HELP Hasselblad Phocus making my files too "crunchy"... what am I not shutting off???

[JK12]

HELP Hasselblad Phocus making my files too "crunchy"... what am I not shutting off???

Hasselblad Phocus is either over-sharpening or adding too much detail or something like imposing too much of a "crunchy and digital" feel on my files. They look so much smoother and more natural using Adobe Camera Raw, but I actually need to use the Phocus software for a few of the features and those will be negated if I export from Phocus as a DNG. I need to figure what it is that I am missing in the Hasselblad Phocus software that is making the files too "crunchy and digital". I ahve un-clicked every box that I could imagine would be causing this, such as "sharpening" and even have gone so far as to remove "clarity" and detail" in Phocus and still isn't doing what I need, which is to give me that nice and natural feel. I am in the last phases of a time-sensitive project. Thank you all for your time and experience. If ANYONE can help me solve this I will print and mount or frame something of theirs for them at my shop, on the house! Thank you in advance.

 

[mristuccia]

Re: HELP Hasselblad Phocus making my files too "crunchy"... what am I not shutting of

Hi JK12,
can you please post a sample image?
Maybe two images representing the same shot coming from Phocus and Camera RAW, so that we can better understand what you are referring to.

 

[Fredrick]

Re: HELP Hasselblad Phocus making my files too "crunchy"... what am I not shutting of

Hasselblad Phocus is either over-sharpening or adding too much detail or something like imposing too much of a "crunchy and digital" feel on my files. They look so much smoother and more natural using Adobe Camera Raw, but I actually need to use the Phocus software for a few of the features and those will be negated if I export from Phocus as a DNG. I need to figure what it is that I am missing in the Hasselblad Phocus software that is making the files too "crunchy and digital". I ahve un-clicked every box that I could imagine would be causing this, such as "sharpening" and even have gone so far as to remove "clarity" and detail" in Phocus and still isn't doing what I need, which is to give me that nice and natural feel. I am in the last phases of a time-sensitive project. Thank you all for your time and experience. If ANYONE can help me solve this I will print and mount or frame something of theirs for them at my shop, on the house! Thank you in advance.

Do you have output preview turned on? In that case it will have an export preset turned on, which you can find in the export menu.

 

[jecxz]

Re: HELP Hasselblad Phocus making my files too "crunchy"... what am I not shutting of

Hi JK,

I use Phocus almost daily for over 10 years and I am not aware of the issue you mention. As mentioned above, posting sample images would help us assist you or make suggestions that could help. Until then we are left to imagine "crunchy." Good luck!

Hasselblad Phocus is either over-sharpening or adding too much detail or something like imposing too much of a "crunchy and digital" feel on my files. They look so much smoother and more natural using Adobe Camera Raw, but I actually need to use the Phocus software for a few of the features and those will be negated if I export from Phocus as a DNG. I need to figure what it is that I am missing in the Hasselblad Phocus software that is making the files too "crunchy and digital". I ahve un-clicked every box that I could imagine would be causing this, such as "sharpening" and even have gone so far as to remove "clarity" and detail" in Phocus and still isn't doing what I need, which is to give me that nice and natural feel. I am in the last phases of a time-sensitive project. Thank you all for your time and experience. If ANYONE can help me solve this I will print and mount or frame something of theirs for them at my shop, on the house! Thank you in advance.

 

[JK12]

Re: HELP Hasselblad Phocus making my files too "crunchy"... what am I not shutting of

Thank you guys thus far for your replies and willingness to help! I've attached two examples: The first from "Adobe Camera Raw" and the second through "Phocus".
INFO:
Hasselblad H5D 200ms, HC Macro II, f11, 6shot multishot- thus making the 200mp version.

-I've posted both images as close to each other in size as I patiently could at the moment- I'm on a deadline for some large prints (my own work) These are test portions and are both critically focused through tethering and all that other good stuff that you're doing when you're not messing around . BOTH Images are increased to 200% to show the artifacts in ACR.

-It seems as though "Phocus" is putting too much detail in on their own which additionally is removing a lot of smoothness and causing a lot trouble for the specular highlights.

-Phocus settings for this example:
Everything that I can tell would matter is UNCHECKED. No sharpening, noise adjustments, etc.

-Adobe Camera Raw seems to handle the gradation better, looks soft but accepts sharpening very nicely, BUT doesn't have "color cast correction" which is would helpful to these prints in one spot AND it leaves these little artifacts in small bright details. I've seen this with another 200ms when using Adobe Camera Raw.

-Adobe Camera Raw settings for this example:
Everyhting that would matter is UNCHECKED. No sharpening, noise adjustments, etc>

-This test has nothing to do with color, ONLY resolution.

-I'm liking the adjustments I'm getting out of Phocus, with the exception of this "hyper" something that it's doing- I'm really hoping I'm just missing something and the files can come out a lot smoother.

Does anyone have any idea what I might be missing??? Big prize for whoever can help me solve this! I mean it!

Thank you for any and all suggestions. I hope I've explained enough for someone to just know what the hell it is I'm missing

 

[jecxz]

Re: HELP Hasselblad Phocus making my files too "crunchy"... what am I not shutting of

JK,

First: in Phocus, when you are viewing an image, does changing the combobox option as shown below change the Phocus shot for you in any way?



Second: if there are truly NO adjustments in the Phocus image then you will need to either: 1) accept that the two different software engines are handling the raw image data differently OR 2) find out what ACR is doing to the raw data (i.e. adding any adjustments just as you are asking if Phocus is doing so). Phocus and ACR will process the data differently for sure, you may have to select one or the other.

Third: I'm not sure I see a problem, you're using two different software products, written by two different companies to create an image. Both companies have proprietary algorithms of processing raw data. Getting them to match? Not sure it's in the cards, in my opinion, but I'm open to hear others on this topic, specifically matching Phocus and ACR to be identical.

Fourth: Perhaps one suggestion is to process the image in Phocus with adjustments to bring it closer to your taste and then into Photoshop or Lightroom (whichever) and then get the workflow the way you like it.

Fifth: Good luck!

Sixth: Accept that there may be no problem to resolve.

Kind regards,
Derek

 

[JK12]

Re: HELP Hasselblad Phocus making my files too "crunchy"... what am I not shutting of

Hi Derek,
Thanks for the suggestions. The drop down is “Capture (Standard+)- changing doesn’t seem to be affecting my images.

I’m not looking to get the two programs to match necessarily, but having the camera maker’s proprietary software (which I use all the time and have found to be decent) is actually degrading the image quality of their own files in my current experience. The amount detail being added looks artificial and the highlights are not good either along with some fringing.

Adobe ACR on the other hand, as can be seen on reasonably close inspection in my example, is causing this strange speckling in the specular highlights.

 

[jecxz]

Re: HELP Hasselblad Phocus making my files too "crunchy"... what am I not shutting of

Hi JK,

I notice what you are saying, however, other than reaching out the Hasselblad and sending them your files (and highlighting specifically what you are talking about) the questions you are asking are buried deep within both software products. Just be aware that your feeling that "[Phocus] is actually degrading the image quality of their own files in my current experience" is subjective and that perspective may not be shared, hence why I suggested you explore finding a workflow that produces a result you are most satisfied with.

In my opinion, I'm looking at two different software programs and not a problem; but keep us posted please on what Hasselblad says, or Adobe for that matter, definitely reach out to them too.

Hi Derek,
Thanks for the suggestions. The drop down is “Capture (Standard+)- changing doesn’t seem to be affecting my images.

I’m not looking to get the two programs to match necessarily, but having the camera maker’s proprietary software (which I use all the time and have found to be decent) is actually degrading the image quality of their own files in my current experience. The amount detail being added looks artificial and the highlights are not good either along with some fringing.

Adobe ACR on the other hand, as can be seen on reasonably close inspection in my example, is causing this strange speckling in the specular highlights.

 

[JK12]

Re: HELP Hasselblad Phocus making my files too "crunchy"... what am I not shutting of

Derek,
I have reached out to them and sent them a raw file. I hope they can help. In the meantime I was sharing my current experience and seeing if someone on one of the very knowledgeable forums might have the antidote.
My opinion at this point is based on the results I am getting. I did my own legwork before jumping on the forums, but I wasn’t getting anywhere on my own and at this point every hour counts on this project.
It was not my intention to imply anything negative about the software, but it is putting something on the files that I can’t remove.

I do appreciate your efforts and everyone’s who has taken the time to try and help me figure this out.

 

[bab]

Re: HELP Hasselblad Phocus making my files too "crunchy"... what am I not shutting of

I see in the above examples one file is 18m and the other 49m @200% why are they different file sizes?

 

[dave.gt]

Re: HELP Hasselblad Phocus making my files too "crunchy"... what am I not shutting of

I see in the above examples one file is 18m and the other 49m @200% why are they different file sizes?

Well, that was my first observation and it appears that the second one (49M) is Phocus. On my screen the first one is terrible and all kinds of dots (artifacts?) are shown all over the place, especially the lower edge in the white wood(?)...

I really cannot wrap my head around these two images, the first one looks much worse. But, the second is not that great either.

If it were mine, I would just wait to work it out with Hasselblad. Wish I could help. Good luck,:thumbup:

 

[Fredrick]

Re: HELP Hasselblad Phocus making my files too "crunchy"... what am I not shutting of

Looks like compression artifacts. The file is also a lot smaller out of phocus than out of LR. I suggest having a look at your export settings

 

[JK12]

Re: HELP Hasselblad Phocus making my files too "crunchy"... what am I not shutting of

There was a difference, the ACR files were 8bit, which is the file size was different- Hadn't noticed till you pointed it out, but it STILL looked better (smoother, less jagged) and handled adjustments, much nicer than the files I'm getting out of Phocus at the moment.