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Archives for January 2025

01/26/2025 New article on Phocus and Lightroom color on X2D files

Posted on January 26, 2025 // Leave a Comment
Phocus and Lightroom X2D colors
Side by side of Lightroom and Phocus for color comparisons

I have published my first color comparison of Lightroom and Phocus on an X2D file. The article has several side by side comparisons of the same image. You can clearly see the advantages of Phocus over Lightroom. Some of the differences are minor but in many cases, I fell that Phocus can produce a much better look to the image. You can find the article by following the link below.

Hasselblad Phocus Color Comparison, Example Number 1

I have no fondness for working with Phocus desktop software. It’s by far the worst raw conversion software I have used. This is coming from years of working with Capture One, Lightroom, ACR, ON1, and many others. Phocus produces the best color from Hasselblad HNCS but getting there has to be the most trying experience I have found in all of my digital photograph work.

Filed Under: Cameras, Hasselblad, Hasselblad X2D and Phocus // Tagged: , , , , , ,

Hasselblad HNNR noise reduction, workflow?

Posted on January 25, 2025 // Leave a Comment
Hasselblad noise reduction for Phocus Mobile 2 software

Just a quick follow up on this “Wonderfull” new solution from Hasselblad. Note I am not sponsored by Hasselblad, thus I am going to net out the actual problems with this solution and not give you a blue sky, everything is great write up.

First the positive, the solution does work, and gives a very good result. From the images I have reviewed the noise reduction is very effective. It’s basically the same as Adobe’s Denoise. If you were able to work with this new tool on a desktop, then I would be most pleased.

The issues however are:

  1. You have to use a mobile device, phone or iPad. I assume only Mac devices work? I have not seen anything that shows Phocus Mobile works on Android.
  2. You are importing the original raw file into Phocus Mobile 2, from your camera. This takes up battery life of both the phone/iPad and the camera.
  3. You are given a few different options for the noise reduction and then Phocus Mobile outputs a new raw file .3NF with the noise reduction applied.
  4. I am sure that this product was rolled out via the mobile application since AI is being used. Phocus desktop is very old in it’s design and has not ability to communicate with the web. This is also how Adobe’s Denoise and other AI based tools work. They need the web to communicate with their database.

The problem is that Phocus Desktop software is not able to work with these files correctly. Phocus desktop apparently applies a certain amount of noise reduction to all raw files when they are imported into the application. I have always felt this to be the case and Hasselblad has confirmed it. So if you bring in a raw file that has HNNR applied to it, then Phocus desktop will apply more noise reduction to a file that already has had noise reduction applied. Thus you will get the painterly look to finer details. There is not a way to stop this and if you slide “noise reduction” sliders in Phocus desktop all the way to the left to -10, the effect is still there. The sliders DO NOT affect the “built in noise reduction” Phocus applied to the raw file when you imported it.

So now you are left with Adobe Lr or ACR to work on the file. Neither of these programs are applying “built in noise reduction” when you import the raw file. But now you are left with a problem. Lightroom/ACR cannot obtain the best color from Hasselblad raw files. I have worked many side by side examples of this and each time Hasselblad Phocus always give the best look to the files.

Phocus has a better color result and shadow recovery. Lightroom always seems to block out shadows and take blacks to a very dark range.

There is no word from Hasselblad as to if they are going to update Phocus so that it can use the HNNR raws without adding additional noise.

NET, Hasselblad brings a very effect AI based noise reduction tool out, however by using it you no longer can use Hasselblad’s Phocus Desktop software without over applying noise reduction, thus destroying finer details and possibly giving a plastic look to the images.

Filed Under: Cameras, Hasselblad, Hasselblad X2D and Phocus, Uncategorized // Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Hasselblad HNNR Noise Reduction, more details

Posted on January 17, 2025 // Leave a Comment
Hasselblad announces New Noise Reduction for X2D via Phocus Mobile 2
Hasselblad Announcement on X2D noise reduction

From reading other photographers reports on the use of this tool, I have gleaned a bit more information.

  1. It appears that the tool works on both iPhone and iPad’s as the Mobile software apparently works on both platforms.
  2. To use the HNNR, you have to import the raw file from the camera (X2D) into Phocus Mobile 2 software.
  3. From the software on your phone or iPad, you then will see the raw file and can have the option to use the HNNR feature.
  4. I believe you get a before and after view, and it appears you have a few options as to how much noise reduction is applied.
  5. After you run HNNR, your 3FR raw file is PERMANENTLY altered. You cannot go back and remove the HNNR noise reduction. So it’s best to copy of the 3FR file to another card, import it into Phocus Mobile 2.0 and then send it back to the card on the camera. No iPad or iPhone can use a CF card so you have to do this via WiFi.

Issues that have apparently come up from users who have tried this feature HNNR.

  1. Phocus desktop software has an issue with these files in that it applies more noise reduction (more than likely the base amount) and then this causes smearing.
  2. Phocus desktop software has some issues with exposure in that the files that have been updated with HNNR appear too dark.

Amazing to me that Phocus, which is the stock Hasselblad raw software tool for both raw conversion and tethering has issues with another Hasselblad software feature. It’s as if one side of development is working and not talking to the other. WE ALL KNOW THAT THERE IS A BETA VERSION OF THE DESKTOP PHOCUS THAT GIVES YOU 400MP OUTPUT, so I wonder if this beta is being held up due to this new feature HNNR.

From others reports, it seems that Adobe ACR and Lr will import the the 3FR files with HNNR applied with no problems, and the noise reduction IS applied still. This is unlike any other imports of .FFF files which have been worked on in Phocus desktop software and all the adjustments made in Phocus are stripped when the .FFF is imported to Lr or opened in ACR.

My only hope is that by using the mobile version of Phocus and applying HNNR, some of the issues I have had with Hot Pixel noise will be reduced or totally removed. I am hoping to try out the software over the next few days with some images I took in the fall which have excessive noise in the shadows due to hot pixels.

Filed Under: Cameras, Hasselblad, Hasselblad X2D and Phocus // Tagged: , , , , , ,

Hasselblad adds New noise reduction to their Phocus Mobile 2 software

Posted on January 16, 2025 // Leave a Comment
Hasselblad announces New Noise Reduction for X2D via Phocus Mobile 2
Hasselblad Announcement on X2D noise reduction

Not sure what “year of the Snake frame” is but besides that, Hasselblad a couple of days ago announced a new “AI” driven noise reduction feature for Phocus Mobile 2 software that runs on the iPhone. They are calling it “Hasselblad Natural Noise Reduction”. Touting that it’s the first AI noise reduction to run on Mobile. Sound great! Not so. Here is why.

So is the workflow, to bring the raw into Phocus Mobile from the camera, fix the noise then send it back to the camera?  All of this being done in the field?  On a phone? Using Wifi and draining battery life?

So you take 200 images in a shoot, 1/2 of them could benefit from this noise reduction. Are you going to manually import 100 image or more images into the phone, add this feature and then send the images back to the camera.

Surely no one is going to attempt to work on a 100MP file on a iPhone and do any serious work.

I see the clear advantage to the image quality, just can’t see working with Mobile to get there.  

Hasselblad noise reduction for Phocus Mobile 2 software

Sorry, I just don’t see any point in this. You are shooting a 100MP camera I hope for a reason. TO GET LARGE FILES THAT CAN BE USED IN PRINTED MEDIA OR OTHER LARGE FORMAT NEEDS. Are you seriously going to try to work on raw files on a iPhone, with a tiny screen, no color management, no keyboard, no ability to really see the entire image at 100%? Come on Hasselblad. Instead of working on the desktop version of Phocus and adding this feature, instead they bring it out to the iPhone. So I also assume that since it’s AI driven you have to have a mobile connection to the internet as most AI programs needs this. So working in the field this is another no go.

Personally I find this insulting. Hasselblad has a great camera in the X2D and the various lenses that you can purchase to work with the system. The camera does have an issue with noise mainly hot pixels when you are working in any ISO range from 800 and up. This comes into play when you are forced to push the exposure a bit as the camera can get very full of hot pixels. Phocus Desktop has no solution for this, forcing you to export out of focus and using a noise reduction tool like Topaz. I would much rather be removing the noise at the raw level. Lr allows this with their “Denoise” setting, however Lr doesn’t allow for the best overall color from the X2D.

Phocus is broken anyway, it’s old and slow. The interface is terrible and it’s extremely hard to work through 1 image without getting the Mac spinning wheel of death. Even with it’s current set of warts, Phocus is still the best way to get color from the X2D and it would be most fitting if Hasselblad was able to add an AI Noise reduction to the Phocus Desktop version

Filed Under: Cameras, Hasselblad, Hasselblad, Hasselblad X2D and Phocus, Photographic Equipment // Tagged: , , , , ,

01/11/25 Near Record Snowfall for Little Rock

Posted on January 12, 2025 //
Snowy Scene Western Pulaski County Pinnacle Mountain
Pinnacle Mountain after record snowfall

On the night of January 9th, 2025 Little Rock Arkansas had one of the heaviest snowfalls on recent record.  At my house I recorded at least 14 inches.  One of local favorite shots is the view of Pinnacle Mountain which can be seen very clearly at the end of my street.  The day after the snow the sky was still grey and not clear and attempting to get a good shot of the mountain would have been a waste.  However this morning the skies cleared and I was able to hike down to get a much better view.  I had hoped to still catch all the snow in the pine trees near the base, however most of that was gone.  However the mountain was still covered with snow which is rare event so I was rewarded with this view.

I shot this image in 2 frames with a Fuji GFX100II and the 500mm GF lens.  All of the shooting on this morning was handheld with IBIS and OIS enabled and the results were spectacular.  The details that this combination of lens and camera can capture are most impressive.  I should add later some detailed crops but I am not sure that the effect can really be seen.  This view is about 3 miles or more away from where I was standing and the individual tree limbs on the mountain and around the base are clearly visible.  I shot with 3 frame exposure brackets and worked up only 2 frames from the total of 6.  I was using Iso 80 with shutter speeds ranging from 1/650 to 1/250.

Catching this shot was lucky for me, in the past after heavy snowfall the snow did not stay on the summit of Pinnacle as long.

Filed Under: Arkansas Landscape Shooting Information, Arkansas Outdoors, Fuji Cameras, Photographic Equipment // Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

01/08/25 Fall Scene from the Buffalo Red Bluff Overlook

Posted on January 8, 2025 //

One of the many great bluff/overlook locations on the Buffalo National River is Red Bluff. Actually there are at least two different Red Bluffs. One is this one which is below Gilbert the other below Woolum, closer to Hwy 65.

I tried to find this spot for several years, before locating it in 2022. The spot where you actually stand to take the picture is literally right above the drop off. If you prefer to not have the old twisted Cedar tree trunk in your image, you have to be pretty brave and get to where your feet are hanging off. It pays to remember that the slope behind you is actually about 45 degrees and all loose gravel, so I do not go any lower towards the edge.

I took this shot with an Hasselblad X2D, and 21mm lens, on a tripod, and shot the image in a 3 shot exposure bracket. I have found that the X2D is very selective on exposing highlights correctly and it’s very easy to blow out skies. You do have considerable shadow push at base ISO of 64 but even so if I can, I will always shoot a bracket. The image was worked up in Phocus and then tweaking in Photoshop. As much as I hate Phocus, I have repeatedly found that it give the best color to a X2D file. Lightroom just can’t get the same look for me.

When you arrive at this location, be aware that it’s not going to allow very many photographers to be standing around so you might try to get there as early as possible and not attempt to go there on a weekend. For example, from where I was standing off to the left of center, if another person decided to come down and get below me by the tree, then they would have been in all the shots I attempted to take. This would have made post processing very difficult.

Fall in 2024 for Arkansas was another terrible year. As you can see in the image most of the color is brown. There was some nice color up by the river in many places, but when you went looking for an overlook most of the trees showed up with brown. We were lucky to get an amazing sky on this morning and it added immensely to the overall look of the shot.

Filed Under: Arkansas Landscape Shooting Information, Featured Photography, Hasselblad // Tagged: , , , , , , ,