"CAP DB" error

[rafsanchez]

I was shooting today with my 645DF+ and IQ160 and after around 6 hours shooting, towards the end of the day's shoot, I was getting an error message "CAP DB" and the camera (1) stopped triggering my flashes (I was using an Elinchrom SpeedPort on the flash hotshoe); and (2) did not seem to respect my shutter speed setting whilst in "M" mode.

I changed the batteries in both the IQ160 and the 645DF+ and tried both tethered and un-tethered shooting but I was still getting the error message though weirdly if I changed the mode dial on the camera from "M" to "Tv" the error message disappeared and the camera would fire respecting my shutter setting and the flashes would trigger.

Can anyone help with any suggestions as to how I fix this problem? I have another shoot tomorrow!

I have uploaded a video to YouTube to show the error message: http://youtu.be/5likC1JsFDg

[Paul_Steunebrink]

If you do have leaf shutter lenses, does the error occur there as well? (I noticed from the video that you used the focal plane shutter (FS), or that the camera selected a the FS because you selected a short exposure time.)

[rafsanchez]

I actually received a helpful (if disappointing!) response from PhaseONE support that I hope is of use to anyone with the same issue:

"It appears that there has been a minor electrical problem in the body and as such it is not properly communicating to the leaf shutter...While this requires repair, there is a workaround. You should be able to capture normally if you disable the leaf shutter and just use the body's focal plane shutter. You can do this by changing the custom functions for "Shutter in M mode" to Only Focal Plane. On the body dial this is CF-18 that you would change to 2. Just besure that you activate the custom function set that you modify. If you modify set A be sure that set A is activated... This is the most common mistake people make when setting custom functions."

[rafsanchez]

Another follow up - I hired a replacement camera for a shoot yesterday (whilst my 645DF+ is being repaired) and the "CAP DB" error was still displaying in the camera's LCD in 1 of every 5 shots although it disappears after about 5 seconds allowing me to take the shot.

I therefore suspect this error also has something to do with the back and not just the camera...

[Drew]

Remove the lens and take a capture. If the delay is gone the you know the issue to be related to the Lens... unless of course the camera body you're using in the interim is NOT a DF or DF+, as these are the only two camera's with full support for the IQ160 and LS Lenses.

[David Cohen de Lara]

I'm having the exact same error but I'm not using an LS lens (p1 150mm 2.8 ).

I can take a shot, but then it shows 'cap db' and I can't shoot another picture. After a while the display changes to 'Err db'. It clears up after a few minutes or when I switch the back off and on again. Then I can again take one shot before everything stops.

I'm shooting on location in Spain for a client. This is the first day of a four day shoot so I'm highly annoyed. I just got my 645df body back from servicing because that crapped out on a shoot in Munich a few weeks ago. I'm using a loaner 150mm because my own 110mm is being serviced after it locked up during a shoot, even though I had just gotten it back from repair because it locked up a few weeks before...

[rafsanchez]

I'm still having intermittent lock-ups with both SK LS lenses and also an old Mamiya macro lens. Guess it's time for another service request...

[David Cohen de Lara]

Guess it's time for another service request...

I know, right? All my P1 gear is less than one year old. I only shoot about twice a week but in the last nine months I've had SIX total gear faillures where something just stopped working in the middle of a shoot and had to go in for servicing. I laugh at anyone who claims P1 is professional equipment. I shot Nikon for six years without a single problem. With Phase One I'm taking something back to the dealer for servicing _literally_ once every six weeks.

[NN1477472]

Hey all here, just ran into this problem on set myself, seemed to be a problem with the back overheating due to zero latency setting on iq160 back. I set the shutter latency to normal and once the back cooled down it worked fine. Hope this helps.

[mihhailov]

Hi all,

ran into the same issue of "cap db" for my IQ160 with 645DF camera.
Switching camera on and off after each shot let me to finish my shooting.
Issue appeared after upgrading digital back to 5.11.36
Switching off option "Power Off With Camera" seemed to help.

Overall I am very disappointed with reliability of this expensive equipment. I always have to bring my DSLR camera as a backup and quite often end up using it due to glitches of medium format.

[Ulf]

Hi

If you upgraded the firmware on the back to 5.11 then you have to upgrade the DF body to 1.58 for it to work optimal.
(DF+ it would be 2.27)

[David Cohen de Lara]

Hi Ulf,

How many 'Cap DB' or 'Err DB' errors would you say are acceptable for a Phase One system with the new firmware? Should the ratio of correct clicks to freeze-ups be 10 to 1, or 100 to 1 or more like 1000 to 1?

I'm still getting several errors per day that require me to power cycle the camera. Half the time a power cycle doesn't work and then I need to unscrew the lens or do something else. This happens on my older 645DF body as well as my newer 645DF+ body (which just spontaneously gave up completely, but that's another story).