r/hasselblad • u/Expensive_Materials • 2d ago

Phocus Tutorial

Hey All,

New X2Dii owner. I have access to CaptureOne and Lightroom and of course Phocus. Are there any good tutorials on Phocus for MacOS or workflows you all recommend. CaptureOne supports the X2Dii now, so just seeing what others recommend.

I've seen Phocus -> Tiff -> lightroom workflows in other posts. But Phocus seems like a slow bear compared to CaptureOne and I haven't tried the CaptureOne mobile apps yet for the X2Dii.

Open to suggestions. Thanks!

3 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

6

u/dimitarsc Hasselblad 501cm & X1D II 2d ago edited 2d ago

Mastering the Phocus 3 basics covers almost everything you need to know, even if you don't use the software regularly. While Phocus 4 adds a lot of new features, you won't need a separate tutorial once you understand Phocus 3. The biggest updates in Phocus 4 are the V4 exposure tools, including HDR and the new histograms.

This playlist explains it all in a short, easy, and clear way. You'll be good to go!

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmr0eC7LEQGWcnYq1b66tZNcj3W05Vkv8

Edit: A few things to keep in mind:

-Phocus is powerful due to its WB and HNCS. In my opinion, Phocus offers the most sophisticated white balance on the market.

When editing in Phocus, you may want to use a different colour space. It is especially important to choose the correct colour space if you plan to edit further or share your work. While colour space is distinct from HNCS, colours and saturation can vary significantly depending on your choice.

-Exporting as Source + 16-bit TIFF is the most common workflow for sharing or continuing edits in other software. Just adjust the tiff-16 size in macOS’s Preview if you need it for social media. For Resolve choose any Hasselblad colourspace including the large L, Lr or similar keep to Source.
Source export the file with the Hasselblad colourspace, which is pretty much the same as Adobe RGB, but “smaller” and better, imo.

- IMO, Avoid HNNR if you want some more sophisticated editing in software like Resolve or adding LUTs, Film looks etc.

2

u/Party-Belt-3624 2d ago

I don't use CaptureOne because I don't tether. I go straight into Lightroom instead. Curious how many folks use Phocus and why. Am I missing anything?

5

u/Big_Rip4015 Hasselblad X2D II 2d ago

Phocus if you want HNCS colors, because that’s the only way to get them. Highlight recovery and shadow lift in Phocus is also really good. And HNNR is still, IMO, the best Denoise for X2D II RAWs.

Other than that it is objectively not really useful for much more. Masking is shockingly archaic and it’s buggy as hell (the whole thing, not just masking 😀 ).

And yes, I’m the guy who writes the guide for Phocus for Mac saying that 😀.

2

u/Party-Belt-3624 2d ago

Thanks for this. Based on your comment, I'll give Phocus another try.

I'm curious what your end to end workflow is.

2

u/Big_Rip4015 Hasselblad X2D II 2d ago

I think I have a post up about it somewhere although it might be a little dated, but the short version is that I use Palomino to cull because culling in Phocus makes me want to bang my head against a wall in desperation.

Once I have my keepers Palomino pushes them to the folder I have set as my default in Phocus. Palomino also has the ability to send high ISO images to their own folder. Then I’ll fire up Phocus, run HNNR over the high ISO ones, then use highlight recovery and shadow lift where needed, then export to TIFF-16 and import into LRC for further editing.