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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: , , , , ,

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

Posted on January 8, 2025 // Leave a Comment

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: , , , , , , ,

X2D Firmware 4.0 (What it missed)

Posted on November 7, 2024 //

Today, Hasselblad released firmware 4.0 for the X2D which included support for the new 75mm P lens, and added Multishot capability to the X2D.

Sreen shot from Hasselblad.com

At first I was enthusasitc as Multi-shot capability is a great asset for any digital camera. (see my notes below). What Hasselblad as added so far is a 4 shot mode which is supposed to allow for a better overall color capture since no colors should be interpolated due to the 4 different capture. HOWEVER, WHAT IS AMAZING, is that you can only use this feature when tethered to Phocus software. REALLY? All other cameras I know of (Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Fuji and now Canon) all offer a in camera version of their multi-shot capture mode.

You take the images in the field and then combine them later in post via the proprietary software provided by the camera company. Also you have more options that 4 shots (Fuji and Sony offer a 16 shot mode which allows for much greater overall resolution).

With Hasselblad you are tied to a laptop or desktop tethered via USB cable to the computer. This is great for studio work, but worthless for in the field. Please note, Multi-shot mode of any camera needs to have very little if any subject movement between the frames so working in the field can be limited if there is wind blowing or people walking by or cars moving by. However I have had plenty of opportunities to use Leica’s Multi-shot mode in the field and not have the images be effected by wind.

This is very short sighted by Hasselblad and instead they should have come out with a new version of Phocus that can combine in camera captures and not require the camera to be tethered at all times.

There are rumors that there is a “beta” version of Phocus in use by selected photographers, some of whom are already talking about it on YouTube, which allows for a 6 shot or more mode that gives 400MP output (similar to Fuji but they require 16 shots).

I can only hope that this “beta” version of Phocus is a vastly improved version of the software than the current 3.8.3 (for Mac) as this version basically is terrible due to performance issues. And maybe this beta version will allow you to take images in camera and import them into Phocus to be combined later on.

NOTES:

Leica has a in camera Mulit-shot mode (along with Panasonic) that takes 8 images and combines them in camera to give a 180MP output. No software is needed for the combination. The output is given both as a raw/DNG and jpg.

Nikon and Sony both now offer a Multi-shot mode, but require the photographer to take the images in camera and then combine them with proprietary software later on in post. Images can be raw.

Fuji offers a 4 and 16 Multi-shot mode. The 4 shot is designed similar I guess to what Hasselblad is offering (only effecting color) and the 16 shot mode creates a 400MP image. Camera stabilization is critical here and no movement is allowed with the subject, so the 16 shot mode is not very useable in the field.

Filed Under: Cameras, Hasselblad, Hasselblad // Tagged: , , , , ,