Dave,
When I started this thread it was to learn how others had developed "work arounds" for the "short comings" I see in Phocus.
Seems it's going in another direction that may provide some valuable input for Hasselblad - that's good!
Well, here are a few of my thoughts starting with a bit of history:
I shoot landscapes and abstracts.
I actually worked as a "consultant" to Hassie and Nikon when they were developing their first digital cameras. From that experience I learned Nikon is craving input/feedback, Hasselblad listens then does goes back to their own thoughts. Now that was quite a few years ago but seemed rather ingrained in the culture.
It is also interesting to note that Nikon's work promptly produced a camera, Hassies did not for many years. I put that down to their NIH attitude to input (Not Invented Here).
That said, I stuck with 4x5 and 503cw film and my Howtek Hi-Resolve 8000 drums scanner until the Phase P45 plus arrived on the scene. With the advent of this back I could no longer technically justify staying with film. Thus I made the full jump to digital mating a P45 to the 503cw and CFI lenses that I owned. Upgraded to the P45+ when it came out then to the H1 and H2 bodies for my P45+.
Part of my decision to stick with the P45+ rather than go to the H-39 back on the H1/2 was based on two simple elements - P45+ was bought and paid for AND the Capture One software was far better in my opinion than the Hasselblad offering. (I feel I have some authority on what constitutes quality software as my company developed various graphics and machine control software products on the SGI platform.)
This combination of the H2 and P45+ with the Phase software was excellent. However, earlier this year it appeared as thought I was not going to get the opportunity to travel/photograph as I had planned so several months back I sold the gear rather than let it depreciate in the closet.
Through good luck, I was able to restructure my time and return to my "Mistress of Photography" just prior to the time that PhotoKina occurred this year.
In the weeks prior to PhotoKina I tested the Leaf AFi and the Phase/Mamiya P45+ offerings. My conclusions from those test were that neither company could match the camera features (Profiles and User Definable camera presets) of what I had with the H2 camera body. Additionally I found the Phase/Mamiya 28mm lens lacking in quality that I felt should be there.
Quite a dilemma for me: Liked the Leaf lenses but missed the H2 users presets and lens quality, plus had little use for the Leaf RAW developer; Had no use for the Phase camera body and felt the 28mm was lacking BUT felt their RAW developer was far better than any in the market; Hassie prices were just not in line and the concept of supporting a closed system was not to my liking.
Well, PhotoKina and Hassie's new price structure hit me right. I tested the H3DII with the 28 and 80 lenses and wrote my check for the new price structure.
Screw my concerns about closed system, I was not going to cut off my nose to spite my face!
With my photography obsession being a non-profit venture this was the path that did the least financial damage to my reserves and yet gave me what I felt was superior hardware.
The caveat is that it gave me what I feel is an inferior software RAW developer when put in comparison to Capture One.
From my experience the criteria to judge our camera choices are:
1. Quality of the lens - if the lense are not superior then you're just pissing away your money and time.
2. Camera body, it's internal processor and internal control software - must be able to push the lens to the limit in a user preferred method.
3. RAW developer - if this is not an excellent tool in taking the above two elements electron gather capabilites and generating a near perfect TIFF file to work with in PS, they why bother.
It is on issue 3 that Hassie fails to make the grade, in my opinion, and thus what is requiring the user to find "work arounds"!
Not because we want to but because we have no choice if we are going to produce the image our passion demands.
Thus, I suggest that the manager of your software development team should take an indepth look at what the winning tool is, Capture One, and get to work.
If this has already been done, then do it again and this time from a users perspective.
My strong belief is that the RAW developer must produce an excellent TIFF file, and Phocus does not. Pull out the shadow and highlight details in Phocus, not. Give me an excellently rendered Preview image in Phocus, not. Give me totally user controlled file structures, not. Etc., etc, etc.
In short, with the price adjustments made at PhotoKina, the software is the only major negative issue left for Hasselblad to conquer! You have a great marketing machine, excellent hardware/lenses, historical reputation, etc. Just a marginal RAW developer, and that enough to drive perspective buyers to the other offerings, or to be frustrated trying to find work arounds.
Jack