H4D-50 Tethered Issues

[Arild]

Having shot with my beloved H4D-50 for years, I have now handed it in for service due to tethered shooting issues. I know many have mentioned troubles in tethered mode before, but I have not found details on this model and the issues I am experiencing exactly. I am posting this both to check whether someone else has had the same issue and managed to fix it, or for others who might be in the same situation as I am in now.

First off, the camera and back work fine while shooting directly to the CF card, but as a commercial photographer I need to be able to shoot tethered. Lately the issue while shooting tethered has increased and in desperation I handed it in for a service. Impatiently I am now waiting for how much this will end up costing. On the positive side, I was told it would most likely be taken care of within ten days. Up until now I have been very happy with the setup and an upgrade to the newest system is, at this point, not an option. Luckily I have a backup DSLR that is okay for now.

The computers I have tested tethered shooting on are all Macs of different generations and connections. They all have the latest version of Phocus and camera firmwares. Furthermore, I use the newest original FireWire 800-cable from Hasselblad. All the machines are loaded with SSDs and sufficient RAM. Phocus has been re-installed with full removal of preference files.

– Macbook Pro 15" (2017, 16Gb RAM, High Sierra) with USB-C and Thunderbolt adapter
– Mac Pro (late-2013, 16Gb RAM, High Sierra) with Thunderbolt adapter
– Macbook Pro 15" (mid-2009, 8Gb RAM, El Capitan) direct connection

Interestingly the older Macbook Pro (mid-2009) has always worked relatively stable while shooting tethered, up until the last months. There have been glitches and some restarts every now and then, but now I have to restart on every ten-or-so shot. Obviously this makes it unbearable to work on, especially while the team and models are around me. The rescue the last weeks has been shooting to CF or backup DSLR.

So what happens is that the camera freezes after a few shots (varies between 5-30). The LED on the back continues to flash red indefinitely and Phocus returns the message "capture failure". The only way to get everything back on is to pull the FW-cable and camera battery for a hard restart. The back also seems warmer than normal. Additionally, I can also hear a low high-pitch noise coming from the back both in tethered and CF mode (though it might just be me who lately has become oversensitive due to the errors).

It would be interesting to hear if anyone has experienced the same issue and has managed to solve it. E.g. should I get a repeater for a more stable connection? Either way I will keep you posted on how it turns out after the service check.

Thanks!

[davidthescot]

I had a similar problem when I had an H3D2-39.  It turned out to be the firewire board/connector on the back.  Swiftly repaired by HB with no further issues.

[NickT]

A couple of things to rule out.

Try shooting super slowly (unlikely to be an issue as you are running SSDs)

Try rolling back a few different versions of Phocus.

I can't comment on the High Sierra side of things as I haven't installed it and won't on the capture machine for a few months until the bugs get ironed out.

I am currently running Sierra on an iMac with the thunderbolt adaptor and is is rock solid.

[jerome_m]

Just a silly idea, maybe, but I would try to get a brand new battery for the camera and see if that solves things.

[Arild]

I have tested in older versions of Phocus, OS Sierra and El Capitan. The problem persists in all of them. Batteries currently used are relatively new (next to the latest model, which was launched with the H5D), so I doubt that should make any problems (I will try the original battery though, if the problem continues when I get it back).

At this point I really hope @davidthescot is right, that it is the firewire board/connector on the back, and will be sorted at the service check. It is comforting that you have had success in fixing a similar issue.

I have ordered "Unibrain FireRepeater 800 PRO 4-port Repeater (2502)" as I have read there are issues with the USB-C/Thunderbolt watt throughput of the FW800 adapters. Just to make sure the back gets sufficient and stable power supply. That should not be a problem on the MacBook Pro (mid-2009) though, which has a FW800 port.

Thanks for the help and replies.

[eyedear]

mine had the same issue as your the daughter board had to be replace.

[Arild]

The lab at Hasselblad figured out it was the link board that was damaged, and which had to be replaced. Problem solved and back to normal.

Thanks everyone.