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Hasselblad HNNR Noise Reduction, more details

Posted on January 17, 2025 //
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 //
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: , , , , ,