open eyes and I do feel I made the right decision, however at the moment I dont see anything Phase One has announced or currently offering that I find even remotely tempting. May be the technology has reached a point where it is "good enough" and any further improvements are just academic. I hope I am wrong.
 

dj may

Well-known member
I am not a Phase One user, however, I am empathetic to their plight. The current owners of Phase One stated that their interest in acquiring the company was because of the software business. If that remains the priority, then it is not surprising that things move slowly on the hardware side. The management is probably focusing on how they will grow the software business and profit from the investment.

If this is the case, for current hardware owners it will probably get worse before it gets better.

At the moment, it appears that in the medium format camera market there are only two stable companies; a large multinational (Fujifilm) and a family-owned (Leica). It is apparent that they have differing objectives from each other, as well as Phase One.
 
Exactly.



Damn----even Dante has not given any snarky uplifting words of wisdom here. .... But, stuck here in the inferno---- give us something worthwhile to look forward to Phase One!
Well, there's always Leica. How's that M10 Monochrome working for you?

Patience, please. There will always be plenty to keep everyone entertained in the Inferno. This isn't the first (nor last) delay from Phase One. It will come.

--Dante
 

tcdeveau

Well-known member
It's pretty telling when a place like GetDPI (home to lovers of all things new and shiny) mocks a P1 countdown. No disrespect meant to any of the photographers whose work was showcased (great work!).

I'm sure dealers are frustrated too (they've even voiced frustration on GetDPI themselves), and I don't think I'd want to be in their shoes the way the IQ4 launch has gone so far.

Hope they get things back on track soon and it doesn't take another hardware release to get the IQ4 platform to where people want it to be.
 

Christopher

Active member
They are not even able to fix super simple things in Capture One. Tangent support with version 20 is still not fixed and I talked to people working at tangent and got tangent support... it’s freaking simple... a matter of minutes....


I am not a Phase One user, however, I am empathetic to their plight. The current owners of Phase One stated that their interest in acquiring the company was because of the software business. If that remains the priority, then it is not surprising that things move slowly on the hardware side. The management is probably focusing on how they will grow the software business and profit from the investment.

If this is the case, for current hardware owners it will probably get worse before it gets better.

At the moment, it appears that in the medium format camera market there are only two stable companies; a large multinational (Fujifilm) and a family-owned (Leica). It is apparent that they have differing objectives from each other, as well as Phase One.
 

Geoff

Well-known member
Just put in a support query on C1 12, and got it answered the next day. Something still works.
 

Massive Si

Active member
the one thing you dont want to feel, after dropping tens of thousands of $ on a product, is "I'm not their target customer"
plain and simple, this is the way I feel about Phase One and it will only change when one of us in the relationship makes a move.

I am seriously getting cold feet being in the P1 ecosystem, and think I could be just as ignored if I went back to a Hasselblad system but at least I'd have a better feeling camera in my hands and I'd have a truckload more cash in the bank
 

Pelorus

Member
Darr, is that a Freudian slip - see highlight below: :ROTFL: It seems so apt!

Their “largest dealer in the world” responds to postings here. Says Phase Out has better math in their software than competitors, but I honestly cannot believe it bc of all the disappointing comments about the lack of upgrades for their top of the line db. So they do have their ears on the ground here.
 

f8orbust

Active member
At the moment, it appears that in the medium format camera market there are only two stable companies; a large multinational (Fujifilm) and a family-owned (Leica). It is apparent that they have differing objectives from each other, as well as Phase One.
You can add H/B into the mix as well now that they're owned by DJI.
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
I’m not sure that I’d class Phase One as being anything less than “stable”. Now their marketing programme is suspect but not their products, even with their appalling IQ4 update performance.
 

Pemihan

Well-known member
I have a feeling that their hardware business is more focused on the industrial side of things where there's probably way more money to be made than on us mortal photographers. On the other hand they developed the XT, so it's kinda hard to tell what's going on. One thing is for sure and that is that the IQ4 launch and promises are :thumbdown:

Maybe I should go and knock on their door next time I'm going to Copenhagen.
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
F*** the XT - the majority of us use other tech platforms or the XF system. And we’re not looking to change anytime soon.
 

Pemihan

Well-known member
F*** the XT - the majority of us use other tech platforms or the XF system. And we’re not looking to change anytime soon.
True, I agree! My point was simply that they have put some resources into other things than the industrial sector. Why on earth they don't deliver on the IQ4 150 platform is a mystery, I'm sure they have the manpower and talent to do so, so it must be a deliberate choice they are making. Why is a mystery to me.
 
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Christopher

Active member
Perhaps the IQ4 was to „robust“ and is so „powerful“ that you need an IQ5 with less of both to provide features we were used to on the IQ3.

True, I agree! My point was simply that they have put some resources into other things than the industrial sector. Why on earth they don't deliver on the IQ4 150 platform is a mystery, I'm sure they have the manpower and talent to do so, so it must be a conscious choice they are making. Why is a mystery to me.
 

TheDude

Member
Perhaps the IQ4 was to „robust“ and is so „powerful“ that you need an IQ5 with less of both to provide features we were used to on the IQ3.
I wonder whether or not the numerous issues we think are firmware issues are really hardware related, and a fix may therefore require a redesign of the hardware itself.

If firmware could fix them, I am sure P1 probably already would have released such firmware.

But I am only guessing.
 
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