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2 seconds from dropping this software

Matt 1
I have a simple problem: I need to deactivate on one machine and reactivate on another. This simple problem has snowballed into an avalanche of frustration at this company and the company's website.

1. I can find not telephone number anywhere on the website in order to call someone, which caused me 20 minutes of frustration

2. my user forum login was not the right login info in order to send a support message through the website, which caused me 20 minutes of frustraton

3. once I finally got logged in, I couldn't even send a message due to an error on the website, which topped it all off

I am a digital tech and I work for over a dozen different photographers and I'm on a job right now and I need this fixed immediately. I have no time to pore through archives of past user forums or faqs. I need a number to call so that someone from this company can fix my deactivation/reactivation problem so that I am able to reuse the second license on a different machine. This software cost $500 to buy and I can't even find a phone number to reach someone to help me.

Photoshop's new bridge cs3 is looking very very attractive as a satisfactory alternative to capture one right now, I'll tell you that. In fact, I'm going to stop wasting my time with capture one right now and use bridge to process the file.

thanks for nothing, capture one
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Comments

9 comments

Date Votes
  • sanzari
    Matt, calm down.

    I know its frustrating not to have a phone number. PhaseOne like to work through dealers and you get great support from them. Their flaw is they sell online and give the impression they are a large company. They are not.

    But if you post a technical query normally someone awake around the globe that works for them will respond. It took me 24 hours to get all queries I had answered.

    Also this forum seems to be helpful but does appear to be full of workingphotographers so they dont spend all day on the web waiting to answer our questions.

    Starting the thread with I have had enough of Phaseone probably does not endear yourself to many of them given most of them have had amazing support from their dealers and PhaseOne to date.

    Send the tech support a case with the numbers involved and I am sure they will sort it.
    Photoshop is fine but I like taking pictures and not do artwork a a computer, that is how most people think here.

    I recently went for Capture One Pro after 3 months of testing all the products out there. C1 Pro is expensive but it works like a photorapher thinks and therefore I purchased it. I agree Bridge is great, PS3 is wonderful I do not think there is anything that does it all.

    C1 PRO is quality and flexibility. Other products have advantages but its all about your worklow and needs not how nice and cheap or convenient the forum behind it runs.

    Give PhaseOne another chance, they are focused and I think they impressed me enough to buy something that is effectively 4 years old and in need of updating. In fact v4 is out in June, so who knows how happy I will be then. But for now my images look great and i have a comfpy workflow as probably you do.

    I was so impressed I wold love a back or be sponsored to own one as many photags are these days, but i can dream.

    T
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  • Anonymous
    Matt,

    The Support Policy is available at Suport Site:
    http://www.phaseone.com/Content/Support ... 20-%20Main

    You should re-read the Rules for particpating on this Forum.

    Phase One Digital Back owners are provided phone support through their Dealer, and occasionally from Technical Support for urgent matters.
    There is no phone support for the software.
    In 20 minutes on the phone with 1 customer, 6 or 8 other customer using the support system can be assisted.
    All Cases get a quick response and resolved.
    The Support System is monitored 18+ hours a day M-F
    We know this system works because we get Thanks and Appreciation every day from our customers.

    It appears based on your Profile that you had activation problems because you do not own Capture One PRO. A Key is locked to 1 Owner and no one can activate another's Key.
    The Single User License Policy for PRO is clear:
    1 License = 1 User = 2 Computers Activated

    blakey is exactly correct, we are a small company that cannot afford License Policy abuse.
    Therefore, the License Policy is strictly enforced and All Activations are stringently monitored.
    When a customer has Activation problems, they must submit a Support Case.
    The Product Key and/or the Email of Profile used to activate is needed.
    Our Support is unsurpassed, some may be as good, but none better 😄

    Sincerely,
    K C
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  • Andy Cantlon
    I have to agree with Blakey.......Phase One simply produce the best quality raw conversions I know of, and has the fastest workflow. Not the perfect company to deal with in terms of speed of support maybe, but this is a tiny company compared to Adobe and well worth sticking with if you can accept there isn't 24 hour phone support.

    Adobe CS2, let alone 3 still has bugs in the Mac version despite the company's size and, for example Apple's Aperture has nowhere near the support levels that Phase One manages.

    To be honest, once you've gone through the learning curve as you would with any other software I doubt you'll need support anyway! :arrow:
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  • Brian Eaves
    I Agree, but it would be nice if maybe on future versions of C1 pro they have a online activation scheme like Photoshop CS2. You can active and deactivate computers online ( not sure if the software sends the computers ethernet address) .
    The forums have been fo rthe most part speedy on the response.
    I'ved been happy with the software and support

    Theses my 2 cents


    Brian Eaves
    Digital Tech (Chicago)
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  • bob111
    I Agree, but it would be nice if maybe on future versions of C1 pro they have a online activation scheme like Photoshop CS2. You can active and deactivate computers online ( not sure if the software sends the computers ethernet address) .

    Dear Brian

    Your comment bought back the nightmare of a four hour phone call I had to adobe because their online activation is not perfect.

    Bob
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  • Robert5
    Matt - I can sympathsize with registration frustration; however, "more flies with honey," as they say.

    Quick recommendations:

    A) If using a Phase back:
    1 - See if you have a copy of DB on-hand/installed. Work off that until you can fix the C1 Pro situation.

    2- Computer owner's registration info:
    Have the assistants lead this hunt while you try to download C1 DB.

    Rental: CALL THE RENTAL HOUSE ASAP for their registration info.

    Photog's: WHERE IS THEIR USER INFO!? Find it. Call their studio manager, call the tech who they were using when they bought the Phase. Whatever.

    If it's your comp: According to the Phase monitor, you don't own C1 Pro...so buy it or beg a friend for their extra registration. (NOTE: I DO NOT ENCOURAGE THIS, AS IT IS A BREACH OF CONTRACT. However, I also understand emergency troubleshooting; deal with the fallout and making it right later. Make it up to them by buying C1 Pro TOMORROW.)

    B) If using a Canon:
    1 - Do you have a copy of DPP on-hand? It's vastly inferior, but will allow you to shoot tethered and/or view on-screen and make RAW adjustments. Consider it a triage situation, and deal with batch-correcting files later.

    That's it for "emergency fixes" - the rest of this, read once disaster is averted.

    If the unit belongs to the rental house or photographer, calmly tell them that, while you're very, very sorry, you're going to need about a half-hour to straighten this out properly. Tell them that they (or the rental house) needed to have a valid license to activate, as well as their user data to do so. You're doing your best to hunt it down; but that's all you can do. (Unless, of course, you can find the DB version).

    As I said, I feel your frustration; I ran into this situation (thankfully, I was actually hired as an assistant, and was voluntarily saving the self-postured "tech"). We got through using the DB version - which was activated/operating properly. But, as I told them and already said here: There's only so much you can do. If they want to rent gear from YOU, then hopefully you can guarantee it will be fully-functional. Was their a prep-day to check all this out? If you walked into this and it wasn't your's, there's only so much you can do.

    Unless you do a FULL OS reinstall, C1 Pro registration remains logged in the computer. So, unless you had to do that on-set I can't see what else was unpreventable by SOMEONE. Did someone CLAIM they had a valid copy that could be installed a comp? According to the Phase poster, you don't own a copy of C1 Pro. So, I imagine that HOPEFULLY none of this stuff (software OR hardware) was your's, and you just got handed a bad deal. In which case, just remember: unless you had a prep day (or morning), there's not much you could do about it. While you can check gear and troubleshoot it, ultimate responsibility lies with the person(s) billing for that gear to make sure it functions properly.

    And, if as you seemed to indicate (writing "reactivate" another computer): If you're trying to play musical chairs with a C1 Pro license - whoever owns it - well, yeah it's frustrating - but that's EXACTLY what Phase/C1 are preventing with the registrations. Otherwise, why have registrations at all? Why was the registration taken OFF of the one computer that needs to be reactivated? It sounds like you're trying - for whatever reason - to pull the license off one computer and instantly pass it to another. Did one computer die? What happened?

    This is why I am saving-up to have my own entire rig for teching. If you're having to fix someone else's mistake, I feel for you. Do your best, but don't feel like it's your fault if it wasn't your gear and no day was alloted for testing. If it IS your gear (or you sub-rented it) - such a basic issue as having a legal, properly-functioning version of the software on the computer should never have to be solved on-set. It's like when a rental house sends you a strobe head with a broken flashtube.

    However, it came to be - good luck solving it. I'd still say DB (for Phase) or DPP (for Canon) would be your best splint for now.

    ~Gully
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  • Matt 1
    I am not referring to my own key, I am referring to the license purchased by the photographer I am currently working for, who in fact owns two keys.

    It is not my concern how large a company phase one is. My concern is whether they provide support equivalent to the $500 purchase price for the software, and my experience is that they do not.

    I realize professional photographers do not sit around on this forum all day. I know because I am one of them, and I am working for another one right now. Which is EXACTLY why I expect capture one to provide the support, not other working photographers, and this is why I posted to this forum only as a last resort--partially to inform other professional photographers about the shortcomings of working with this software.

    I am not playing "musical chairs" with registrations. I am transferring it from one machine to a newly purchased one. What is so difficult to understand about that? I am the tech who installed the application in the first place. There is nothing complicated about this. It happens with plenty of other software. It's just something that the company has to do, and the company was not available to do it when we needed it done. Simple problem, simply understood.

    You want to see what capture one thinks? Look at Keith Carpenter's post. All I see is an insult, without help. Like I said, I am assisting a photographer who owns two licenses. And who does not have the time or desire to respond to any insults from a company to which he has already given $1000.

    I too have tested C1 against ACR, multiple times. C1 wins for workflow, ACR wins for algorithm, ultimate control, and now, more importantly to us, support. From now on, it's ACR for us.
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  • Robert5
    Hey Matt - well, sorry that you feel that way. As I said, I've been in a very similar situation, so I know exactly how maddening it can be.

    I'm not a Phase/C1 rep, so it's not my place to "keep you" - if you think that it's worth going with ACR due to what you feel is inadequate customer support at C1, that's completely your right. I hope that you have a better time with ACR's support; I have virtually nil experience with them, but I HOPE that they'll be able to do on-demand customer support. I really don't know.

    I figure this'll probably only piss you off more, but I feel it's important to say: I don't know how it came to be that a new computer was brought to set (clearly, a high-pressure set, base on your reactions) without being prepped for the job. If it's all the photographer's, and s/he doesn't hire you to prep gear beforehand - or if you just assumed it'd be fine - either way, someone needs to take a certain amount of responsibility for the embarrassment/difficulty/whatever you felt resulted.

    Whether or not you feel C1's policy is annoying, it's WELL documented and WELL discussed in forums everywhere. You or the photographer should've been aware that you need the key, you need internet, and you need the login information. And regardless, you have to own-up to the fact that somebody (you or the photog - I'm not going to try to single it out, as I don't know your arrangement) - somebody should've realized it was a BIG risk to take a new computer on-set without having set it up and tested it beforehand. What if there'd been some other connection problem? What if you needed to download a kernel replacement from Apple? What if there was a bad firewire port? Etc etc etc. Equipment should arrive on-set ready-to-go. Charging for rental isn't only meant to cover cost of gear; the price also covers the added TIME that goes into testing, maintaining, and delivering the gear.

    Gear should always be tested beforehand - ESPECIALLY digital gear. I know it sucks - I can't say enough that I know how it feels. But someone needs to own-up for the fact that a risk was taken, and it didn't pay off this time. Even if the computer was delivered STRAIGHT to set; it was a risky choice to try to shoot to it THAT day. And if the photog already had it...well, then it was really one of those problems that proper preparation would've averted. Certainly it still would've been annoying - but I don't think you'd be here proclaiming that you're through with Capture One.

    It's easier to try to point the finger than admit some culpability lies on your end. But honestly, from someone who's been there: it sucked, but I learned. So, you're not going to find much sympathy here - especially with an angry attitude.
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  • sanzari
    Another Happy Adobe customer who spent 500 dollars. Enjoy the 150 it will cost at least to go to CS3 and the 200 it will be to go to CS4 in 2 years time.

    I will have 2 free upgrades on my 500 dollars, and even more support now given 1 less user of C1.

    Company policies suck, software should all be free and people should develop for the love of it.

    Then you meet a succesful photographer with a team of professionals and they charge top dollar for everything. They get lots of references, they make good money and there service is superb.

    Enjoy ACR, everything finds a level. For gripes and moans and flames I go to www.dpreview.com - great place.

    PhaseOne keep doing your thing. Sorry could not resist. All tongue in cheek with a little brit sarcasm
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