An open letter to Phase One
CaptureOne Team -
Let me preface this entire post with the fact that I own an software development company so I completely understand the kind of things that come up when working on rolling out a new version. We recently estimated that it would take about a week to incorporate a new feature into our software and it took four! So, I understand the software business very well.
But, I just want to say that I'm very surprised that you missed the boat by so far on version 3.6. I'm a 20D owner and have been for a few months. I also own a 10D and have owned a D30 and D60 in the past. And, I was huge fan (and daily user) of CaptureOne up until I bought the 20D.
When I purchased the 20D (in mid November) I thought it wouldn't be a problem -- I'd just want until the end of November and upgrade to 3.6. But, after the end of November came and went I had to start looking for another solution. I tried the Canon software and, while capable, the workflow was not nearly as efficient as CaptureOne. Workflow is key for me b/c photography is my \"second\" job and I'm also extremely busy during the Holidays so \"cranking\" out the processing is important.
So, I went looking and found Bibble... I will say that at first I didn't like it b/c I was so entrenched in CaptureOne. But, you gave me no other choice... After downloading the demo and working with it for a while I realized that it will work great for me. The workflow is slightly different but I realized that would just take a few weeks and I'd be burning through my raw files. So, after waiting a little while longer to see if v3.6 was anywhere close I went ahead and bought Bibble.
Here we are today -- I received the notice last night that v3.6 has now been release. Unfortunately, I'm now a Bibble user and very happy with their product.
The thing that I just don't understand is that the 20D has been out since (if I recall correctly) September and here it is January and you're just now supporting the 20D? How could you have missed that one by so far when your competitors (like Bibble) were right there ready to help us 20D owners?
Maybe you underestimated the demand for the 20D? Maybe you ran into some serious difficulties with the new file format? Maybe you were in the middle of a major upgrade in your code base and caught by suprise by the 20D? Either way, I'm sure you'll take this experience to heart and not let it happen again. But, in the meantime, you really gave people a reason to go shopping for new software and thus significantly helped your competitor gain market share.
I sincerely hope that in the halls of Phase One there are meetings taking place as to why this happened and there are processes being put in place so that it won't ever happen again. You guys have a GREAT product and I'd hate to see it lose users because of avoidable mistakes.
Unfortunately, you've lost me for now... Just my two cents -- or $380 if you want to look at it that way.
Best of luck to you in the future!
TK
Let me preface this entire post with the fact that I own an software development company so I completely understand the kind of things that come up when working on rolling out a new version. We recently estimated that it would take about a week to incorporate a new feature into our software and it took four! So, I understand the software business very well.
But, I just want to say that I'm very surprised that you missed the boat by so far on version 3.6. I'm a 20D owner and have been for a few months. I also own a 10D and have owned a D30 and D60 in the past. And, I was huge fan (and daily user) of CaptureOne up until I bought the 20D.
When I purchased the 20D (in mid November) I thought it wouldn't be a problem -- I'd just want until the end of November and upgrade to 3.6. But, after the end of November came and went I had to start looking for another solution. I tried the Canon software and, while capable, the workflow was not nearly as efficient as CaptureOne. Workflow is key for me b/c photography is my \"second\" job and I'm also extremely busy during the Holidays so \"cranking\" out the processing is important.
So, I went looking and found Bibble... I will say that at first I didn't like it b/c I was so entrenched in CaptureOne. But, you gave me no other choice... After downloading the demo and working with it for a while I realized that it will work great for me. The workflow is slightly different but I realized that would just take a few weeks and I'd be burning through my raw files. So, after waiting a little while longer to see if v3.6 was anywhere close I went ahead and bought Bibble.
Here we are today -- I received the notice last night that v3.6 has now been release. Unfortunately, I'm now a Bibble user and very happy with their product.
The thing that I just don't understand is that the 20D has been out since (if I recall correctly) September and here it is January and you're just now supporting the 20D? How could you have missed that one by so far when your competitors (like Bibble) were right there ready to help us 20D owners?
Maybe you underestimated the demand for the 20D? Maybe you ran into some serious difficulties with the new file format? Maybe you were in the middle of a major upgrade in your code base and caught by suprise by the 20D? Either way, I'm sure you'll take this experience to heart and not let it happen again. But, in the meantime, you really gave people a reason to go shopping for new software and thus significantly helped your competitor gain market share.
I sincerely hope that in the halls of Phase One there are meetings taking place as to why this happened and there are processes being put in place so that it won't ever happen again. You guys have a GREAT product and I'd hate to see it lose users because of avoidable mistakes.
Unfortunately, you've lost me for now... Just my two cents -- or $380 if you want to look at it that way.
Best of luck to you in the future!
TK
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I will try to keep this reply short.
From version 3.5 to 3.6 Capture One has undergone some very big changes when it comes to camera core and that the project has been transferred from VS6 to MS.NET.
This will insure better stability and compatibility for the future and faster implementation of new camera types.
If you work with software development then you know that this is not a small task considering this is software that has been on the market since -98 made for the original Phase One Lightphase 6 mega pixel digital camera back.
This is the kind of maintenance work that has to be done every so often but there will be never a good time to undertake it because there will always be a camera manufacture that releases a new camera.
For many of the competitors they have of course an easier task when they rely on for example Canon to provide them with the components they need for supporting a new camera, we do not, we develop our own developing core, profile and file handling and that is why we can provide the superior result that we do.
No pun intended but I can see the difference between Capture One and other software and have been told over and over again by professional medium and small format photographers the same thing. -
Thanks for the quick reply! Trust me when I say that I completely understand what you're talking about when it comes to the software development side of things -- the transition from VS6 to .NET is not a simple undertaking. And, from your prospective that was also a good point to \"shore\" up the code base so the product can be even better in the future. The phrase \"I feel your pain\" comes to mind when thinking of the undertaking that you took...
There's no question you guys have a great product -- I completely agree... I may very well come back to CaptureOne in the future but for now my money has been spent. So, keep up the good work and add lots of new features that will make someone like me come back to CaptureOne!
Thanks again for the reply!
TK
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