Kuuvik Capture 4 : Image Browser Enhancements

August 20, 2018 by

During software development we create several tools that never see the day of light. These are for internal use only, and aid in a multitude of ways. For example for testing the image and metadata encoding components in Technical Camera we needed something that can display both the image and its metadata quickly. So we built a special version of Kuuvik Capture that could do that. And it turned out to be so useful in everyday culling and image browsing that we merged the code from this special internal version to the released app.

The tool I’m referring to is called extended metadata tooltips.

When activated, it adds GPS location (including altitude), color space, artist, copyright, camera owner, serial number and producing software information to Image Browser tooltips besides the usual basic camera and exposure data.

It is off by default, and you can choose between the regular (basic) and the extended metadata display via a new preference.

GPS coordinates are nice, but it’s much better if you can see the location on a map. So the Show on Map command (also accessible by pressing Cmd+G) was born. As the name implies, it will open Apple Maps with a pin dropped at the image’s location.

Besides these, the Imager Browser also gained the ability to read star ratings from JPG files (as it does from Canon RAWs). Of course you can always override the embedded ratings from within the app.

Kuuvik Capture 4.0 is available on the Mac App Store. It is a free update for users who purchased the app earlier from there. You can see the complete list of new features and changes in the release notes.

My updated eBook, Kuuvik Capture Inside Out is also available for download, free of charge for both existing and prospective users.

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Kuuvik Capture 4 : Self-Timer(s)

August 19, 2018 by

Kuuvik Capture 4 supports two methods to achieve the self-timer functionality: one built right into the app, and another via the camera.

The app’s implementation is accessible through the intervalometer. In version 4 we’ve lowered the minimum for the Number of Shots field to 1 (it was 2 in previous versions). In this case Trigger Interval is ignored, and the app waits the time specified in Beginning Delay before capturing an image. It also works for brackets, and mirror-lock up (even in auto-release mode) just like the normal intervalometer functionality. Since this is an exposure sequence, you have to use the Run Sequence button (Cmd+R) instead of Capture. This is the method we recommend to use.

There’s one situation, however, in which the camera’s 2s and 10s self-timer drive modes come into play. In a rather awkward fashion, the RC-1/5/6 infrared remote control works only with self-timer drive modes. Kuuvik Capture manages the camera’s drive mode to avoid potential issues caused by some of those (for example continuous drive), and switches back to single frame capture when the camera is in an incompatible drive mode. Now the app accepts both the 2s and 10s self-timer as compatible, so you can use the IR remote to trigger the camera.

You need to set the self-timer/remote control drive mode directly on the camera. While mirror lock-up set in the app will work, auto-release will not.

Kuuvik Capture 4.0 is available on the Mac App Store. It is a free update for users who purchased the app earlier from there. You can see the complete list of new features and changes in the release notes.

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Kuuvik Capture 4 : Image Display Enhancements

August 18, 2018 by

Kuuvik Capture 4.0 is now available on the Mac App Store. This is the first release in the version 4 series, and brings the first batch of enhancements to the app. The first batch, because instead of waiting for every single feature we planned for version 4 to be complete (and delaying the release significantly), we decided make new features available as they are ready, so you can enjoy their benefits as soon as possible.

Let’s begin discussing the new stuff with the display engine. My FastPath imaging engine, that provides highly optimized image decoding and display, debuted in Technical Camera. Later on the Mark II Artist’s Viewfinder received it. And now Kuuvik Capture joins the club. It provides up to 2x faster JPG display (including the JPG previews embedded into RAW files), plus massive memory savings: I had measured around 100 megabytes less GPU memory usage with 5DS R files, for example.

But the story doesn’t end here. In contrast to this lightning fast preview display, it seemed that RAW loading and decoding (that’s a prerequisite for the RAW histogram and RAW-based clipping warnings) takes forever. And we wanted that users could begin working on the images the instant they appear on the screen. So we made RAW data loading asynchronous, taking place in the background. There’s no more waiting for the “Loading” progress bar.

A circular progress indicator on the RAW histogram’s panel lets you know how the loading goes forward. With the exception of a few operations (such as image deletion and purging) you are allowed to do anything during RAW loading. If you move to another image or capture a new one, loading is automatically cancelled, so you don’t have to waste your time on waiting for something that will be instantly thrown away.

And there’s even more. RAW loading consumes a lot of energy, and there are situations when conserving battery is of paramount importance. Thus we added a new preference to be able to turn off automatic loading completely.

The default is to automatically load RAW data, so that both the RAW histogram and clipping warnings could work as expected. Well, there’s a little difference from previous versions: with the Prefer RAW clipping warning option you’ll see the processed warning layers until the ones generated from RAW data arrive. In previous versions these processed clipping warning layers were not displayed at all.

Should you need the histogram or the warning layers later on, you always have the option to load the RAW data manually. Just click the placeholder on the RAW histogram, or choose the Load RAW data command from the menu, or press Cmd+L.

Power efficiency and speed were always cornerstone features of Kuuvik Capture. This new release brings both to a completely new level.

The last on the list of image display enhancements is support for images in color spaces other than sRGB and Adobe RGB. While images produced by Canon cameras are always in one of these two, images from other sources can be in others as well. For example JPG files produced by Technical Camera can be in the Display P3 color space. ProPhoto RGB and Display P3 are supported on macOS 10.11.2 or later, and arbitrary profiles on macOS 10.12 or later.

Kuuvik Capture 4.0 is available on the Mac App Store. It is a free update for users who purchased the app earlier from there. You can see the complete list of new features and changes in the release notes.

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Kuuvik Capture 3.3 : Monochrome Mode

November 6, 2017 by

Kuuvik Capture had a mono peaking mode from day one. But in some situations it’s preferred to have just monochrome viewing without the addition of focus peaking. This is exactly what Monochrome Mode does in version 3.3. The image and live view will be converted to monochrome, while everything else (the image browser, navigator) will remain in color.

Monochrome Mode active in Kuuvik Capture 3.3

It is not just similar to the Mono peaking mode, but in fact they both display the luminance channel (the L in Lab mode) of the image. The only difference is that Monochrome mode does not activate peaking.

They are interconnected, though. Turning on Monochrome mode when peaking is active, and is in Color mode will switch peaking into Mono mode. Turning off Monochrome mode when peaking is active in Mono mode will switch peaking into Color mode. If peaking is active in Color mode when Monochrome mode is turned on, it will switch into Mono mode. Choosing the Color peaking mode will turn off Monochrome mode.

Monochrome mode is also available during live view and movie recording. But unlike the Monochrome picture style, it only converts the image into grayscale for display. Recorded images and movie files are not affected.

Monochrome mode can be toggled from the menu (View > Monochrome) or by pressing Ctrl+Cmd+M.

Kuuvik Capture 3.3 is available on the Mac App Store. It is a free update for users who purchased the app earlier from there. You can see the complete list of new features and changes in the release notes.

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Kuuvik Capture Inside Out Updated

October 18, 2017 by

It took a while to update all the screen shots and stuff, but I’m happy to announce that the long awaited update to my eBook Kuuvik Capture Inside Out is now available.

It covers all new features introduced in Kuuvik Capture 3.2 and 3.3.

It is distributed in a PDF file, optimized for viewing on iPads. Because it’s a PDF, you can read it on any device, be it a tablet, a Mac or a PC, and in numerous PDF reader applications.

As usual, you can download it free of charge from the Kuuvik Capture web site.

Enjoy!

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Kuuvik Capture 3.3 : Live View Performance

October 8, 2017 by

Performance is a feature. This is something I take very seriously and strive to maintain the highest performance and power efficiency possible. In this post I’ll show the huge gains attainable with carefully crafted code, and hopefully shed some light on why one wants to spend money on Kuuvik Capture, despite Canon has a free tethering app. Well, if the myriad features wouldn’t be enough reason…

What you are going to see is the comparison of processor utilization and power consumption during a live view session between Kuuvik Capture and EOS Utility. Live view is one of my favorite performance test cases, since the continuous picture stream stresses image decoding and display components.

Let’s begin with the processor utilization figures. They were obtained with Activity Monitor on my Mid-2012 15″ Retina MacBook Pro (2.6GHz, 16GB, dual graphics) running macOS 10.12.6. The camera was a Canon EOS 7D Mark II, connected via USB 3. All tests used the same scene under the same lighting and same exposure. Live view windows were maximized to occupy as much screen real estate as they possibly could. 100% means one of the processor cores is fully utilized, 200% means two cores, etc. Since the values oscillate a bit, what I show is an average of several minutes.

Kuuvik Capture had sharpening, focus peaking and clipping warnings enabled, while EOS Utility have no such features at all.

OK, it’s a brutal difference, but how does this translate to battery life? Power consumption was measured with coconutBattery 3.4. Again, you see an average of several minutes.

The orange line at 10 watts is the idle power consumption of my MacBook Pro (you know, display, SSD and stuff when the computer does nothing useful).

Live view in EOS Utility burns through your battery in less than half of the time that it would last with Kuuvik Capture.

And if you turn off sharpening, focus peaking and real-time clipping warnings in Kuuvik Capture (just to be fair), it’s power consumption drops to a mere 16 watts. This is at the level of lightweight web browsing with Safari.

In real world situations it means that you could work all day on a single charge with Kuuvik Capture. A happy user recently told me that one day he forgot the charger at home, and had to do the whole-day architecture shoot on battery. His 13″ MacBook Air not just accomplished that, but it had some charge left at the end of the day.

Performance and power consumption are important for those who would like to tether their cameras away from power. And for those who care about our planet. We invest a lot into optimizing performance and efficiency, and the above figures reflect all that effort – and make me incredibly proud.

Kuuvik Capture 3.3 is available on the Mac App Store. It is a free update for users who purchased the app earlier from there. You can see the complete list of new features and changes in the release notes.

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