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Author Topic: Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor  (Read 3481 times)

photolinia

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Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor
« on: May 16, 2009, 09:28:35 pm »

Hello,

Earlier, I downloaded firmware upgrades for my H3DII-39 through phocus which caused all sots of errors.

I purchased a powered firewire hub, which I was told would ensure that the camera is getting enough power.

Through this hub I was somehow able to get flexcolor to see the camera and immediately suggest that a different firmware was needed to make it usable with
flexcolor - i installed the firmware
I now have the following versions according to camera menu 4.4
body: 1.1.0
        15.0.0
mag  2.9.0
vf:    1.0.2
lens: 12.0.0

not sure what some of those mean,
but the errors went away and the display appearance changed slightly in the camera...

however, after this I a no longer able to make either phocus or flexcolor see the camera at all!!

Any help would be appreciated.
thanks!
-ilya
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jecxz

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Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2009, 09:53:15 pm »

Quote from: photolinia
I purchased a powered firewire hub, which I was told would ensure that the camera is getting enough power.

-ilya
Yes, that was my recommendation from http://www.hasselbladdigitalforum.com/inde...sg2344.html#new and sometimes I had issues with FC seeing the camera a long time ago... but no problems lately. What I suggest is try connecting the camera before starting FC and then after, try restarting the PC... at some point it should be seen. Fact that a powered hub helped points to your PC. Post your config over at the link at hasselbladdigitalforum.com.

Otherwise, maybe David or Nick-T could offer some other suggestion. Good luck.

Kind regards,
Derek
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photolinia

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Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2009, 10:00:37 pm »

Quote from: jecxz
Yes, that was my recommendation from http://www.hasselbladdigitalforum.com/inde...sg2344.html#new and sometimes I had issues with FC seeing the camera a long time ago... but no problems lately. What I suggest is try connecting the camera before starting FC and then after, try restarting the PC... at some point it should be seen. Fact that a powered hub helped points to your PC. Post your config over at the link at hasselbladdigitalforum.com.

Otherwise, maybe David or Nick-T could offer some other suggestion. Good luck.

Kind regards,
Derek

Thanks!
I've restarted my computer more often today than in the last year, I think...
I've also tried every possible sequence of power on, open phocus/flex color / connect imaginable...

do you think i should forget phocus until i get flexcolor to work?  should phocus still see the camera even with latest firmware from fc?

thanks!
-ilya
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photolinia

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Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2009, 11:14:10 pm »

Quote from: photolinia
Thanks!
I've restarted my computer more often today than in the last year, I think...
I've also tried every possible sequence of power on, open phocus/flex color / connect imaginable...

do you think i should forget phocus until i get flexcolor to work?  should phocus still see the camera even with latest firmware from fc?

thanks!
-ilya


So I've restarted the computer again and performed some combination of camera-on / firewire-in / phocus open
that made phocus see the camera and I was able to shoot tethered.
Then i disconnected the camera and was never again able to make phocus see it...

This is frustrating.  Is there a magic dance I need to perform each time to make this work?


I've never done tethering operation before, but have heard/seen people struggle with it.  
-ilya
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AlexM

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Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor
« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2009, 01:06:53 am »

Quote from: photolinia
So I've restarted the computer again and performed some combination of camera-on / firewire-in / phocus open
that made phocus see the camera and I was able to shoot tethered.
Then i disconnected the camera and was never again able to make phocus see it...

This is frustrating.  Is there a magic dance I need to perform each time to make this work?


I've never done tethering operation before, but have heard/seen people struggle with it.  
-ilya

I had a similar problem with a non-original firewire cable. Some cables give errors or the camera won't connect at all.

Dustbak

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Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor
« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2009, 03:21:01 am »

Does it work with just 1 firewire cable directly attached to a firewire port on your computer? Also keep in mind that with some machines the front firewire port is less reliable than the ones in the back.

Get it to work directly attached to your machine first. There are quite a few cables and firewire hubs that perform below par. Most connection problems I have had are cable related. I always have several spare new cables with me.

I assume you got the firmware which is in 4.8.6 currently?
« Last Edit: May 17, 2009, 03:27:42 am by Dustbak »
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photolinia

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Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2009, 03:49:31 am »

Guys - thank you all for your help...

So I finally got Phocus connecting to the camera fairly reliably by following this magic formula.

1-start phocus
2-connect the camera in the off state
3-turn on the camera

I also got rid of the hub - it was not adding any value

By doing this  I was now able to connect to phocus 3 times out of 4 tries ...

It is still not as solid as I would like it to be and I have no clue as to why it was not connecting at all before!!

In my case, my laptop did not have a firewire port built in - I had to get it through a plug in PCI express card - which may be part of the problem...

I'm hoping to find a more reliable permanent solution in the future somehow

thanks,
-ilya
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Dustbak

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Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor
« Reply #7 on: May 17, 2009, 04:26:06 am »

Good to hear but it should work almost flawless so you probably have to do a bit more fine-tuning.

I primarily went to Mac for the 6pin firewire port on their laptops. At that time I still used Leaf which I experienced as the most stable and reliable teethering solution even though I now got the Hasselblad to a point where it is really reliable. I still carry spare cables and am always careful with attaching & detaching. The akward place of the firewire port on my CF back almost guarantuees I wreck a cable once in every while. I prefer to buy the cheap cables because I rather wreck a cable than my backs firewire port.
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jecxz

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Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor
« Reply #8 on: May 17, 2009, 05:23:53 am »

I agree, it should be flawless. I connect without problems to PC and laptop (with the laptop I use the powered Firewire hub, not with the PC).

What kind of PC computer (386, 486, Pentium)? Windows 2000, XP or Vista?

Kind regards,
Derek
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photolinia

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Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor
« Reply #9 on: May 17, 2009, 10:57:17 am »

I use a Sony Vaio Dual core / 2G ram.  I try to avoid Vista at all costs, so it has XP.
It's about 18 months old.  I've been contemplating getting a new laptop with faster processor and 4G of RAM, but I honestly doubt it would make much of a difference...
One clear problem with my laptop is the lack of built in firewire ports, so I use a plug in express card.  
I've been thinking that perhaps the problems I've been having were due to not properly disconnecting the card before pulling the cable.

Do you guys always perform device disconnect before unplugging the camera?  

thanks for all your great support!
-ilya
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Dustbak

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Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor
« Reply #10 on: May 17, 2009, 11:01:31 am »

I use Mac, bought it typically for this purpose. Never regretted it.

I yank out the cable and plug it in without thinking most of the time and sometimes even during shooting. No problems, it needs to think for a moment and connects again. It is pretty rare I need to restart Phocus or Flexcolor (I still prefer Flexcolor over Phocus for multishot).
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photolinia

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Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor
« Reply #11 on: May 17, 2009, 11:54:17 am »

I've been hesitant to move to Macs, though I know mostly everyone in the industry uses macs...  It's just that I've always had PCs with windows
and am kind of afraid of running into compatibility issues going from one to another...  plus all my software is for windows...
I don't hink there is a clear performance advantage one way or another, other than the fact that mac clearly has better firewire support.
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Carsten W

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Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor
« Reply #12 on: May 17, 2009, 11:57:14 am »

Quote from: photolinia
I've been hesitant to move to Macs, though I know mostly everyone in the industry uses macs...  It's just that I've always had PCs with windows
and am kind of afraid of running into compatibility issues going from one to another...  plus all my software is for windows...
I don't hink there is a clear performance advantage one way or another, other than the fact that mac clearly has better firewire support.

If your budget isn't too stretched, you could get an entry-level MacBook Pro for tethering, and stay with Windows for the main work, and then decide with time if you want to transition fully.
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Carsten W - [url=http://500px.com/Carste

csp

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Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor
« Reply #13 on: May 17, 2009, 12:36:49 pm »

Quote from: photolinia
I've been hesitant to move to Macs, though I know mostly everyone in the industry uses macs...  It's just that I've always had PCs with windows
and am kind of afraid of running into compatibility issues going from one to another...  plus all my software is for windows...
I don't hink there is a clear performance advantage one way or another, other than the fact that mac clearly has better firewire support.



there should not be any problem you can use windows & software via bootcamp on any intel  mac. if you later prefer using osx  as your main os most software companies offer a cross-grade.
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photolinia

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Help - problems connecting H3DII-39 to phocus/flexcolor
« Reply #14 on: May 17, 2009, 12:52:21 pm »

I'm actually waiting for windows 7 as the platform for my next laptop.  Hopefully it can offer all the advantages of Vista with 8Gig RAM, 64 bits, etc without the bugs...
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