Tethered big problems, just black thumbs

[Dustbak]

The title says it all.

Since today I only get black thumbs when working tethered. I have tried trashing my preferences, different firewire ports, with hub and without, different backs (CF39MS & H4D60), resetting the PRAM/SMC. Nothing worked. After resetting the SMC I was able to fire several images without problems but suddenly, again nothing but black thumbs.

Anyone seen this before? Any ideas what to try?

[Alex Maxim]

Can it be due to the flash trigger not working right? Try without flashes and with a longer exposure.

[Dustbak]

Nope, no problems without being tethered. On CF card it works as supposed. Weird detail I found out is the following. I noticed the Histogram data is there so there must be something, I was just unable to enter it. When I selected the crop tool suddenly I did have a black thumb but in my regular screen the image appeared. Now I was able to alter things like, EV, WB, Fill, etc.. the usual stuff. I could also export.

I am beginning to wonder whether the 'auto-crop for HCD lenses with the H4D60' has something to do with it but why would I have this problem with the CF39MS as well?

[Alex Maxim]

Weird. I have never encountered anything like this. Did you try to upgrade/downgrade the Phocus?

[davidthescot]

Are you using the same cable for each tether?  Have you tried a different one and/or a different computer?

[Dustbak]

Yes, tried 5 different cables, 4 different ports. The problem has not yet happened on the Macbook Pro. It is only on the MacPro. At this moment it just went away the way it came... no indication of why this did happen in any way.

I hope it stays away. I have a big shoot this weekend in the studio (great way to spend Christmas ) and would hate to do this on a measly MBP when I could do it on MacZilla.

[NickT]

Hi Ray
I would rule out cables/ports as the images were certainly there (histogram) sounds like a graphics card related issue to me.. Maybe try a different user account or a different combination of viewer in a different window.. It could also be related to a corrupt display profile I think..

Good luck
Nick-T

[Dustbak]

I will re-calibrate my display when it re-appears. This should replace the display profile doesn't it?

Funny thing is that up to the 17th everything worked as it should. Today the problem was there, it suddenly disappeared. It re-appeared and disappeared again. You would think my graphics adapter is potent enough (ATI5770).

The black thumbs that I got when the problem was still there remain black, in the main window I do get the image now but only when the crop tool is activated 

[NickT]

Try selecting a bunch of thumbs and modifying them back to "standard"
Nick-T

[Dustbak]

That did the trick! Does that reprocess the thumb? Is it only the thumb that gets corrupted?

[NickT]

Hard to say, I *think* you had a tiny crop pulled, or in any case something crop related..

One of the things I've learnt from the boys in DK is when you see a weird file, check it with the standard setup..

[Dustbak]

The 'tiny crop' was something I thought about. I did try to do a CmD + D to clear any crops however this did not work at that time. Also when you have a tiny crop and select the crop tool normally the image should appear dimmed underneath the crop normally.

The weird part is that when figuring out whether it was a tiny crop and selecting the crop tool showed me I could modify it when the crop tool was activated. When another tool was activated the file was not accessible. I could also not modify it in that case.

I am now gathering all findings and reporting it to Carsten to see if they can find something and make sense of it. Meanwhile, I hope it was a fluke and stays away. If not, at least I have a work around.

[fotostig]

I also experienced this for the first time on a shoot yesterday. I had made some adjustments, and maybe 3 out of 10 images came out black - or they even became black after I had looked at them, because some of the black ones I had approved "green". When I set them back to "standard" in the adjustment browser they reappeared. I was a it stressed there for a moment.

I was shooting on my macbook pro, so I was thinking shooting tethered with adjustments maybe cause more stress for the system than just shooting "standard"??

[aikbo]

I experienced more or less the same problem, shooting tethered I get thumbnails with lots of noise and the initial shot is also all noise. Pushing the standard adjustment button makes the file appear in a normal fashion, the thumbnail is still all noise. Only after selecting the "save changes " button the thumbnail becomes normal.

Ok you can work aroun it this way but I think it is very annoying and I would be much helped if someone told me how to make standard the default.
Regards