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Phocus/C1Pro integrations

S

ski542002

Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2026
Messages
47
Hello:

I started experimenting with the marriage between these two former-competitors. Shot 10 senic images on my x2dII. Worked the images on Phocus Mobile, hilight reduction, cropping, and some masking. Nothing extreme.

Went to export my tweaked Phocus raws and selected originals. Copied the originals to my external SSD which was super quick. Imported to C1Pro on my Mac from the SSD. The images in C1Pro look great, except NONE of my file manipulations transferred. I WAS easily able to manipulate the Phocus raws in C1Pro, but the manipulations I did before did not transfer over, even though I selected originals in the image export option on my iPad.

I really wanted to test to see if the Hasselblad color profiles transferred. I can easily do any other file manipulations once I'm in c1Pro. But in the future I won't waste my time using Phocus Mobile. Will go right to c1PRO from the camera. Have yet to test but I'm wondering if I need to apply HNNR to a high-iso image the HNNR file should(?) transfer over because it is a new file? Will test that and compare to c1Pro's noise reduction algorithm.

Any thoughts/comments?
 
I have done some extensive testing with the X2Dii and new C1. If I understand you, you made edits in Phocus and then moved the image to C1 and none of the Phocus edits were kept? Is that correct?

If so, then that is expected. The two do not talk with each other.

However, when importing directly from the CFE or the SSD on the X2D system, if you set the crop factor in camera, that is preserved. I checked several I set to square crop and C1 kept those and I started with square crops. The entire image is there of course.

C1 also set the camera and lens properly and selected the distortion and light falloff checkboxes for the lens, setting the sliders to 100. Diffraction is left unchecked as it takes a lot of processing power and is not always necessary.

I did a writeup for a Hasselblad dealer in the US. Once it get’s published I’ll put a link here. I used examples from both systems.
 
I appreciate the information and do look forward to your published paper!

After I did my first test I was so thrilled to be able to work the x2d files integrating capture ones advanced masking technique. It really is a step above the others. Capture one is a very complex program and your patience learning the software will reward you in the long run!
 
Update for the members. I DID test the Phocus Mobile 2 noise reduction algorithm (HNNR), alongside Capture One's new high iso noise reduction, named ENHANCED DENOISE found in the Noise Reduction tool tab in C1Pro. The noise reduction in C1Pro IS better. More fine line enhancement than HNNR, but very subtle and just visible at 100%. The C1 version IS better, but at a huge cost of time. In Phocus Mobile II, using NR takes about 15-20 seconds to convert to a new HNNR file. Using the same raw but untouched raw file and enhancing in C1Pro takes almost 5 minutes! IF you need the fine image detail enhancement go for it but it is super slow. I attached a screenshot with the c1pro version at the right. This was at 200%. Better results for c1Pro but at the expense of a huge time constraint. There seems to be a bit more detail in the smooth tone areas on the HNNR version at the left. At less than 100%, and if you don't pixel peep, I kind of don't see the extra time spent to be worth it??
NR compare.jpg
 
Hello David
Thanks for taking the time to write your very concise article. Overall I found it beneficial with a few caveats
-I don’t find c1’s color management to be substandard, just different than Phocus.
-As I mentioned in my reply above, I do find c1’s high-iso noise reduction algorithm to be superior. There IS another NR step that I am going to experiment with a Phocus file that works extremely well in c1. This step takes advantage of c1’s superior masking algorithm to achieve selective NR. Stay tuned for that.
-I do need to further investigate your thoughts in the article! Stay tuned for that as well.
 
You’re welcome! I also don’t find C1’s color management substandard - but I found it tinted the hasselblad images on the purple side. I love C1 and use it for my standard workflow (Phocus for Hasselblad) because it has great color editing.

Since writing this, a very technical writer has said the blue and blue-purple hues are much more saturated natively in C1 when processing a .3FR file. My only point was it will likely require more color editing than Phocus. I’m still not clear if C1 keeps the full 16-bit color (difference of 12-14 bit color in a 16-bit container, just not sure yet).
 
This is not important only from a historical perspective, I wonder if the color differences in capture ones preferences relate to the days when the preeminent Phase One back was in production. Maybe the phase one backs required profile in capture one to slightly change the coloration of their sensor profiles?

Back in the day I worked for a studio that purchased the first and back then the largest 50 megapixel phase one back. Seems her antiquated now!
 
I prefer to use bridge-ACR/PS if necessary since C1 priced me out and Phocus is less compelling than the aforementioned. Plus all files now sit next to each other on my external drives-RAW/PSD or TIFF/JPEG. That I really like.
 
algrove said:
I prefer to use bridge-ACR/PS if necessary since C1 priced me out and Phocus is less compelling than the aforementioned. Plus all files now sit next to each other on my external drives-RAW/PSD or TIFF/JPEG. That I really like.
Click to expand...
I appreciate the update and that’s good to know regarding the location of the four image files on your external.

I know ACR is available but I have not used it in many many years.

The only way I can justify the pricing of any piece of current software is to use the way back machine and remember how terribly expensive any software was 15+ years ago. Today’s prices are a massive bargain compared to the past.
 
davidmknoble said:
You’re welcome! I also don’t find C1’s color management substandard - but I found it tinted the hasselblad images on the purple side. I love C1 and use it for my standard workflow (Phocus for Hasselblad) because it has great color editing.

Since writing this, a very technical writer has said the blue and blue-purple hues are much more saturated natively in C1 when processing a .3FR file. My only point was it will likely require more color editing than Phocus. I’m still not clear if C1 keeps the full 16-bit color (difference of 12-14 bit color in a 16-bit container, just not sure yet).
Click to expand...
Good morning: I'm reading an interesting and detailed article in The Tech Behind the Frame on color science differences between Phocus, C1Pro, and Lightroom. The article implies that to retain HNCS, you must stay with Phocus. MY QUESTION is, IF I do an initial image optimization (exposure, contrast, highlight retention, not much more) and then export the raw to a 16 bit tiff. Will that optimized tiff retain HNCS when I am doing my final edits in C1Pro?
 
I haven’t replied to this HCNS questions because I’m not sure, and I’m not sure how to find out. Part of me thinks the TIFF would have the colors baked in, but does opening it in other software for edit then change that based on the way it interprets color? In earlier editions of Phocus (and today if it is really bad), I could not get their spot healing to remove large or complex pieces of dust from the sensor. My solution was to bring it into ON1 as a TIFF and remove dust, and then add dynamic contrast before printing or posting. The color always seemed ok, but I never measured it.

I still try to stay with phocus all the way through the system, but I really like C1 and with the size of my library and the time I’ve invested in learning it, I won’t leave it. That said, I use it for my Leica work, but it would be great if they improve the hasselblad color rendering or if, as you suggest, we can bake in the color science before getting to c1.

I might take a photo of a color chart and compare in both softwares, then compare from export as TIFF to import. That might shed some light?
 
Just my opinion. I do use Phocus mobile for its convenience and the baked in Hasselblad Color when exporting. For personal family pics, I export from Mobile right to a medium jpg for posting onto our family site. For paid and portfolio work I always export from Mobile to Tiff and then into Capture One. Regarding C1, I care less about subtle color shifting from one platform to another and much more about C1's superlative masking protocol and sessions file structure. I stay away from Phocus for the Mac as much as possible.

David I appreciate your reply!
 
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