Hotwire-Digital :: Get the Best from the Experts

Hasselblad released Phocus 2.5 for Mac on May 19, 2010 as a free download for all users. We spent a full weekend, including a live shoot with single and multi-shot Hasselblad H3D and H4D and were impressed with the improvements to this major update.

Opens hundreds of other file formats

This was a huge request from photographers and digital techs - the ability to use Phocus for other RAW formats (and processed TIF, etc.) in addition to the Hasselblad 3F file and enables them to focus on using a single command set to get their image capture tasks complete. With over 150 different files supported (think Apple's Preview using Core Image), Phocus extends it's use of the native tools (OpenGL) on the Mac OS X development platform.

Clever to utilize the powerful functions of Image Kit built into Mac OS 10.5.

Larger preview image available

We really liked this improvement - many times the embedded preview is just too pixelated when zoomed to fit on a larger display like the LaCie 500 and 700 series. Digital techs are able to quickly show Art Directors/Photographers the overall image with better detail without zooming in to show superior information in the shot (although this does require a graphics card with at least 512MB VRAM to perform suitably.) Our live production test used the MacBook Pro with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M display adaptor and was driving both the LaCie for the large image window and the MacBook for the thumbnails and tools.

Easier to sort and manage

Hasselblad improved on the image-grading tools of the IAA (Instant Approval Architecture) which are the red-yellow-green dots that are applied at capture and flow through to Phocus and beyond (similar to star rankings in Lightroom and Aperture.) In addition to filtering thumbnails by approval level above, image formats can be quickly shown or hidden to incorporate 35mm shots or only view Hasselblad RAW from the same directory. The sorting moved from the flyout in the upper right corner of the thumbnails viewer right into the thumbnails bar for easy access.

TIP: You can quickly set the approval level by pressing the 1, 2, 3 on your keyboard while viewing any image. Use left and right arrows to advance to previous/next image to speed up your selection process.

New Presentation tools

When delivering prints to clients, the new Full Size print feature sends the image directly from Phocus to the printer with expand-to-fit, and auto-rotate features. For on-screen presentation, the new slideshow tool will present the currently selected images full-screen, similar to Apple's Preview application.

With a bevy of improvements and new capability, Phocus 2.5 appears to be another valuable addition to the Hasselblad photographer and digital technician.

Editors Note: In the first few days, the Hasselblad server was quite busy. If you would like to be notified of software and firmware updates, complete the Get Updates email link to the left. Hotwire-Digital provides clients a link for mirrored download.