Question about Phocus to Lightroom

[acg69]

Hi everyone!
So far the way I have been working is the following: Import files from the camera to Phocus (3FR to fff), work on colors there, export the files to my Mac (fff to jpg) and import the jpg to Lr in order to work on other stuff like perspective corrections (easier done in Lr), some more adjustments in Highlights and Shadows and finally watermark (which does not exist in Phocus afaik). By doing so, am I missing something, i.e. do I "mess" with Hasselblad's color science by going from Phocus to Lr especially in jpg form?

Last month I skipped the jpg part and imported the fff files directly into Lr, after having worked on them a bit. Is this any better? However, one thing I found out was that the Lr jpgs could not be uploaded to my fb page for some reason, so that has to be taken into account as well.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks:)

[Plancton06]

You are mainly missing bit depth, but you miss that anyway if the end result is jpg. To me the main problem is that you are still doing highlights, shadows and perhaps color adjustments on a jpg file, that would bring potential issues regardless of what workflow you follow. Better to export to jpg once all adjustments have been done. It would be pitty to end up with banding or other issues in an image produced by such great camera. The issues you might cause by editing highlights and darks on a jpg are much worse than any issue you might find for not working on the Hasselblad color space.

If your jpgs are not recognized by FB it might be color space you are saving them, but I am not really sure, try standar S RGB for online content.

[acg69]

Thank you, it makes sense!

[Plancton06]

I also dislike phocus' perspective correction, not precise enough for professional work. What I am doing now is opening the hasselblad raw files with adobe camera raw set to hasselblad color space. I do everything there or switch to photoshop if further work needed. I am tempted to not use phocus anymore due to having to import to fff + the terrible perspective tool

[fcarucci]

Hi everyone!
So far the way I have been working is the following: Import files from the camera to Phocus (3FR to fff), work on colors there, export the files to my Mac (fff to jpg) and import the jpg to Lr in order to work on other stuff like perspective corrections (easier done in Lr), some more adjustments in Highlights and Shadows and finally watermark (which does not exist in Phocus afaik). By doing so, am I missing something, i.e. do I "mess" with Hasselblad's color science by going from Phocus to Lr especially in jpg form?

Last month I skipped the jpg part and imported the fff files directly into Lr, after having worked on them a bit. Is this any better? However, one thing I found out was that the Lr jpgs could not be uploaded to my fb page for some reason, so that has to be taken into account as well.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks:)

Jpg (like heifc) is a delivery formats only. Don't use it to edit under any circumstances. Every time you save a jpg, it loses a little bit of quality due to the digital Fourier transform that throws away high frequency data. Every time you save.

Only export to tiff and use those to edit. I know mostly export to tiff and then convert to psb, but this is a matter of taste. If you don't need/want to use Phocus for the raw conversion to get the most accurate colors possible, importing the .fff in LR is totally fine and that's what I do for non-critical work to speed up the workflow.

[JCM-Photos]

I also dislike phocus' perspective correction, not precise enough for professional work. What I am doing now is opening the hasselblad raw files with adobe camera raw set to hasselblad color space. I do everything there or switch to photoshop if further work needed. I am tempted to not use phocus anymore due to having to import to fff + the terrible perspective tool

Sorry, but Phocus has a precise 4 way keystone correction with an independent image rotation tool and objet ratios corrections coming from "de-keystoning" all this with an automatic grid that blends in during correction, what else ?

[Plancton06]

It is just not precise enough for serious architectural work, yes the tool is there, but as with many things in phocus the handling isn't precise enough. This problem is worse when you need to fix both vertical and horizontal perspective, if you move one of them to make an adjustment, it also moves what is already adjusted in the other axis, it is just a terrible implementation. In Lightroom or camera raw you draw each line that you want vertical or horizontal, one at a time. You are right, Phocus's implementation works but it is not precise. Ok for casual use

[acg69]

Thank you for your comments and help! I now see that I should either (a) work on phocus on the fff file and export in tiff to Lr in order to do some more processing  and add a watermark or (b) work directly on the fff in Lr (working on the fff first in Phocus and then in Lr doesn't work because it does not retain the Phocus post processing when opened in Lr). One question still remains and I am not sure it has been answered conclusively: is HNCS preserved in Lr or not? If it is, then one can completely skip the Phocus part I guess. If not, one can work in Phocus to get the benefit of HNCS, then export the tiff to Lr just for watermarking and that's it. But which is it? Thanks again!

[tenmangu81]

You probably know that TIFF are less flexible than RAW when processing in Lightroom.

In the Phocus manual, they say:

"The Phocus and Adobe methods can produce almost identical results (in most cases) regarding RAW conversion so it is a matter of personal choice regarding which method would best suit your preferred workflow."

Actually, HNCS is not kept as a whole when going from Phocus to Lightroom or not considered when opening .3FR or .fff in Lightroom, but the results are as good as in Phocus in most cases, except if you intend to address packshots or art masterpieces reproduction, for instance. All depends upon your requirements about colours and workflow.

If you want to fully benefit from HNCS however, the best way is to process your RAW in Phocus till the end, then export to Photoshop as a TIFF for watermarking and/or other corrections Phocus couldn't make. It's no worth exporting a TIFF to Lightroom for further adjustments.

[acg69]

Got it! Thank you very much, your help is greatly appreciated!

[tenmangu81]

You are welcome !!

[doc steel]

Cam > .3fr > Phocus > .fff > LR > .fff > edit everything in LR > export in .Tiff for storage / export in . jpeg for delivery
This should be the way you go.
I use Phocus as an "transmission tool" only for two reasons:
1. the color profile stays embedded and LR can "read" it.
2. i am more comfortable with LR and have the advantage of additional presets.

[JCM-Photos]

It is just not precise enough for serious architectural work, yes the tool is there, but as with many things in phocus the handling isn't precise enough. This problem is worse when you need to fix both vertical and horizontal perspective, if you move one of them to make an adjustment, it also moves what is already adjusted in the other axis, it is just a terrible implementation. In Lightroom or camera raw you draw each line that you want vertical or horizontal, one at a time. You are right, Phocus's implementation works but it is not precise. Ok for casual use

I had never this kind of problem with no adjustment tool in Phocus, my keystone correction is perfectly stable and precise, perfect is just perfect no mean to do it better 

[MGrayson]

Cam > .3fr > Phocus > .fff > LR > .fff > edit everything in LR > export in .Tiff for storage / export in . jpeg for delivery
This should be the way you go.
I use Phocus as an "transmission tool" only for two reasons:
1. the color profile stays embedded and LR can "read" it.
2. i am more comfortable with LR and have the advantage of additional presets.

I do this exactly except the exporting as TIFF for storage, which I really should do! I always complain about the danger of Adobe's subscription only model.

[tenmangu81]

Cam > .3fr > Phocus > .fff > LR > .fff > edit everything in LR > export in .Tiff for storage / export in . jpeg for delivery
This should be the way you go.
I use Phocus as an "transmission tool" only for two reasons:
1. the color profile stays embedded and LR can "read" it.
2. i am more comfortable with LR and have the advantage of additional presets.

I had the same thought for long about the colour profile, but after having read some literature, I am no longer convinced :
https://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=96679.0

It's well known that Adobe .dcp camera profiles are all built upon two illuminants, whereas HNCS is built upon 4 or 5. The colour profile applied by Adobe when reading HB RAWs is a .dcp, not HNCS. HNCS is only "embedded" for Phocus, and I am afraid can't be read by Lightroom.
But maybe @forger, the Luminous landscape member, is wrong.

However, for almost all the pictures I take (if not all), this .dcp profile for Hasselblad is very good, giving results very, very close to the ones obtained from Phocus. I have done a lot of comparisons, using my eyes and eyedropper.
If I were doing packshots or art reproduction, it would have been an other story.