Preview Delay, Why doesn't Phase Fix this!!??
I regulary shoot tethered to C1Pro with both Canon DSLR's and Phase One backs. I am finding more and more that I can shoot all my jobs with the Canon Cameras I own (I rent the backs, which cuts into my profits) except for one problem. The preview of a DSLR captured image takes an extra second to come up! I have investigated, and it seems that this is because the software is written specifically for the backs, but is tweaked to then work for the DSLR's, which creates the delay in the preview.
My client likes to watch the monitor as we shoot and tag his favorite images as they pop up. Since we are shooting fashion, we shoot as fast as the camera allows. The image initially comes up low res and pixilated. With the backs it immediately clears up so my client has a enough time to see what we have shot, before the next preview pops up. With the DSLR captures it takes an extra second for the image to get clear and so the client only has a split second to see the image before the next low res preview pops up.
It seems to me that this would be a simple thing to fix. Another work around would be to minimize the size of the preview and have the thumbnails come up really large, so the client has more time to see the images. But C1Pro limits how big you can make the thumbnails, and they are too small for my client to make a decision on.
Does anyone else find this frustrating? Has anyone figured a good work around? I like C1Pro, but since I am now trying to shoot everything with Canon cameras, this is making big problems for me. If only Canon didn't have such awful Capture software...........
My client likes to watch the monitor as we shoot and tag his favorite images as they pop up. Since we are shooting fashion, we shoot as fast as the camera allows. The image initially comes up low res and pixilated. With the backs it immediately clears up so my client has a enough time to see what we have shot, before the next preview pops up. With the DSLR captures it takes an extra second for the image to get clear and so the client only has a split second to see the image before the next low res preview pops up.
It seems to me that this would be a simple thing to fix. Another work around would be to minimize the size of the preview and have the thumbnails come up really large, so the client has more time to see the images. But C1Pro limits how big you can make the thumbnails, and they are too small for my client to make a decision on.
Does anyone else find this frustrating? Has anyone figured a good work around? I like C1Pro, but since I am now trying to shoot everything with Canon cameras, this is making big problems for me. If only Canon didn't have such awful Capture software...........
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What you are saying is not entirely true.
DSLR's made for on location, that camera is simply built for that and this is why it shoots to a buffer to do a rapid capture sequence and then transfer from buffer to card or remote computer.
When Phase One made the P series we stood in front of the same question.
Shoot a steady pace or shoot quickly with a short buffer and then transfer.
We choose to go with a steady pace, it has a buffer but optimized for not filling the buffer but shot in a steady pace until cf card or disk is full instead of waiting for buffer to clear.
Also I should add that tethered support is achieved with the use of Canons SDK package, meaning that is not optimized for Phase One camera back but we use Canons own components to achieve connectivity to the camera.
Yes there are speed optimizations that can be made and will be made but you must understand there are also hardware limitations involved.0 -
So if I understand you, the reason there is a delay in the preview from a captured (tethered) image from DSLR is because the camera first writes to internal camera buffer before it sends to the C1Pro software? The reason that there is no delay when shooting from a Phase back is that the image is sent directly to the C1Pro software (more or less)?
And there is no way to turn off the internal buffer on a Canon DSLR? It's strange, because when I shoot tethered to the Canon capture software, I don't experience this delay. Although that software has too many other faults to make it practical to use. If only I could get the C1Pro software to show an instant preview....... it will save me from spending thousands of dollars on digital back rentals!
What are these speed optimizations? Will they increase the amount of time my client can view a clear image before the next preview pops up?
Thanks for your help!0 -
I'm sitting here testing the camera and software. If the problem is that the DSLR writes to an internal buffer before sending to the C1Pro, then an easy software fix is to give users control of how long the preview stays up in the window in C1Pro. Really, the problem is that my client doesn't have enough time to look at the clear image before the new one comes up. So if I could \"dial\" in a delay of three seconds per captured preview (right now it is about 1.5 seconds, 1 second of that being unclear and pixelated), that would solve the problem right there. The image will still take an extra second to go from pixelated to clear, but at least the client then has an extra second to evaluate the clear image and decide if they want to tag it. If only I knew how to write code, I'd do it for you for free! 0 -
I don't get it..... I have been trying to capture with my canon equipement on other computers to see if I have this problem I described. I just captured into a Windows XP PC, and the problem doesn't happen!! But it happens on all the macs I have tried.
Why does it only happen on Macs? The speed of my mac and PC should be pretty comprable, but for some reason shooting tethered to the PC shows no delay in the preview like it does on the mac.
So obviously this is not a problem with the DSLR camera writing to the internal cache before sending out to the computer as described earlier. Is there anything I can do to the macs to make them not have this delay problem? It would sure be alot nicer than investing $20,000 on a digital back that would just be used for one client!0 -
I was merely pointing out there is several issues here.
But yes there is a time delay and yes we can optimize software better.
The Mac software is slower then the PC version but G4 processors in laptops are quite far behind the Intel processors, this is one of the reasons Apple is switching to Intel.
My point was however it is not \"optimized for camera backs\" as initial post was stating.
We do know this issue, we are addressing it but keep in mind that even if this is the most important issue for you does not mean it is the most important issue for the majority of clients and all issues are prioritized accordingly.0 -
Thanks for the response and I'm happy you know about the issue. I am sure this is a problem for others as well, so I hope Phase will address it as soon as possible. It is a major problem for me!
For now, I think the only cost effective work around is to capture into a Windows PC and then transfer to Mac for post production. Of course, this introduces problems with C1Pro such as a completely different filing structure and the file tagging not transfering from one platform to another.....
I'll just hold off on purchasing a camera back or 1ds MarkII until the next full version of C1Pro comes out (it's January isn't it?). Hopefully the coders will fix this massive problem, or at least build in a good work around!0 -
[quote="ckilkus" wrote:
Why does it only happen on Macs? The speed of my mac and PC should be pretty comprable, but for some reason shooting tethered to the PC shows no delay in the preview like it does on the mac.
Well, I have never used C1 for shooting tethered, so I don't know if you're using USB or firewire to connect. If it's USB the problem might be, that the USB ports in many Apples are rather slow. They say they are USB2.0 but they don't get near the tranfer rates of USB2.0 on most PCs (often Mac <20MB/s, PC>30MB/s). I don't know if that is a hardware or OS problem and if it is still valid with new Powerbooks or Powermacs.
Bye,
Carsten0
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