The Shoot Diary- PhaseOne C1Pro v.4

Back in the day, PhaseOne built a medium-format digital back system that set the bar. Every manufacturer- digital back and DSLR, had some variant of the basic process- control the camera, control the workflow, control the colors, process and output the files. As the systems evolved, they all began to resemble one original, and powerful package- PhaseOne Capture.

When the leading DSLR manufacturers were offering software that was billed as professional, but resembled more of a consumer product, PhaseOne saw the need to step up where the OEMs were missing the boat. They introduced C1Pro- adapting their rock-solid software to the professional DSLR market. As they had with the MF DB market, they set the bar for the camera companies, and changed workflow for everyone.

It’s been a while since I’ve taken a look at C1Pro, but I had a big shoot with a Canon 5DM2 that I needed to tether to my laptop. I thought it was a great chance to revisit C1Pro. Ironically, I was using it for the same reason I looked into it when it first came out- rather than simply process the files, I needed to shoot to the workstation with a DSLR and move fast. Photoshop couldn’t do it, the manufacturer’s software was too flakey, I needed a MF DB solution: C1Pro was the natural, well the only, choice.

Let me first say I was delighted to plug the camera in, turn it on, and immediately get a solid connection in C1Pro. I was concerned, from reports that there were issues with new operating systems (I’m running the latest version of OSX, historically, a practice that is asking for trouble with some Phase versions in the past) as well as a new camera model. Oh. Did I mention this was at the job, with the client there, with no room for error? The processing path was seamless, and easily set up to suit my standard habits.



The interface was so similar to the original it was actually a surprise. Version release after version release from other companies, and you have to completely re-acquaint yourself to the locations of the tools and the workflow. The cornerstone of the PhaseOne workflow is the simple, sequential button array in the top left corner of the workspace. The feeling was like sitting behind the wheel of a new, snappy car. Everything looks sweet, and there are a whole mess of buttons you have to figure out, but the basics, like the steering wheel, gas, brake and shift are all right where they should be.



Even better, a few really handy shortcuts are easy to find, too, like the keyboard shortcuts for triggering the capture, zooming, deleting and all the other little things you need to do repetitively. It’s been a long time since I could jump on a system and look like I’d been using it for months, within about 15 minutes. If you’re fussy about the workspace, there’s a feature right out of Apple’s Aperture- click the gear in the far, upper right corner and you get this interface to customize the toolbar.



This isn’t the only feature I’m seeing here that resembles other packages. Lightroom and Aperture both have clearly made their impressions on the developers at C1Pro, and one of the most interesting places is with the use of “Variants” in processing. That is, you can make alternatives to the processing settings without creating a completely new file. Here’s how that works.

When you’ve selected a file, hit F2, or Image>New Variant.



This makes a new thumbnail that you can process differently. (Here I’m showing a pretty intuitive, and powerful hue/saturation control, making a subtle change in the red-orange mapping.)



The thumbnail shows the new processing settings, and I can save out of that without having created a new RAW file with new processing settings.



There is a ton more here. Just the briefest look around and we’re seeing some pretty sweet job organization features, processing presets, and some very nice processing standards. The files look solid coming out of C1Pro at the defaults- I did no color or contrast processing at all, other than the basic click on the Colorchecker to set the white balance.

It’s a package that has clearly been on the pulse of current offerings, responding to professional users, and is still setting the standard. More than a shooting solution, it’s a great editing package too, but needs some retouching tools, like cloning, healing, burning and dodging to really step up to where Lightroom and Aperture.

Above all, it did the single most important thing I needed it to do. I turned it on. It worked… effortlessly.

Phase One C1Pro 4 processing tests

Evaluating a RAW file processor is a slippery slope. As I'm fond of saying, the RAW file is not the "digital negative", it's more the digital "latent image", an unprocessed source of all the image information, available to the photographer to process to taste. The negative, after all, has already been processed, right? And then there's that matter of taste.

The slippery slope comes from that issue of taste... you really need to look at processing RAW files in the context of what you prefer, what you like, rather than what is "best", or "more accurate". Think about film here. If accuracy was the key feature of a film, why would we have so many different emulsions? Every film, and RAW processor, renders the photograph differently, so the key to choosing is to find the one that works best, for you.

I find that I start with Adobe Camera RAW as the standard against which I measure most other processing software. It's the most common, it does a very good job making acceptable files from most cameras. The defaults are completely acceptable starting points for processing, and a good place to work from in comparing other software. My strategy is going to be to pull a test file into Camera RAW and process it at the default settings, and do the same with C1 Pro 4, and see how they compare.

I'm simply going to open the file, use the defaults, and click the gray patch on the ColorChecker to set the white point. Above, is the C1Pro screen, below is the ACR screen.


There are more differences between the two methods than I expected. Based on my last testing, I've always thought of C1 to be a fairly conservative, middle-or-the-road philosophy to file processing. Phase likes to keep to a less-saturated, by the numbers target, almost a flatter file. What I'm seeing here is a strategy more committed to the Phase philosophy- an accurate, and yet "snappy" file. Here's what I mean...



Here are my two files in Photoshop (processed as TIFFs). The first, most obvious thing we're seeing in the Photoshop file on the right, is what seems to be an overall cast of yellow, as seen most clearly in the bulletin board color. Even the grays, which I clicked as neutral, seem to be favoring a warm tone. Strangely, though, the red patch on the target looks more magenta than the C1 file- a common issue with many cameras, and one that affects skin tones... if red has a magenta shift, then Caucasian skin will not be quite so nicely rendered. The Adobe file may feel "prettier", by being warmer overall, but the Phase file seems more accurate.

I always think of music and speakers here. Do you want a speaker system that makes your favorite music sound best? ...or do you want speakers that are perfectly accurate, and reproduce the music exactly as it was recorded? The debate rages on...

Now here is something that was a little bit of a surprise to me. These comparisons, again the Phase on the left, the Adobe on the right, show a significant difference in sharpening levels at the default.



Phase has always gone for a snappy, sharpened look. The earlier versions of C1 played this down, but it seems like they've gone back to the original premise- an aggressively sharpened file looks better at first impression than a more conservative sharpening. At least, now, you can turn it down or off. Back in the early days, you couldn't.

The interesting thing is that it does look nice, on type, and with fine detail. However, take a look at this. Same deal, Phase on the left.



Here's where the aggressive sharpening bites you. What should be a nice continuous tone of gray has become grainy. The file sharpening has grabbed artifacts in the file and emphasized them to the point that the file now seems to be almost noisy. For every action... you know the drill.

My conclusions? You really have to decide what package brings you closer to where you want to end up, finally. For me, in a commercial environment, I'm more concerned with how the file looks, fast, with minimal processing. Because of the color accuracy and the initial sharpness impressions, I'm certain that the client will be more impressed with the Phase files, and, of course, I can always turn the sharpening settings down. For the highest quality, non-commercial processing, I'd probably do Adobe, figuring I'm at a more flexible starting point, and I can also use my Smart Objects in the RAW workflow... but that's for files that I'll fuss over for weeks.

Phase One has done a great job. The package is now a mature, full-featured system, they've been listening to the users, and C1 Pro continues to define what a RAW processing workflow should be. Try it our yourself, they give you a 30day download, and also keep in mind every camera model will give you a little different result. What I've seen with my little Canon G9 here, you may see differently with your Nikon D700.

Above all, use the right tool for the job.

Phase One Capture One Pro can be downloaded, with a simple registration, here.

Fun with Automator- Convert RAW to DNG (very nerdy)

Here's what I wanted. I want to download my card to my Desktop and have the RAW files inside processed to DNG for my backup. Automagically.

It really seemed simple enough, but I was thinking the "Hot Folder" approach, making a folder that, when you drop stuff into it, it activates a program. This required more skill in scripting than I have, or at least will admit to.

Ben Long, however, has put together an Automator action that starts up Adobe DNG Converter, and that is where we start. Automator is a free Apple program that allows guys like me to work with scripting as a drag-and-drop interface. They say it's all easy and stuff, but I found it pretty mystifying. Here's a walkthrough on how I made an Automator Application. Using this, I can simply drop my folder on the application icon and it does what I want- well, mostly.

Let's start with exactly what I want to do. I want to plug my card in to my computer and download the files to my desktop. I then want to drop those files onto something that will crank out DNG files and leave my original RAW files alone. Then I can just collect my files and store them away.

The first step is to go to the site with the Automator Action, that's here. Download it, open the .zip file, double-click on the "Convert Raw to DNG.action" and it will ask you if yo want to install it. Say "Install".

Now go to Automator. (Applications>Automator) You'll get this window, select Custom.



Here you have what is described as an intuitive interface. Uh. Maybe it is to some, I didn't really get it right away. On the left you have Actions, or things you can do. You grab them and assemble the Workflow on the right. As far as what I know how to do, the Actions aren't editable, so you get what you get. Ben Long, obviously, knows how to make and edit them... Here I've selected Photos, then I see Ben's Action. I've selected it and dragged it to the right side.



This Action is actually running Adobe DNG Converter, so you have to control it with the fields here. I've set up a folder for receiving my files, called DNG Out, and selected it here. If you leave everything else alone it will not rename or move your files.



The thing nobody really spells out is how you run this thing. Well, first you have to tell it what to run, so we're going to add a folder. Go back to the left side of Automator and pick Files and Folders, and select and drag Find Finder Items to the top of the right side. Now tell it where to look. I made a "RAW in" folder on the desktop and pointed it at that. (Select "other" from the pulldown.)

I also told it to look for .CR2 files, my camera's RAW files. Here's the whole window.



Now. If I go File>Save As, I get this window. If you select "Application" in the dropdown, rather than "Workflow", you'll get a neat little application icon.





All you have to do to use it is to drop your new camera files (usually in the default folder, 100CANON, in my G9's case) into the"RAW in" folder, grab the whole "RAW in" folder and drop it on that icon. Your original files will be sitting in the camera folder, your converted DNG files will be processed out to the DNG out folder. Now I just have to move the files into my storage folders... depending on how I've set that up, of course.

Hopefully this is enough of a tease to get you going using Automator a bit more. It's really kind of, er, fun (total nerd, I know...), and I went on to make a process that makes a new dated folder and duplicate my original RAW files into it to help me file the stuff away... but that's enough for now.

The Automator site is here, with all sorts of help.

For what it's worth, here's my little application, and here's the fancier one. I'm presuming you need Ben's Action installed for this to work, and I take no responsibility if it makes your computer disappear in a puff of smoke. You can open them in Automator and see what makes them work.

RAW PIPELINE in Shutterbug

Date: November 4, 2008 10:20:10 PM EST
To: ted@teddillard.com
Subject: Shutterbug

Hi Ted,
CONGRATULATIONS!!! I just looked at the new Shutterbug and The Raw Pipeline is listed as one of the top digital books to get. Way ta go!
Cheers
Cole

The Shutterbug Book Review site is here. (nothing up yet...)

DNG Petition, Call for camera support for DNG

Please show your support for Adobe's development of the DNG format as a universal, open file, and for camera manufacturers including DNG as an option for shooting and storing files, by clicking this link: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/dng01/petition.html .

From the Adobe DNG site: ( http://www.adobe.com/products/dng/ )

Raw file formats are becoming extremely popular in digital photography workflows because they offer creative professionals greater creative control. However, cameras can use many different raw formats — the specifications for which are not publicly available — which means that not every raw file can be read by a variety of software applications. As a result, the use of these proprietary raw files as a long-term archival solution carries risk, and sharing these files across complex workflows is even more challenging.

The solution to this growing problem? The Digital Negative (DNG), a publicly available archival format for the raw files generated by digital cameras. By addressing the lack of an open standard for the raw files created by individual camera models, DNG helps ensure that photographers will be able to access their files in the future.

It is time that the major camera manufacturers, in particular, Canon and Nikon as industry leaders, acknowledge and support Adobe's initiative as an industry standard, for the good of the photographic community.

Compact Cameras that shoot RAW

Canon:
PowerShot 600
PowerShot A5
PowerShot A50
PowerShot Pro 1
PowerShot S30
PowerShot S40
PowerShot S45
PowerShot S50
PowerShot S60
PowerShot S70
PowerShot G1
PowerShot G2
PowerShot G3
PowerShot G5
PowerShot G6
PowerShot G9
PowerShot Pro70
PowerShot Pro90 IS

Nikon:
Coolpix 5000
Coolpix 5400
Coolpix 5700
Coolpix 8400
Coolpix 8700
Coolpix 8800

Fuji:
FinePix E900
FinePix F700
FinePix IS-1
FinePix S100 FS
FinePix S20 Pro
FinePix S5000 Z
FinePix S5200/5600
FinePix S6000fd/S6500fd
FinePix S7000 Z
FinePix S9000/9500
FinePix S9100/9600

Olympus:
EVOLT E-300
EVOLT E 330
EVOLT E-400
EVOLT E-500
EVOLT E-510
C-5050 Zoom
C-5060 Zoom
C-7070 Wide Zoom
C-8080 Wide Zoom
SP-310
SP-320
SP-350
SP-570 UZ
E-410
SP-500UZ
SP-510 UZ
SP-550 UZ
SP-560 UZ

Leica:
D-Lux 2
D-Lux 3
Digilux 2
Digilux 3

Panasonic:
DMC-L1
DMC-LC1
DMC-LX1
DMC-LX2
DMC-FZ8

Smart Objects and RAW files

Very briefly, a Smart Object is a sweet new device that allows you to get back to all the original qualities of the original file. You can use it for all sorts of files, but we are going to use it for RAW files.

It’s really pretty simple. The Smart Object sits as a Layer in your image. You get to it by double clicking the icon, and it re-opens the Layer as the RAW file it was originally. Here’s how to do it.



Open a RAW file. When Photoshop opens it, it will open the Camera RAW dialog. At the very bottom of the Preview window you’ll see what looks like a webpage link… that is the button to your workflow options. Click it.

There you will see the box “Open in Photoshop as Smart Objects”. Check it.



Now, when you hit OK and go back to the Camera RAW screen you’ll note that the “Open Image” is now saying “Open Object”. Hit “Open Object”.

You will be transported to Photoshop’s main screen, where, with your Layers palett open, you’ll see your image with this cute little icon. Double-click that icon, and you are right back to Camera RAW and your RAW adjustments.
How cool is that?



The Smart Object workflow is actually a huge subject. Basically, they are Layers and you can do anything to them that you can do to any other adjustment or image layer. My book on it is due out shortly following this one… Yes, a book on Smart Objects. For now, though, I give a more detailed explanation and examples of workflows in my book “Raw Pipeline”.

For Steve: the Forward from Raw Pipeline

Forward

This whole thing really started when I sat down to play with an image I shot on the way to work. It was one of those images that I really thought I had no idea how I wanted to print. I shot it at dawn, and it had all the rich magenta, blue, yellow and peach hues, and a fairly large contrast range. In truth, the vision was there... as it always has been, I just was not used to the tools yet.

I did a quick conversion from RAW and played around. After a series of test prints, I finally got a print that I was happy with but when I looked at the many adjustment layers I had made to get there I realized I had hacked up the file pretty severely. I reprocessed the RAW, this time very deliberately for the values and tones I saw in my final test print file, and when I printed that file, a little light flipped on in my head. The print was remarkably richer and deeper. There were colors and transitions that simply had been missing. The first reprocessed print looked as I had visualized it when I shot it.

The entire process started coming together: The implications of the RAW file, Adobe’s release of Camera RAW, a 16 bit Layered workflow, Adjustment Layers, Image Layers and Masking, linking the Histogram display on the camera to printing the Step Wedge...

On reading my chapter on the Histogram and the Step Wedge, a friend said that, for the first time since he started working with Photoshop, he realized we still needed Ansel Adams and the Zone System.

I couldn’t have put it better.