Focus Tool for tethered work

Capture One Pro 7 has a Focus Tool, which allows you to inspect your image at a zoom range of 25 – 400%.

Useful for tethered shooting

The Focus Tool is especially useful when creating still-life images or product shots in a tethered setup shooting directly into the Capture Folder in Capture One Pro 7.

By using the Focus Tool you can at the same time have an overview of the whole image while being able to inspect a critical area at 100%.

In Capture One Pro 7 on a Mac it is even possible to have multiple Focus Tools open at the same time for instance to be able to control the total depth of field in a scene.

The Focus Tool in its default place in the Details Tool Tab

The Focus Tool is by default placed in the Details Tool tab but as with most tools in Capture One Pro 7 you can make it floating.

At the bottom of the tool you can select the “pick focus point” cursor and click in the viewer to inspect the preview image at 100%.  At the bottom of the tool you can also change the Focus Tool zoom rate.

If you select the Pan Cursor Tool (hand) you can pan inside the Focus Tool. Double-click in the Focus Tool to change zoom resolution between 25% and 100%.  With a scroll wheel mouse you can simple scroll to zoom in or out.

A third method to navigate the Focus Tool is by using the overview feature.  On a PC you simply press the spacebar while the Pan Cursor is inside the tool.  On a Mac you need to right-click with the Pan Cursor Tool inside the Focus Tool and click into the overview window.

The overview window inside the Focus Tool 

The white frame indicates the area, which is displayed in Focus Tool.  With the mouse you can now simply move the white frame.

Multiple Focus Windows

When using Capture One Pro 7 on a Mac Computer you have the option to use multiple Focus windows simultaneously.  This is a very useful option when creating an image where you need to control your depth of field very precisely.

To add another Focus Tool simply select “Create Floating Tool” / “Focus” in the Windows menu.  Once you have a new Focus Tool you can dock it below the first one in the Details Tool tab.

I have now docked my extra Focus Tool right under the first Focus Tool in the Details Tool Tab.

When working with two or more Focus Tools, only use the Pan Tool inside the Focus Tool to navigate to where you want to inspect the image. This way the two Focus Tools can inspect different areas of the image simultaneously.

When you browse between different images or when you capture a new image tethered the two different zoom positions will be maintained.

In the example below I was using the Schneider Kreuznach 120mm MF TS f/5.6 tilt and shift lens. I wanted to place the focus on all the bottle labels even though the bottles were placed at a 30-degree angle.

On the viewfinder it is hard to see, if I am perfectly focused so I need to check the focus in Capture One Pro 7. I used two Focus Tools to inspect each end of the row of bottles. This way it was much faster to achieve the right setup of the Tilt and Shift lens.  So even though I need to iterate a few times to get it perfect it was achieved very quickly.

All the best,

Niels

The Image Quality Professor

The digital pioneer, Niels V. Knudsen, is Phase One’s Image Quality Professor and founder of the IQP blog. Moreover, he is responsible for breakthrough advancements in image quality both in Phase One’s medium format camera systems and in Capture One Pro.