I have just received a very positive call from the Head of Tech Support at Phase One.
The problem has been specifically identified and a fix has been found.
4.5.2 is in the final stages of testing and will be released tomorrow. It will fix the problem discussed in this thread.
For those technically inclined: Here is the problem from a technical point of view. The Mac OS uses extensive Disk Caching to improve performance (this is nothing new or unusual). This means that a file can appear in the finder as a full-and-final looking file even though the drive itself has not written the actual 1s and 0s. There is a problem with a specific set of circumstances (this is where it goes over my head) where a program crash can cause the stack of images in the disk cache to be lost. Therefore the only thing left on the hard drive was the placeholder (the name, location, and thumbnail) and not any of the actual data, hence the 0kb file size. Again, even as technical as I am (I was a UI programmer for several years) some of this is beyond me. The part that really matters is that the fix to the problem involves checking the cache and ensuring that at most two images are in the cache at one time. This means that at absolute worst (and this would be very unlikely) a hard-crash (hard drive unplugged, power failure, software crash) would compromise the most recent two tethered captures (and only for a brief period after capture).
I would also point out that there was a lot of confusion in the last several days. Any number of issues (including user error) tend to get wrapped up into the most recent known problem. The Head of Tech Support said they have spoken with everyone who reported this problem to phase through their "contact support" on phaseone.com. They tell me the problem was quite rare. In almost every case the person was not able to reproduce the error, adding to the length to confirm there was a problem and find/solve it. Never would I say this excuses anything, but hopefully it does explain a bit.
Capture Integration will be doing our own testing of 4.5.2 when it is released and encourage any of our customers who choose to use or test 4.5.2 to give us feedback on stability/performance. As always I encourage you to read our Ideal Tethered Setup, none of which is necessary, but all of which is a good idea. You'll hear from us either way, though to get proper feedback and testing will take time.
This problem, scary as it was, notwithstanding, I still in my heart believe that Phase One is the best choice for a pro who wants performance and speed of workflow. Hopefully the 4.5.2 release and subsequent releases will strengthen their position as the cornerstone of the tethered market.
Doug Peterson, Head of Technical Services
Capture Integration, Phase One Dealer | Personal Portfolio
Doug,
you and your group should be commended for staying on top of this and being public and transparent. I'm sure you've helped a lot of people because it seems to me your group is the public face of this issue.
what I don't understand is why phase didn't send out some kind of official statement through their e-mail blasts. they are very good at sending out an e-mail everytime they want to demo a frozen back or put a land rover on top of one, but when there are issues, they just go quiet, leaving it to you and your group to take the heat.
sure, phase makes a good product, but their silence is legendary when there are problems and if not, it appears that way.
in today's business climate I find a lot of this fascinating. everyone is going through hard times and every client excpects more. I am in the middle of a project and at this point we are walking wounded, shooting 4,000 to 3,000 files a day and the expenses on this project and staggering. I can't imagine how I would feel if images started getting lost even one of them.
I can't begin to tell you what a client's reaction would be to this is any file was lost.
and it's not just client expectations. we have crew pulling 18 hour days and they are as proud of the work we are producing as I am. if something isn't right and a series was lost of corrupted it would take the wind out of their sails and cost of many 10's of thousands of dollars.
at a professional level this is an extremely serious business (I know that you understand that) but for phase to report that a lot of this is user error (even if that is true) doesn't change the fact that they yanked 4.5 and 4.51 off the server and now have 4.5.2 . Obvously something was wrong and the moment it was discovered phase should have informed everyone, that moment.
once again, your group is on top of it, but phase and a lot of other medium format companies could do a lot better job of being clear and upfront.
sometimes I think these companies live in their own bubble.
I don't envy your job one bit.
