H3DII digital workflow

[photolinia]

Hi everyone,

Have some flow related questions on H3DII...

-I've downloaded phocus - Hasselblad finally made it open to everyone on their web site, which is great...  Is it now generally accepted
that Phocus is supperior to FlexColor?  I know it seems to be a little slower and eats up more computer resources, but other than that is there any reason at all to keep flexcolor around?

-I've read that H3DII will actually save files in DNG format, is that true?  I've also heard that convertiong using DNG will produce inferior results to using 3FR...  

-Also, I've heard something about 3FR files gettig larger once imported from camera into phocus due to additonal camera and back calibration info getting imported - is that always true?  How much bigger do files get and do I need to set this as a special setting?  

-Does phocus offer various color spaces as options - like AdobeRGB and PP RGB?

-when using Lightroom, I use the open file in photoshop option in my flow when I go from lightroom to Photoshop.  I don't think phocus has it.  Is saving as 16 bit tiff and opening in Photoshop the only way to go from phocus to photoshop?

-do camera and the back have separat updatable firmware? how do I keep both current?

thanks a lot!!
-ilya

[tmx3]

Hi everyone,

Have some flow related questions on H3DII...

-I've downloaded phocus - Hasselblad finally made it open to everyone on their web site, which is great...  Is it now generally accepted
that Phocus is supperior to FlexColor?  I know it seems to be a little slower and eats up more computer resources, but other than that is there any reason at all to keep flexcolor around?

-I've read that H3DII will actually save files in DNG format, is that true?  I've also heard that convertiong using DNG will produce inferior results to using 3FR...  

-Also, I've heard something about 3FR files gettig larger once imported from camera into phocus due to additonal camera and back calibration info getting imported - is that always true?  How much bigger do files get and do I need to set this as a special setting?  

-Does phocus offer various color spaces as options - like AdobeRGB and PP RGB?

-when using Lightroom, I use the open file in photoshop option in my flow when I go from lightroom to Photoshop.  I don't think phocus has it.  Is saving as 16 bit tiff and opening in Photoshop the only way to go from phocus to photoshop?

-do camera and the back have separat updatable firmware? how do I keep both current?

thanks a lot!!
-ilya

I can't answer all your questions but can do some -
there do seem to be differences in performance based on specific hardware/graphics cards etc.
phocus can apply things like lens corrections etc that cannot be applied to dng
to output to a differen colorspace go to the export tab>output preview + click on the preset drop down, then click edit. You can create your own presets. Make sure show all profiles is ticked if you want an obscure profile.
When exporting you can select "open in editor"  which can be set to photoshop

[photolinia]

I can't answer all your questions but can do some -
there do seem to be differences in performance based on specific hardware/graphics cards etc.
phocus can apply things like lens corrections etc that cannot be applied to dng
to output to a differen colorspace go to the export tab>output preview + click on the preset drop down, then click edit. You can create your own presets. Make sure show all profiles is ticked if you want an obscure profile.
When exporting you can select "open in editor"  which can be set to photoshop

Thanks!
when opening in editor to photoshop - what actual format does it export?  tiff/psd?

-ilya

[AlexM]

-Also, I've heard something about 3FR files gettig larger once imported from camera into phocus due to additonal camera and back calibration info getting imported - is that always true?  How much bigger do files get and do I need to set this as a special setting?

The difference is very subtle for me. Less than 5% in size.


You can download current back/camera firmware from Hasselblad web site.

[tmx3]

 
Whatever you have chosen as the format; its not restricted- could be jpg tiff psd etc.

[tmx3]

Hi everyone,

Have some flow related questions on H3DII...

-I've downloaded phocus - Hasselblad finally made it open to everyone on their web site, which is great...  Is it now generally accepted
that Phocus is supperior to FlexColor?  I know it seems to be a little slower and eats up more computer resources, but other than that is there any reason at all to keep flexcolor around?

-I've read that H3DII will actually save files in DNG format, is that true?  I've also heard that convertiong using DNG will produce inferior results to using 3FR...  

-Also, I've heard something about 3FR files gettig larger once imported from camera into phocus due to additonal camera and back calibration info getting imported - is that always true?  How much bigger do files get and do I need to set this as a special setting?  

-Does phocus offer various color spaces as options - like AdobeRGB and PP RGB?

-when using Lightroom, I use the open file in photoshop option in my flow when I go from lightroom to Photoshop.  I don't think phocus has it.  Is saving as 16 bit tiff and opening in Photoshop the only way to go from phocus to photoshop?

-do camera and the back have separat updatable firmware? how do I keep both current?

thanks a lot!!
-ilya

Is there any reason to keep flexcolor around? Possibly. fffs that are shot/edited in phocus cannot be used in flexcolor. fffs shot in flexcolor can be used in phocus but once they have been opened in phocus they will no longer be able to be used in flexcolor. This means it is advisable to make a copy of any file you shoot in flexcolor before you use it in phocus.  This means that you should really make sure you know phocus inside out before using it on a live job - if you can't figure out how to do something you could do in flexcolor you are not going to be able to put the file through flexcolor.

[Dick Roadnight]

Thanks!
when opening in editor to photoshop - what actual format does it export?  tiff/psd?

-ilya

I opt for DNG, as this lets me do raw processing in ACR that I cannot do in Phocus. If you use two raw convertors, the question is: what do you do in which?

I you are using Hassy lenses (I intent to use Apo-digitars on my P3 on my Hassy DCU) it is best to use Phocus, as DAC digitally tries to Correct the lens Aberrations.

Workflow can be optimized for speed or quality, but if you hope your total gross margin for a landscape might be £10,000...

I have been trying to fathom out a work flow, and am thinking of:-

Phocus:-
Get FFF from camera or card
Set white (neutral point), White balance
Set highlight and shadow clip points
Brightness/contrast
curves?
saturation
DAC/ sharpening etc. are automatic if you have the options set: use different options for portrait/product etc.
straighten/crop?
Export DNG with "open in editor"

Adobe Camera Raw:

Recovery Highlights
Fill shadows
curves
Fine tune colour etc.

open .PSD in Photoshop

Phocus imports .FFF, uses .3FR and export .DNG, but using this workflow you can go direct from .FFF to .PSD without saving in any other format.

As per my thread, click on the blue 8 bit format info at the bottom of  the picture in ACR to access the setting to set the format as 16 bit.

[O.Ricter]

Thanks for your info on workflow!
Always handy.

Best

O.R.

I opt for DNG, as this lets me do raw processing in ACR that I cannot do in Phocus. If you use two raw convertors, the question is: what do you do in which?

I you are using Hassy lenses (I intent to use Apo-digitars on my P3 on my Hassy DCU) it is best to use Phocus, as DAC digitally tries to Correct the lens Aberrations.

Workflow can be optimized for speed or quality, but if you hope your total gross margin for a landscape might be £10,000...

I have been trying to fathom out a work flow, and am thinking of:-

Phocus:-
Get FFF from camera or card
Set white (neutral point), White balance
Set highlight and shadow clip points
Brightness/contrast
curves?
saturation
DAC/ sharpening etc. are automatic if you have the options set: use different options for portrait/product etc.
straighten/crop?
Export DNG with "open in editor"

Adobe Camera Raw:

Recovery Highlights
Fill shadows
curves
Fine tune colour etc.

open .PSD in Photoshop

Phocus imports .FFF, uses .3FR and export .DNG, but using this workflow you can go direct from .FFF to .PSD without saving in any other format.

As per my thread, click on the blue 8 bit format info at the bottom of  the picture in ACR to access the setting to set the format as 16 bit.

[photolinia]

Thanks for the great and detailed response
a few questions though...

Does phocus not do highlight recovery and shadow fill at all?!
I know phocus does have the curve tool.
Is the ACR so much better that you go from 3FR to DNG and then to PSD?

Also,  I see that H3D can save files in 3FR format, but also in 8bit TIFF.  Why would anyone want to save these files in 8 bits?

Just curious if I'm missing something here...

thanks again,
-ilya

I opt for DNG, as this lets me do raw processing in ACR that I cannot do in Phocus. If you use two raw convertors, the question is: what do you do in which?

I you are using Hassy lenses (I intent to use Apo-digitars on my P3 on my Hassy DCU) it is best to use Phocus, as DAC digitally tries to Correct the lens Aberrations.

Workflow can be optimized for speed or quality, but if you hope your total gross margin for a landscape might be £10,000...

I have been trying to fathom out a work flow, and am thinking of:-

Phocus:-
Get FFF from camera or card
Set white (neutral point), White balance
Set highlight and shadow clip points
Brightness/contrast
curves?
saturation
DAC/ sharpening etc. are automatic if you have the options set: use different options for portrait/product etc.
straighten/crop?
Export DNG with "open in editor"

Adobe Camera Raw:

Recovery Highlights
Fill shadows
curves
Fine tune colour etc.

open .PSD in Photoshop

Phocus imports .FFF, uses .3FR and export .DNG, but using this workflow you can go direct from .FFF to .PSD without saving in any other format.

As per my thread, click on the blue 8 bit format info at the bottom of  the picture in ACR to access the setting to set the format as 16 bit.

[csp]

phocus does not have a recovery tool so the only reason i see  to use ACR/LR is for highlights recovery only in all other aspects phocus does a much better job than the adobe products. but even for highlight recovery ACR/LR are not the best tools available raw developer http://www.iridientdigital.com/ does it better, check it out.

[Nick_T]

phocus does not have a recovery tool

Yet

[Dick Roadnight]

phocus does not have a recovery tool

Yet

If Phocus 1.2 can do everything that Adobe Camera Raw can do, and better, and it can export single (as opposed to layered) .psd files, I will re-invent the workflow... as there will be do need to use ACR.

[Shrev94412]

I shoot a Hasselblad H4D-40 and I rarely use ACR. After exporting out of Phocus to Photoshop. I then make my Photoshop adjustments and then use Lightroom to create my web files and always use Lightroom to print. I also shoot a Nikon D3X and I convert those .NEF files with Capture One, not ACR, then Photoshop and Lightroom for web and print.