aizan
Veteran
I don't think any mobile apps can do what CornerFix can, so it'll be a "real" computer only solution. Not great for sharing photos, but fine for more "serious" purposes.
ranger9
Well-known
Easy fix that usually works, assuming you normally have a cell phone with you: Just keep the Pixii app open on your phone. You don't need to have wifi on — the app communicates with the camera via Bluetooth — and you never need to look at the app if you don't want to. But the camera and app communicate bidirectionally, so settings you make on the camera get reflected in the app. Then after a battery change, the next time the app handshakes with the camera, your settings get sent back to the camera. It's like having outboard NVRAM. This also makes sure your photos' EXIF data has correct date-and-time stamps.
olakiril
Well-known
Leica's digital bodies are known to correct for vignette/color shifting to some degree at least with coded lenses.
https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic...ge/4/#comments
I guess Pixii does not. But since it is a responsive company you should ask for this. Maybe not to automatically detect the lens but you could in theory set it from the smartphone.
My guess is that the Hasselblad also corrects this in software because it doesn't make sense to optimize micro lenses in the CFV II 50C for wide incidence rays since that would degrade the performance when using it on 50x bodies.
https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic...ge/4/#comments
I guess Pixii does not. But since it is a responsive company you should ask for this. Maybe not to automatically detect the lens but you could in theory set it from the smartphone.
My guess is that the Hasselblad also corrects this in software because it doesn't make sense to optimize micro lenses in the CFV II 50C for wide incidence rays since that would degrade the performance when using it on 50x bodies.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
My horseback view of Pixii is that currently they are in a late-stage beta mode. This is not a finished product. Fortunately the camera is a Linux computer and can be programmed to fix any woes it has and may have in the future. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that this is the only computer with a lens being sold as a consumer camera.
This is the difference between a mechanical adding machine and an HP pocket calculator. And let's be realistic about what is going on here, some complaints by non-users are like saying the baby cannot run the 440. This is a work in progress. I believe in the concept and its initial form and method. You know people laughed at Jobs and Wozniak, too. GoPro talent is deeply involved in this. GoPro was laughed at, too. How can those two freaks compete with IBM? Who needs a tiny movie camera to put on their head? And neither will probably work or sell, anyway.
Mechanical watches are pretty but if you want an accurate watch buy a quartz crystal one. Everything is becoming computerized because it is better, more accurate and cheaper. Film cameras, wet plate cameras will be with us for a long time. We still have horse-drawn carriages, too.
This is the difference between a mechanical adding machine and an HP pocket calculator. And let's be realistic about what is going on here, some complaints by non-users are like saying the baby cannot run the 440. This is a work in progress. I believe in the concept and its initial form and method. You know people laughed at Jobs and Wozniak, too. GoPro talent is deeply involved in this. GoPro was laughed at, too. How can those two freaks compete with IBM? Who needs a tiny movie camera to put on their head? And neither will probably work or sell, anyway.
Mechanical watches are pretty but if you want an accurate watch buy a quartz crystal one. Everything is becoming computerized because it is better, more accurate and cheaper. Film cameras, wet plate cameras will be with us for a long time. We still have horse-drawn carriages, too.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Leica takes great pains to produce and develop lens profiles for their lenses that help correct the optical match in order to meet the original design intent of the lenses. It's a complicated game and can really only be done by the lens designers who have the testing equipment necessary. Other lens profiles produced by third parties, and for third party lenses, are rarely as efficient. It's a lot of work to do this and to keep the profiles up to date.
Hasselblad does the same thing with their Phocus software for both XCD and other Hasselblad lens lines with the CFV digital backs. Again, they have the lenses and the equipment to do an expert job...
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ptpdprinter
Veteran
Do you have a delivery date and time from UPS?
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Sadly, my recent experience with UPS says to me that their credibility when it comes to international packages is just about nil.
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boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
You just poked an abscessed tooth. The camera was in the local UPS warehouse Thursday. Through a screw up on my part it was being held because the duties and fees were not paid but I was never advised I had to pay before and not upon delivery. Those were paid on Friday. However now UPS says that they have no delivery date for the camera but it is "In Transit."
I talked to UPS Customer Service and was shifted to International where I was told it was "In Transit" and would be here "within five days" I remarked that it was about six miles from me and I could walk out there and get the camera and be back in less time. The UPS guy said, "Why don't you?" He must have overlooked being paid to deliver it. He refused to give me his name.
David Barth at Pixii has been more than helpful. Where UPS has fallen short Pixii has compensated and then some. I cannot say enough for how helpful David has been. The latest is that he is filing a complaint with UPS and doing whatever he can at his end to get this thing to my door.
As for me all I can do is bide my time and learn patience. Those bright lights you will be seeing in the sky will be the fireworks of celebration when Pixii is here.
Thanks for asking.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
Godfrey, you are overly kind and way too generous. This is the classic case of screwing up a one car funeral from inside the coffin.
Good point about International, though. Domestic has always been good in my experience.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
The only thing that UPS International has not done to screw this up is to stomp the package. They said they tried to deliver it but could not and are sending it back to France. That is total BS as I have been home all day on the chance they would try to deliver it even though they had not informed me that they were delivering.
There is nothing UPS International neglected to do to screw this up. Failure across the board.
I did get a really nice guy on the International 800 number, Victor. He bent over backwards to help me. I asked where he was from. Guatemala. I had been there a long, long time ago so we had a good chat. Hopefully he can get UPS International to get its act together.
Time for some dinner. Sheesh.
There is nothing UPS International neglected to do to screw this up. Failure across the board.
I did get a really nice guy on the International 800 number, Victor. He bent over backwards to help me. I asked where he was from. Guatemala. I had been there a long, long time ago so we had a good chat. Hopefully he can get UPS International to get its act together.
Time for some dinner. Sheesh.
oldwino
Well-known
Pixii should give the choice of shippers. I would never choose UPS, especially after reading your and Godfrey's horrible experiences.
It's time for Pixii to step up and find an alternative, like DHL.
It's time for Pixii to step up and find an alternative, like DHL.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
I do thank you for your concern.
You are not a lawyer or you would know the answer to that before you posed it. They had tried DHL in the past and they were worse. These guys at Pixii are not a Mom and Pop operation. Additionally you may have noticed supply chain problems worldwide as a following indicator of the past pandemic. Things are screwed up right now.
On a grander scale this is little more than an annoyance. I am major PO'ed that an international company running 24/7 and computerized to the max can lose a package, say they tried to deliver it and then send it back to France. Which one of these guys is Mo? But it is what it is. If getting screaming and hollering mad worked I would be doing it. But I learned it never works. So I will wait this one out and just enjoy the camera that much more when it graces my doorstep. Notice I said "when" and not "if." ;o)
Godfrey
somewhat colored
If/when I order something else from Europe and the company says they'll use UPS, I'll say, "No, please hold it there. I'll fly over and pick it up in person. It'll be faster and much less aggravating." 
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oldwino
Well-known
No, I am not a lawyer, thankfully, but that really has nothing to do with this.
Also, supply chain problems at this point is a flimsy excuse for bad service.
It’s not that hard to deliver a package. Ups, FedEx etc have decades of experience doing this. If they cannot manage to meet an average standard of service, they have issues that need to be resolved. But not resolved on our dime.
Shitty service is shitty service. No need to make excuses.
oldwino
Well-known
If/when I order something else from Europe and the company says they'll use UPS, I'll say, "No, please hold it there. I'll fly over and pick it up in person. It'll be faster and much less aggravating."
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Possibly cheaper, too. Or, at the minimum, you’d have a nice vacation.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
OK, your solution is . . . ? I am really interested in what your solution is. If complaining worked the problem would have been solved a long time ago. Complaining and finger pointing without a solution does not work. I do not mean to put you on the spot but making accusatory noises will not feed the bulldog.
I am at the mercy of international shippers. If you think the supply chain problems are exaggerated look around. Auto suppliers without parts, auto makers without parts, electronics firms without parts, stores without goods. This is fact. It may be unpleasant or not what you want to believe but that changes nothing.
I will just have to bide my time and hope for a camera to find its way to my door.
Coldkennels
Barnack-toting Brit.
It's not just the supply chain that's the problem. I ship a lot with DHL here in the UK and their couriers have told me multiple times over the last year that they're doing Christmas-time levels of business all year round since the pandemic began due to the huge shift to e-commerce as everyone went into lockdown. Couple this with reduced international freight capacity, and at this point it doesn't matter who you ship with - it's chaos out there.
For what it's worth, in my experience within the UK and internationally (including shipping into the US), DHL are consistently the most reliable and the fastest to put things right if something does go wrong. Out of the big three (DHL, UPS, FedEx), FedEx seem to be managing this storm the worst; I watched multiple packages bounce all the way across Europe (UK - France -Germany - France) before finally finding space on a flight to the US last year.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
It's quite interesting to see others' perspectives. During the past four months, in addition to the Pixii shipment debacle, I have been purchasing parts for my Lancia Fulvia restoration project. I've had to seek various things from Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, and France. Vendors in those places have used FedEx and DHL to ship my purchases. FedEx from Italy and France have executed end to end shipping in less than four days; DHL from Germany and The Netherlands has executed end to end shipping in 5 to 7 days. I've had 12 shipments total to date on this project, and every transaction has gone flawlessly. I've also shipped a half a dozen packages via USPS Priority and Priority Express to the US, Italy, Great Britain, and France. Again, all shipping transactions have gone flawlessly and in reasonable time (12 days max).
The experience with the Pixii shipment from France to the US using UPS Express was singularly the worst shipping transaction I've had to deal with in years.
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The experience with the Pixii shipment from France to the US using UPS Express was singularly the worst shipping transaction I've had to deal with in years.
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Coldkennels
Barnack-toting Brit.
There is, admittedly, regional variation, not helped by multiple companies operating under the same brand/banner (for instance, we have DHL Express and DHL Parcel here in the UK, which are two entirely different companies!); I know one of my customers in Spain hates DHL, because he consistently has problems with things sent from Germany to Spain via DHL... but whether that's the same as DHL Express is a different question. For instance, I had something sent to me from Germany via DHL and it was handled by Royal Mail at this end, so it was probably actually sent via Deutsch Post - Germany's equivalent to Royal Mail or the USPS - who own DHL.
Confused yet?
In my previous job, we were using UPS for years for B2C fulfilment. They weren't bad, but the biggest problem was a lack of investment - every (customer-facing) part of their system looked like it hadn't been updated for at least a decade, and I wouldn't be surprised to find the same is true in the back end, which might explain why things can occasionally go spectacularly wrong. On the other hand, DHL are continually updating and improving everything. I've been using them for about six years now and the improvements they've made in that time are pretty astonishing.
Confused yet?
In my previous job, we were using UPS for years for B2C fulfilment. They weren't bad, but the biggest problem was a lack of investment - every (customer-facing) part of their system looked like it hadn't been updated for at least a decade, and I wouldn't be surprised to find the same is true in the back end, which might explain why things can occasionally go spectacularly wrong. On the other hand, DHL are continually updating and improving everything. I've been using them for about six years now and the improvements they've made in that time are pretty astonishing.
ptpdprinter
Veteran
The only thing worse than UPS is FedEx. The only thing worse than FedEx is USPS. The only thing worse that USPS is UPS. It doesn't really matter which one you pick. They are all going to screw up, and those are the only deliveries you will remember.