Phocus Changelog

What's new in Phocus 3.2

Jun 29, 2017
  • ProRes export:
  • In addition to CinemaDNG it is now possible to export raw video as ProRes. Unlike CinemaDNG which is a raw format - ProRes exports will actually reflect adjustments made in Phocus and also take advantage of lens corrections and the HNCS color handling. In other words - the image processing of each frame of a ProRes export is basically the same that you would get when exporting still images.
  • When viewing 3FV files you will now find an Adjustment mode check box in the upper left corner. In order to view the effect of adjustments on raw video you will need to enable this adjustment mode. When not in adjustment mode you will just see the preview video that the camera has embedded in the 3FV. This non-adjustment mode can still be useful as it will provide faster navigation and playback and specifically if you only intent to export CinemaDNG there will be no reason to enable adjustment mode. Note that the mode can also be switched via the command in the View menu and its associated keyboard short cut cmd-alt-A.
  • It should be noted that adjustment settings are global for the full clip no matter which frame was shown when the adjustment was edited.
  • In both modes it’s possible to trim the extent of the video sequence. Just like all other adjustments this is non destructive, meaning that it’s just a part of the adjustment setting. The UI is slightly different based on the mode - in adjustment mode there’s a button labeled trim, in non adjustment mode you will find the Trim command in an action menu.
  • When exporting you will find factory output presets for both CinemaDNG and the 6 different ProRes variants. It should be noted that the factory ProRes presets all convert to the Hasselblad Rec.709 color space. Technically this will ensure a perfect match when playing back in applications like QuickTime Player or Final Cut Pro. In reality this output profile does not follow the exact standard when it comes to the transfer curve, but for legacy reasons it’s what is expected in these applications. If you need to generate Rec.709 output that matches the standard exactly you can create your own output presets and select to use the Rec. ITU-R BT.709-5 profile that is part of a default macOS installation.
  • Finally it should be noted that for now dust removal will not have effect on ProRes exports.
  • Wacom tablet support:
  • When using a Wacom tablet or a similar pressure sensitive device, the pressure will now be used to scale the flow of the adjustment layer brush. The maximum flow used will be determined by the setting of the flow slider.
  • Various improvements:
  • Eizo calibration has been updated to support all current Eizo monitors with swing sensor or built-in sensor
  • A warning will be shown in the camera tool when a USB based camera is connected via USB-2
  • Includes a workaround for a macOS 10.12.x bug that lead to 3rd party images being shown incorrectly when zoomed below 25%
  • When zoomed into an image and switching to another, the zoom level will now be kept even though the 2 images may have different full dimensions
  • Also contains a number of stability and usability improvement

New in Phocus 3.1 (Oct 19, 2016)

  • Keystone correction:
  • A new keystone correction tool has been added. Here you can adjust the horizontal and vertical correction using sliders and you can make fine tuning of the aspect. Apart from the slider based interface there’s also 3 different viewer tools available to setup the correction using guidelines. After having aligned the guidelines press the Apply button to update correction settings. Note that the amount slider can be used to select the percentage of vertical and horizontal correction applied. The guideline tools will adjust the vertical and horizontal offsets to match the exact theoretical correction - however for many images this may not look natural, therefore the amount slider will default to 80%. If you are actually doing reproduction work or similar you will probably want to set the amount to 100%.
  • Also note that the Crop & Orientation tool has a new Allow crop outside image check box. This is relevant both in relation to keystone correction but can also be useful when using just regular rotation.
  • Local adjustment of highlight recovery
  • A recovery slider has been added in the Adjustment Layers tool. Viewer background and margin options
  • First of all theres now a proof mode available - a button to the right of the compare mode button has been added to toggle proof mode on and off. In the Preferences General tab you can control both background color and margin independently for normal mode and proof mode. Also note that you can toggle between proof and normal mode using the keyboard short cut o.
  • Added response options:
  • In previous versions you could select between a standard film response and a linear response via the Reproduction Mode check box in the Reproduction tool. This check box has now been replaced by a Response popup menu. The following options are available:
  • Standard:
  • This corresponds to the Reproduction mode check box being unchecked in previous versions. It will give you a standard film curve response suitable for standard photography.
  • Reproduction:
  • This corresponds to the Reproduction mode check box being checked in previous releases. It will give you a linear response thereby providing the best possible color reproduction. The linear response is tuned so that it will give you correct ISO sensitivity.
  • Reproduction Low Gain:
  • The old reproduction mode added some gain in order to obtain the correct ISO sensitivity. This Low Gain mode also provides a strictly linear response but avoids adding any unnecessary gain and therefore in situations where you are able to increase the exposure correspondingly, using this low gain response will result in better quality images.
  • Negative:
  • This inverted response will be suitable if you are reproducing B&W negatives. Please note that the EV, Shadow Fill and Highlight recovery adjustments apply to the image before the inversion has taken place. While of course you can also use this mode for color negatives handling those will also require the ability to specify separate shadow and highlight points for R, G and B and this feature has yet to be added.
  • Rodenstock eShutter support
  • With this shutter connected via USB you will know be able to control it’s aperture and shutter setting from within Phocus. The camera should be configured as pin-hole and a trigger cable connected from camera to eShutter.
  • Various improvements:
  • support for 10 bit deep color displays like for instance the 5K iMac
  • CinemaDNG export has been changed to obtain better Adobe Premiere compatibility - improved macOS 10.12 Sierra compatibility
  • adds support for the XCD 30 lens
  • also contains a large number of stability and usability improvement

New in Phocus 3.0.2 (Jun 10, 2016)

  • Fixes issues related to multi-shot and 6-shot capture on some camera models
  • Fixes a potential crash issue related to loading an image using adjustment layers - also contains a number of further stability improvements

New in Phocus 3.0.1 (May 19, 2016)

  • Adds live video support for H6D (note that the camera will need to run firmware 1.3 or
  • later)
  • The [ and ] keys can now be used to adjust the adjustment layer brush size
  • Fixes stability issues related to editing of adjustment layers
  • Fixes an issue related to local adjustments of saturation that could lead to highlight
  • artifacts
  • Fixes a crash issue related to DNG export
  • Fixes parameter synchronization issues with FireWire based cameras
  • Also fixes issues with execution of multi-shots
  • An issue with incorrect thumbnail display on 10.10.5 has been fixed

New in Phocus 3.0 (Apr 21, 2016)

  • NEW FEATURES:
  • Local adjustments:
  • It’s now possible to have image adjustments only affect selected parts of an image. For this purpose the Adjustment Layers tool has been added. Using this you can add a number of adjustment layers.
  • H6D support:
  • This release adds support for the new H6D-50c camera including support for tethered operation via USB. Also support has been added for the mp4 video files that can be generated with the H6D, they can be browsed and played back and editing of metadata is possible. Metadata will be placed in sidecar files.
  • It should be noted that live video and browsing of an inserted card are features that will be added in an upcoming update of Phocus combined with a corresponding firmware update.
  • Enhanced Eizo monitor support:
  • All current models of self calibrating Eizo monitors are now supported by Phocus. Also as a new feature scheduling can be configured to ensure that the monitor gets calibrated within regular intervals.

New in Phocus 2.9.2 (Dec 16, 2015)

  • Fixes an OS X 10.11 related crash issue with using scene calibrations on cameras
  • other than 60mp models (also with early scene calibrations for 60mp)
  • Also OS X 10.11 related, this version fixes a crash issue when using custom ICC
  • profiles
  • Fixes viewer issues when using Intel Iris Pro or other integrated GPU’s on OS X 10.11
  • And as the final 10.11 related issue for now this release also incorporates a
  • workaround for an OS bug that resulted in very inaccurate performance of the
  • neutralization picker on images above base ISO
  • Fixes a color accuracy issue related to custom color calibration. To ensure that the fix
  • will have effect on existing images using a custom color calibration you should create a
  • new calibration and use that. If this is not possible you can in most cases achieve the
  • same by reapplying the original calibration but before doing that you need to delete all
  • embedded settings referring to the calibration
  • Fixes a viewer performance degradation introduced in 2.9, the degradation was
  • mostly noticed when using an integrated GPU
  • Fixes a possible artifact issue on cropped multishot images
  • fixes an issue with incorrect immediate display of images using Hasselblad L* RGB or
  • in some cases also images using custom ICC profiles.
  • And finally a number of stability improvements are included

New in Phocus 2.9.1 (Sep 18, 2015)

  • Fixes a problem that could introduce artifacts in images captured with 60mp cameras. 3F files affected by the problem will be repaired when opened with 2.9.1
  • Under certain circumstances Phocus 2.9 would not be able to install the Hasselblad ICC profiles, this has been fixed
  • The reproduction tool now correctly reverts to default behavior for all parameters when the tool is disabled

New in Phocus 2.9 (Sep 8, 2015)

  • Integrated Color Calibration - We now support the ability to create custom color calibrations directly within Phocus without any need for the usage of 3rd party calibration software. While the standard factory color calibration for our cameras will generally work very well there are situations where you will want to use a custom color calibration made using the exact lighting setup used for the shoot. Until now this has only been possible by creating a custom ICC profile for the camera using 3rd party profiling software. Apart from this being a somewhat tedious and error prone process it is also not optimal from a quality perspective given that the ICC handling is taking place late in the image handling process. Calibrations made using the new integrated color calibration will be used directly on the raw camera data as a direct replacement of our factory calibration, thereby providing the best possible quality.
  • Improved accuracy of desaturated colors in reproduction mode - When reproduction mode is active this version will provide better accuracy when it comes to colors that are close to being neutral.
  • Improved accuracy Lab readouts - In readout points you will now get Lab values with 1 decimal point accuracy.
  • Adjustable scene calibration intensity - In the Scene Calibration tool a new slider allows you to make fine adjustments to the intensity correction. When at the default value of 100% it will work exactly as it did in previous Phocus versions.
  • Focus control via arrow keys during live video - When running live video with a camera that allows focus control you can now use the up or down arrow keys to adjust focus. By default it will make small increments - holding down the alt key will result in a larger change.
  • General improvements - Apart from the above mentioned new features this release also incorporates a number of minor fixes and improvements including changes necessary for OS X 10.11 compatibility.

New in Phocus 2.8.4 (Feb 23, 2015)

  • Fixes a problem with scene calibration not being displayed correctly in the viewer for
  • cameras other than H4D-60 and H5D-60.
  • Also fixes some minor viewer artifacts for high ISO H5D-50c images.

New in Phocus 2.8.3 (Feb 20, 2015)

  • when running CMOS live video in detail view you can now hold down space and drag
  • the image in order to pan around (requires firmware 3.5.8R or later)
  • also in CMOS live video the option to use automatic exposure control has been added
  • via a check box in the viewer top bar (requires firmware 3.5.8R or later)
  • support for the new live video feature in Phocus Mobile 2.2 has been added
  • also related to the new external host feature in Mobile 2.2 it’s now possible to
  • configure a port number in Mobile preferences
  • when viewing images in 100% or above you will now get a much more visible
  • indication while the image is not yet shown in full quality
  • a Rename command has been added to the Image menu
  • processing enhancements for H5D-50c and CFV-50c
  • all save dialogs involving selection of a destination folder has been updated to work
  • properly also in hierarchical and cover flow mode. Previously the folder selected would
  • always be the one shown at the top of the dialog.
  • H5D-60 live video auto aperture functionality in detail view has been improved
  • a viewer issue related to scene calibration on 60 mp images has been fixed
  • various cosmetic issues related to OS X Yosemite has been fixed
  • a problem related to fast browsing of images shown in 25% or above has been fixed.
  • The problem could lead to the wrong high resolution image being displayed
  • fixes a problem with DNG export of multi-shot and 6 shot images
  • an issue that prevented Phocus Mobile access on OS X 10.6.x and 10.7.x has been
  • fixed

New in Phocus 2.8.2 (Oct 25, 2014)

  • A maintenance release introducing support for H5D-50c live video. It also includes a number of improvements and fixes such as:
  • the scene calibration tool has been much improved when handling 60mp tilt and shift images
  • fixes a problem that lead to missing dust removal on certain multi-shot images

New in Phocus 2.8 (Feb 13, 2014)

  • New features:
  • Capture Sequencer
  • Landscape compare mode
  • Hasselblad L* working space
  • Eizo Monitor Support