Phase One digital back success: return to the Mac

I think this has the appropriate level of recursion

I’m still not sure if anyone wants to hear about my travails getting digital back for my old camera. But things have gone so well today that I really want to tell everyone (or at least both of my readers) all about it.

Yesterday I discovered that it was all but impossible to get my recently acquired Phase One digital camera back (frog number two) working on a Windows machine. So today I went into the garage and dug out a venerable MacBook Pro that I’ve had for ages. I used it to write “Begin to Code C#” all those years ago. Just like me to write a book with that title on a machine with no # key on the keyboard. But I digress.

It turns out that things kept in the garage survive the experience. It booted up first time and I even remembered my password. It works a treat. In fact it works so well I got to wondering what new laptops do which made them worth the upgrade. Then I tried to pick it up, and I remembered.

I installed the appropriate version of Capture One, plugged the cable from the back into the firewire port on the side of the machine and lo and behold, it worked. It turns out that the FireWire port on a MacBook Pro (or at least this one) puts out enough current to power the back.

This was the first shot I took out of the window

I took a few pictures. It seems strange to be using a digital camera and still have to set the exposure. You configure the “film speed” of the back and then expose for that. But you have the advantage of seeing your shot straight after taking it. This gives you a proper “film” experience, just with really fast developing.

Capture One is an awesome program. I’m using version 6 from 2013. It runs fine on the MacBook. It is a professional tool, which means the learning curve is a bit steep, but it works a treat. I might try the newer versions (which might work on the Mac) but I’m not going to push my luck too far…

I now have a “portable” camera system, as long as I take along the Phase One back, MacBook and the cable that links them together. The resolution is not that great, but I don’t care. The pictures look really nice to me. And I’ve only had to kiss two frogs to get where I want to be.