Hasselblad Phocus workflow

[kmonroe99]

I've never used an X2D/907x... I use DxO Photolab or ON1 for editing Sony/Canon files. With Hasselblad I think I understand that at a minimum I would have to open the camera fils in Phocus and convert/export to TIFF or DNG, and then open in DxO or ON1?

 

[Paul2600]

Yes, to use Phocus you must import the various files you wish to work on. You can browse all the image in a collection from the main screen, but to work on them they all have to be imported. Once imported you can work on the image with the limited toolset that Phocus has. The import process is unique also, I never have grown used to it, and Just create a new job name for each import.

With Hasselblad, once imported the image is now a .fff. Note, LR, ACR can open these .fff files, but they will not show any of the image enhancement you made while in Phocus. All of that will be stripped off.

Phocus is still the best tool for the HNCS solution, however it's slow, tedious to use and the workflow in general is way behind other more modern software solutions. I use a M1 or M3 MacBook Pro, with Phocus (latest version) and you can easily see Phocus bog down once you have say 5 to 6 images that are being worked on. Phocus will take longer and longer to show a 100% view (note the spinning circle in the upper left side of the screen) and as you minimize a image the thumbnails often will not show the most current look of the file, or show blocks of miscolor etc. Eventually these will correct, but it can take a long time.

There is no point in exporting as a dng from Phocus as the file will not have any of the image improvements that you gained from using Phocus. Export as a tif and then work the file in the software's you listed or Photoshop Camraw Filter etc.

Many feel that the colors generated by Lr or ACR (camera raw) are acceptable, I find that Phocus is superior most of the time, but the tedious workflow is a really minus.

Paul

 

[Rob de Loe]

I've never used an X2D/907x... I use DxO Photolab or ON1 for editing Sony/Canon files. With Hasselblad I think I understand that at a minimum I would have to open the camera fils in Phocus and convert/export to TIFF or DNG, and then open in DxO or ON1?

If you want the whole Hasselblad experience, in other words, Hasselblad "Natural Colour System" as intended, you need to develop the RAW file in Phocus. You can keep going in Phocus, or you can export as a TIFF and carry on in another application.

In Lightroom (and Camera RAW) there is a camera matching profile that is decent, but it's not the same result as Phocus.

The best way is to see for yourself. Download some RAW files and have at it. Phocus is free to use.

 

[AndersC]

I use DxO PhotoLab 8 for my Hasselblad raw files out of camera and I use the Hasselblad camera profile available in Photolab. It is worthwhile checking out if the color rendering from Photolab is acceptable to your eyes. If it is, you save yourself a lot of hassy (hassle).

 

[jfaphoto]

I've never used an X2D/907x... I use DxO Photolab or ON1 for editing Sony/Canon files. With Hasselblad I think I understand that at a minimum I would have to open the camera fils in Phocus and convert/export to TIFF or DNG, and then open in DxO or ON1?

I have a X2D and use this workflow.

RAW- Phocus, quite a bit of basic editing in Phocus- export TIFF to Ps for more editing- print.

I have never used DxO or ON1.

You can preview the Hasselblad RAW files in Finder on the Mac before you open them in Phocus. Very handy. You don't see lens corrections, so don't freak out.

On the Hasselblad website, they have an instructional video about Phocus, a webinar. This is very much worth watching, although long, it comprehensively explains the workflow that the designers had in mind for HNCS, which is one of many reasons why I personally bought into the Hasselblad system.

I generally work on only one or two images at a time in Phocus. You can copy edit presets from one image to another in Phocus to save time and improve efficiency. I do some sharpening in Phocus, less in Ps...YMMV.

I never open TIFF images in Phocus- it takes forever as it builds a preview and it is to be avoided.

Phocus has its quirks but does a great job. It gets a hard rap, unjustified. I don't have problems using it. Background- I used the first Photoshop on the first Macs in a design studio in the '80s, still at it. Just buy the most maxed out Mac you can afford.

I don't use Lr. I tested some conversions of Hasselblad files and found the Phocus processed files much better on many levels. The Hasselblad webinar explains why in detail.

Good luck. The Fuji and the Hasselblad are both great systems.

--
www.fredfoto.net

 

[mristuccia]

I only use Phocus with my Hasselblad RAW files.

Although it is true that it is minimalistic in terms of provided toolset, and I personally like this philosophy which is also coherent with the Camera UI experience, I must say that I never had performance problems on my MBP M3 Max, and on my MBP Intel I5 before.

They only situation where it hangs is when navigating folders containing TIFF files. If one keeps TIFF files away and only browses/edits FFF files, there are no performance issues at all.

Not 100% sure yet, but I pinpointed the cause of this problem in the macOS operating system, and specifically in the process com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailAgent, which often keeps big TIFF files locked while trying to generate/update its thumbnail icons. This process also uses a very high amount of CPU while doing this. Sometimes I even need to forcefully kill it in order to unlock a TIFF file (it will respawn after a while). This happens even by just browsing TIFF files through the macOS Finder.

I suspect that Phocus relies on macOS for decoding TIFF files, while it has its own internal proprietary (and optimized) algorithm for 3FR and FFF files.

For my projects I use a folder structure similar to this (simplified here for the sake of illustration):

[YYYYMMDD_PLACE_PurposeOrProjectName]
|--- [3FR]
|--- [FFF]
|--- [TIFF]
|--- [JPEG_1024px]
|--- [JPEG_2048px]

Phocus only browses the [3FR] and the [FFF] folders and exports into the [TIFF] folder. I never go in the [TIFF] folder with Phocus as it would hang.

Photoshop (and recently Affinity Photo) only works in the [TIFF] folder and exports into the [JPEG_xxxx] folders.

--
https://photography.marcoristuccia.com