Good point; my only other reference is a 13" Mac Book Pro 2020 M1-chip laptop, and Phocus is so slow on that that it is practically unusable. It froze several times just loading 1400 images. I never saw Phocus ever finish. It simply kept freezing after a very long load time during which my laptop seemed to be burning up.
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Puzzled at the Abysmal Performance of Hasselblad's Phocus Software (Why all the praise?)
- Thread starter emilediaz
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TechTalk
Well-known member
Over the past several years, I've used a variety of hardware and software. I've experienced corrupted software files, corrupted image files, and hardware issues. All were eventually solved with patience, persistence, and occasional help from the manufacturer's tech support.
The strangest, which is why it sticks in my memory, was due to another application's ColorSync files. Leaf Capture for OS X was crashing on launch every time. Contacted the great Rick Adshead at Leaf America tech support and with some back and forth, I was eventually asked what other applications I had on my system. I received back a suggestion from Rick that I should try temporarily removing the ColorSynch files which were installed by another specific software application as there may be a conflict causing the crash on launch. That was it — problem solved. I've never heard of any issue being caused by ColorSynch files before or after my rare issue, but Leaf tech support had obviously already encountered this with someone else and knew how to solve my problem. It took some time and some back and forth, but it was resolved.
Good luck to you in resolving yours. Internet forums are a great place for sharing and venting; manufacturers, however, can generally provide better tech support.
The strangest, which is why it sticks in my memory, was due to another application's ColorSync files. Leaf Capture for OS X was crashing on launch every time. Contacted the great Rick Adshead at Leaf America tech support and with some back and forth, I was eventually asked what other applications I had on my system. I received back a suggestion from Rick that I should try temporarily removing the ColorSynch files which were installed by another specific software application as there may be a conflict causing the crash on launch. That was it — problem solved. I've never heard of any issue being caused by ColorSynch files before or after my rare issue, but Leaf tech support had obviously already encountered this with someone else and knew how to solve my problem. It took some time and some back and forth, but it was resolved.
Good luck to you in resolving yours. Internet forums are a great place for sharing and venting; manufacturers, however, can generally provide better tech support.
I am guessing that people here, who are fans of Phocus are mostly hobbyists with Hasselblad having a grand time with it. I am not saying there are no pro photographers here. There are probably some very exalted photographers here. Just that I don't think anyone here has worked with importing and working with 1400 fff files on Phocus, which is slightly below the standard 2200 shots for our daily job. Maybe it all works with a small batch of photos or something. But I cannot imagine ANYONE basing their livelihood on this kind of performance. We have several photographers here and we all know about standard i/o issues with Macs and large files. We are not pulling these 1400 giant fff files over the ethernet or USB 2.0; that would be dumb. We actually have a really fast local SSD in the mac.
Each time we restart Phocus we have to sit there and watch Phocus redraw all 1400 thumbnails all over again. Even if we don't restart it, if we just scroll, AFTER Phocus has loaded all the thumbnails, it still lags and it's like working in a bath of molasses. Copying and pasting settings is another slow and laggy process. When we first click on a thumbnail that has any settings applied to it, it first shows the old image, then after a pause of 2-3 seconds, it updates.
Each time we restart Phocus we have to sit there and watch Phocus redraw all 1400 thumbnails all over again. Even if we don't restart it, if we just scroll, AFTER Phocus has loaded all the thumbnails, it still lags and it's like working in a bath of molasses. Copying and pasting settings is another slow and laggy process. When we first click on a thumbnail that has any settings applied to it, it first shows the old image, then after a pause of 2-3 seconds, it updates.
TechTalk
Well-known member
Your guessing is completely off base and a little bit insulting.
I realize you are a big fan of Phocus and contacting tech support. But we are not amateurs here enjoying editing a Sunday photoshoot. We have some very capable people, with decades of experience in digital imaging. Dumping preferences is troubleshooting 101, not some high-level tactic that comes as a surprise to us. We have had a long 48 hours trying everything under the sun with troubleshooting. You speak of Hasselblad tech support as they are just sitting there waiting to help us. We have yet to hear back from the emails and requests we sent 24 hours ago. Chances are when they do respond, it will be to some waste-of-time "Knowledge Base" article about how to trash your preference.
And if you have a problem with me badmouthing Phocus, and have no real solution to contribute---besides suggesting trashing preferences --- then you are welcome to ignore my posts and move on.
Tell me what actual paid job you have done with Hassey 907x and Phocus?
In every forum, there is a self-appointed czar who has nothing to do but post on forums all day. In this case it is you.
Ray Harrison
Well-known member
I'm sure you're under a lot of stress and wouldn't normally criticize people or make judgement calls on people trying to help 
. Have you tried Lightroom? How does the performance compare? Do you know what the apparent breaking point is for Phocus with your setup? Does it perform with 700 images? 350? Where does it break? What specifically has Hasselblad suggested? Something's wrong, quite clearly. What's your monitor? What were your test results and test scenarios pre-purchase? What does the CPU / Graphics performance look like in the Mac activity monitor?
. Have you tried Lightroom? How does the performance compare? Do you know what the apparent breaking point is for Phocus with your setup? Does it perform with 700 images? 350? Where does it break? What specifically has Hasselblad suggested? Something's wrong, quite clearly. What's your monitor? What were your test results and test scenarios pre-purchase? What does the CPU / Graphics performance look like in the Mac activity monitor?
MGrayson
Subscriber and Workshop Member
We don't know you. You don't know us. Everyone who has answered has been trying to help. I spent an hour trying to replicate your problem. I couldn't do it. Sorry. Good luck with whatever higher level of support you find from more experienced professionals.
Steve Hendrix
Well-known member
TechTalk
Well-known member
I've not used any of the Hasselblad mirrorless cameras. I've been using a variety of brands and models of multi-shot digital backs for commercial product and repro work for the past 25 years. Most recently with the H6D-400c.
As for professionalism, the professionals that I've worked with have all had a variety of issues to resolve over the years as have I. When problems arise that aren't fixable with the standard set of troubleshooting procedures, the professionals that I know contact their dealer or the manufacturer for tech support in order to resolve issues and get work done. In the meantime, they keep shooting with their backup equipment until a solution has been found and the problem resolved.
But, you can approach this in whatever manner you wish. Again, best of luck to you.
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TechTalk
Well-known member
Definitely belongs in the digital imaging tech support hall of fame. I hope he's doing well as he solved so many issues for me so many times.
Of course, there are good reasons why professional users, and consumers buying professional quality gear, work with a top-notch professional dealer like you. You can arrange for demos, loans, or rentals to evaluate equipment before purchase, provide expert advice, troubleshoot problems, and assist with getting service from manufacturers when required. We'll just have to find the right hall of fame for you as well Steve.
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TechTalk
Well-known member
Being a pro, you tested and evaluated this under your daily "mission-critical work" conditions prior to convincing your "superiors to drop megabucks". What's changed in your system or setup between the time when you tested and evaluated the system for your daily professional mission-critical needs and now?
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Ray Harrison
Well-known member
@emilediaz Your introduction to this forum was to essentially say "Only fools (and hobbyists) use Phocus" instead of saying "I'd like some help" without bringing in the emotion. Then you suggest that no one else is a professional like yourself. It's awesome you get paid to take photographs. Truly. Plenty of people here do as well but it's not typically a topic of conversation. Knowledge and expertise come from a lot of different places.
I'm a professional software developer. That means a lot of things, and a side effect is I get paid for it and can make a living. That said, there are "hobbyist developers" who can and do know much more on topics than me and I never turn down their help. It's how I continuously learn new things. That's in fact part of what being a professional means (to me, anyway). I never ask how much (or even if) they get paid as it's really not relevant.
People aren't out to get you or wish you ill and that's certainly true in this forum. None of us are "drinking koolaid". Everyone has wanted to help. You'll find that no one here likes slow software regardless of whether we're getting paid to use it. No one likes wasted time and everyone here likes great images. Professionals (however we wish to define that) use Phocus. They use it with your camera. Instead of lashing out, take advantage of the knowledge here and ask questions and respond to suggestions. You bought some moderately expensive gear and with that purchase comes support, either through your dealer or through Hasselblad. Suggesting you reach out to them for support isn't a negative thing. They wrote the software and have insight into what situations might make it slow in your situation. Maybe you hit some limit, who knows? Troubleshooting is a matter of winnowing down suggestions to iterate to an answer. Troubleshooting is hard and it takes attention and sometimes thinking sideways. Soliciting ideas from people here or in other forums can help you do that sideways thinking but please, there's no need to bring your stress.
I'm a professional software developer. That means a lot of things, and a side effect is I get paid for it and can make a living. That said, there are "hobbyist developers" who can and do know much more on topics than me and I never turn down their help. It's how I continuously learn new things. That's in fact part of what being a professional means (to me, anyway). I never ask how much (or even if) they get paid as it's really not relevant.
People aren't out to get you or wish you ill and that's certainly true in this forum. None of us are "drinking koolaid". Everyone has wanted to help. You'll find that no one here likes slow software regardless of whether we're getting paid to use it. No one likes wasted time and everyone here likes great images. Professionals (however we wish to define that) use Phocus. They use it with your camera. Instead of lashing out, take advantage of the knowledge here and ask questions and respond to suggestions. You bought some moderately expensive gear and with that purchase comes support, either through your dealer or through Hasselblad. Suggesting you reach out to them for support isn't a negative thing. They wrote the software and have insight into what situations might make it slow in your situation. Maybe you hit some limit, who knows? Troubleshooting is a matter of winnowing down suggestions to iterate to an answer. Troubleshooting is hard and it takes attention and sometimes thinking sideways. Soliciting ideas from people here or in other forums can help you do that sideways thinking but please, there's no need to bring your stress.
TechTalk
Well-known member
So far, except for repeated descriptions and complaints of a problem with exceptionally slow speed; there's been no explanation offered of how images are being captured, how they're being transferred, or what steps have already been taken to troubleshoot the issue. If the issue is as described on two different computers with current software and loaded with the same images, I would expect that the image files should be checked for some sort of corruption, perhaps in the preview thumbnails.
Image files can be corrupted from: a defective, unsupported, or improperly formatted card or cards, a defective card reader, a defective cable if tethered, or a defect in the camera. I would be calling my dealer and supplying them with a link to sample files to test. Hasselblad support is another option by email, online support form, or phone call.
Image files can be corrupted from: a defective, unsupported, or improperly formatted card or cards, a defective card reader, a defective cable if tethered, or a defect in the camera. I would be calling my dealer and supplying them with a link to sample files to test. Hasselblad support is another option by email, online support form, or phone call.
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buildbot
Well-known member
Something not mentioned here, maybe you are running out of memory from some unrelated program/memory leak? You could also just split the 1400 files into maybe 100 folders of 14 images each to see if that helps?
Nice! I used to be as well! In my opinion software complexity is essentially exponential, and sometimes you get weird bugs. In my experience It is best to reach for patience when debugging gets frustrating, and support really respects long thought out answers. I have been trying to figure out why Capture One can't see .MEF files after they have been touched by exiftool, it's some interplay between APFS, exiftool, and Capture One, and we have not been able to figure it out. But I was super explicit explaining the problem to CO support, and they did their best clearly. I myself am guilty of being short when answers are BS, but it sounds like the OP has not even heard back from Hasselblad yet.
Ray Harrison
Well-known member
Yep! I've found that working with the support folks, in my case with Capture One as well, is important and that they really want to help. They're not just trying to fob anyone off. If you can explain clearly what's going on (and that can be hard, clearly), they'll do their best to help, for sure.
Steve Hendrix
Well-known member
If you're on the latest version of Phocus, try the most recent before that. Try on a computer that is utilizing a different operating system (newer or most recent before the current running version). All with fresh reboot and no other apps running, of course.
Steve Hendrix/CI
Steve Hendrix/CI
I think all the help possible, from this forum, has been given.
The rest is up to the Hasselblad support.
@emilediaz
As it has been mentioned before, maybe you could have started this thread in a more polite way and less ranty way.
Please reflect on this for the future.
Case closed
The rest is up to the Hasselblad support.
@emilediaz
As it has been mentioned before, maybe you could have started this thread in a more polite way and less ranty way.
Please reflect on this for the future.
Case closed
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