New Mac book Pro and Phocus

[Monty Rakusen]

Hi

I'm thinking of moving over to the latest Macbook Pro 15". Spec yet to be finalised.
This is from Macbook Pro 15" 2.33 Intel core duo 2 4GB memory.

I shoot with H3D and 90% of my work is tethered often in difficult locations, tops of cranes, nuclear power stations etc etc. My Mac book Pro is only used for shooting.
Recently I have been shooting using Flexcolour with a custom profile and then processing out on my Mac Pro in the studio using Phocus.
Essentially my custom profile is Adobe RGB 1998, 16 bit, Old Standard curve, Daylight, no vignette control and just 30 usm.
This has caused problems with Phocus processing as the image is built on screen in about 3 goes, first I get a rough image then a good image and 15 seconds from the first a final setting is applied which can often make the image half a stop darker.
I have spoken with Hasselblad and their thoughts are inconclusive but I think its due to Old standard in Flexcolour. I am using a highly spe'd machine with the recommended graphics card.(2X2.66 dual intel Xeon, 6GB memory, NIVIDIA 8800GT)

If I wish to use Phocus for my complete work flow then I need to be shooting with it....consequently I need a new Mac book Pro. Also I want to upgrade to the new asa firmware and having to cancel the panel in Flex that asks you to downgrade each time you plug in seems very risky.

So I need to ask you a few questions.

1. Do you find that the FW 800 drops out all the time on the new MBook Pro as I have had to revert to 800-400 on my present machine for this reason. Has the socket been improved, from what I can see it has.
2. Are people successfully shooting in Phocus out on location tethered.
3. Does the new firmware really give quality improvements with the H3D 39 mk 1  (not 2) eg is 100asa like 50?
4. Will I be able to make a custom profile similar to my previous one, applying a curve similar to 'Old Standard'

You help on these points would be much appreciated.

Kind regards

Monty Rakusen




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This Mail comes from Monty Rakusen's Studio in Yorkshire, England.


You can see Monty's Corporate work at http://www.rakusen.co.uk

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Monty is a member of The Association of Photographers

STUDIO: +44 (0) 1937 830052 MOB: +44 (0) 7778 411337 SKYPE: montyrakusen

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[Phil G]

Hi Monty

I have a 17" Mac Book Pro the one before the Unibody it has 4GB RAM and the Nividia 512MB and I believe you can up this to 6GB RAM but I need to investigate
The FW 800 works ok for me in fact thats all I use. I have only ever used Phocus being a newbie to Hblad Digital it runs as well as it does on my Mac Pro not quite as fast as is only to be expected.

And have not done much tethered work yet only a few test shots 

sorry cannot be more help

Phil

[Colin Johnston]

Hi

I'm thinking of moving over to the latest Macbook Pro 15". Spec yet to be finalised.
This is from Macbook Pro 15" 2.33 Intel core duo 2 4GB memory.

I shoot with H3D and 90% of my work is tethered often in difficult locations, tops of cranes, nuclear power stations etc etc. My Mac book Pro is only used for shooting.
Recently I have been shooting using Flexcolour with a custom profile and then processing out on my Mac Pro in the studio using Phocus.
Essentially my custom profile is Adobe RGB 1998, 16 bit, Old Standard curve, Daylight, no vignette control and just 30 usm.
This has caused problems with Phocus processing as the image is built on screen in about 3 goes, first I get a rough image then a good image and 15 seconds from the first a final setting is applied which can often make the image half a stop darker.
I have spoken with Hasselblad and their thoughts are inconclusive but I think its due to Old standard in Flexcolour. I am using a highly spe'd machine with the recommended graphics card.(2X2.66 dual intel Xeon, 6GB memory, NIVIDIA 8800GT)

If I wish to use Phocus for my complete work flow then I need to be shooting with it....consequently I need a new Mac book Pro. Also I want to upgrade to the new asa firmware and having to cancel the panel in Flex that asks you to downgrade each time you plug in seems very risky.

So I need to ask you a few questions.

1. Do you find that the FW 800 drops out all the time on the new MBook Pro as I have had to revert to 800-400 on my present machine for this reason. Has the socket been improved, from what I can see it has.
2. Are people successfully shooting in Phocus out on location tethered.
3. Does the new firmware really give quality improvements with the H3D 39 mk 1  (not 2) eg is 100asa like 50?
4. Will I be able to make a custom profile similar to my previous one, applying a curve similar to 'Old Standard'

You help on these points would be much appreciated.

Kind regards

Monty Rakusen




----------------------------------------------------------------------
This Mail comes from Monty Rakusen's Studio in Yorkshire, England.


You can see Monty's Corporate work at http://www.rakusen.co.uk

You can see Monty's Art work at http://www.itsablackandwhiteworld.com

You can see Monty's Corporate Portraiture at http://www.boardportraits.co.uk

Monty is a member of The Association of Photographers

STUDIO: +44 (0) 1937 830052 MOB: +44 (0) 7778 411337 SKYPE: montyrakusen

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Hi Monty

I have a few guys now in Oz shooting to the New MacBook Pro with the Granit 800-800 cable with Phocus 113 and they have no problems
I even have 1 guy shooting tethered with the Granite 10 meter cable and all is fine
Most of the guys are shooting MKi and some MKII

These guys i mention are shooting on location and in the studio tethered

I have seen great things with the firmware upgrade on the 31 and highly recommend it
I will ask about the 39,s and see for you Monty
Phocus is good and yes you can make custom profile, you should move over as you wont regret it,

Colin

[rsmphoto]

Hi Monty,

I shoot exclusively with an H3DII-39 on location always tethered to a new MB pro 2.4 GHz Core2Duo 4GB RAM

No FW800 problems, the connection with FW800 is very stable in my experience.

On another note, just finished a very full week of shooting in the midwest in challenging conditions (high heat, extremely high winds on one day, 50+ mph, and accompanying dust). The only issue encountered during the week was a few random connection problems between the camera hardware components resulting in an "Invalid Calibration" message. This happened upon camera startup, after switching shot locations, occurring after shooting exteriors for an extended time in 97F sun, then going indoors to do interiors. The back and forth between environments caused this issue it seems to me.

I shoot with Phocus, and it has worked exceedingly well - I do wish it worked at an even faster pace when capturing tethered though.

Also, I've been using the HTS on every shoot for a couple of months now - on about 50% of my shots (with 28 & 35), and once I got comfortable with it I have found it to be a great tool.

Richard

[NickT]

- I do wish it worked at an even faster pace when capturing tethered though.

I think you'll be very pleased when 1.2 hits the streets

[Monty Rakusen]

What so pleased I don't need to up grade from my old Mac book Pro?

Monty

[rsmphoto]

[/quote]

I think you'll be very pleased when 1.2 hits the streets
[/quote]

Looking forward to it!

[Monty Rakusen]

NO ONE SEEMS TO WANT TO ANSWER MY QUESTION!
Can I continue with my present MacBook Pro or not?

Monty

[Phil G]

Monty

Unfortunately whenever you buy you're always playing catch-up  or the merchandising boys would like you like you to believe you need to, I don't think anyone on this list is taken in by the "buy a bigger ... and take more salable pictures" or you will look more professional with a Hblad than a 35mm camera marketing speak.

In the short term there are two upgrades in the offing OS X Snow Leopard and Phocus 1.2 the latter is more likley to hit the deck first

With each upgrade of Phocus I have seen marked improvements  in the way my not very old G5 Quad and G4 Powerbook handle H3DII-39 files  albeit not as fast as the my 'early 08' MBPro   no doubt this improvement will continue with 1.2 
But the 15" G4 would drive the camera + 120 macro via FW I have not tried it since I purchased the MBP.

We live in a world were products are released (and purchased) on promises  and everyone unwittingly becomes a product tester.  The need to keep one step ahead of the competition no doubt lead to the early release of Phocus into a world where Aperture and Lightroom exist which make it (Phocus) look like a lumbering giant its only virtues being the Lens Correction features. 

I have a friend with a D39 who will not change from Flexcolour until Phocus is as fast and versatile as Aperture! he has not got the time! 
Manufactures need to be more sensitive to the needs of practitioners (customers) there are enough problems trying to make a living in this business without all the learning curves we are expected to climb.

So hang in there

Phil

[rsmphoto]

NO ONE SEEMS TO WANT TO ANSWER MY QUESTION!
Can I continue with my present MacBook Pro or not?

Monty

Monty,

Bottom line: The new Macbook will run Phocus faster and has a better (LCD) screen in my opinion. If you want those improvements get the new one. I've read rumors that they're due for a speed bump (maybe even quad) shortly, so you might wait. Otherwise, buy a refurb from Apple - save a bit of $ and still get the one year warranty. That's what I usually do.

Cheers,

Richard

[HughGilbert]

I've been struggling with Phocus on and off for the last few months.  I just find it too dark to see when using on location... all the controls are too small. And the fine focus check is too slow, flex only processes a little bit of the image to check focus and is much faster.

Flex is easier to see.  I just wish flex could use the GPS settings.

I suppose you can't make everyone happy, I like the way Phocus looks, but I haven't learned how to navigate around it as fast as I can with Flex.

Pennysworth

All best

Hugh

[Phil G]

Hi

I have just posted in the thread  http://www.hasselbladdigitalforum.com/index.php/topic,510.0.html

It would appear that Phocus does not take advantage of the fast graphics cards and relies on the CPU no doubt this will be rectified in the latest upgrade

I agree with Hugh regarding the size of the text and controls I often have to resort to the zoom key combination feature feature (alt+cmd  and + or - key)

but them my eyes are not too good

Phil

[robertpoll]

Hi Monty,

Why not just load up Phocus on your existing MBP and give it a try.

I think it's difficult to give a conclusive answer on whether you'll be happy as it depends on shooting style, but I use Phocus tethered on the old MBP regularly, mostly studio but location too on occasion and prefer it to flex. One of the nice features is that you can customize the toolset so you only have what you use in (say) the capture tab.

I do wish it was able to keep up with the shooting rate of the camera, but flex wasn't any faster.

...rob

[Dustbak]

I never came around posting sofar but here I go. I have a new MBP 15" i7 since 2 months now with 4Gb of main memory.

The great part is the 256GB SSD I have installed in it (don't take the Apple one, get the OWC SSD). Phocus simply flies. I can continue shooting with the CF39 and even a serie of 20 shots is practically in the laptop when I stop shooting. It is a huge difference compared to my early 2008 MBP with 6GB of memory!

[Phil G]

At just checked with Crucial and at £552 its a bit expensive just to save a few seconds I use a 7.2k or 10k eSATA external via the 34 express Card slot with my pre unibody 17"  where HD replacement is not user replaceable so when warranty runs out may have a go hopefully prices may have dropped.

With the Unibody machines its easier to replace HDD  in fact classed as user replaceable if memory serves  so thanks Dustbank I will bear in mind when I come to upgrade

Regards

Phil