Phocus 3.6.

1 Mac read-me

June 17th 2021

Compatibility

macOS 10.14 or later is required.

In case you need to run Phocus on older versions of macOS please visit our software
archive.

Phocus requires at least 8 GB of memory, where 16 GB or more is recommended.

Apple Silicon

This build has native support for Apple Silicon Macs - however currently it is not
compatible with macOS 11.0 or 11.0.1 when running native - it needs 11.1 or later. You
can force it to run using Rosetta if needed via Finder Get Info.

Furthermore EIZO monitor calibration and use of the Rodenstock eShutter will require
you to run using Rosetta.

System Requirements

Graphics adapters

You should be aware that Phocus utilizes the processing power of the GPU - therefore
using a Mac with a high performance GPU is definitely an advantage. All Apple Silicon
Macs and all Intel Mac’s using discrete GPU’s should provide good performance. We do
not recommend using a Mac that only incorporates an integrated Intel GPU.

Also if you are using an old GPU that does not support Metal you will see some
limitations. The extended GPU usage option will not be available and also you will have
lower quality rendering of the new clarity, shadow fill and recovery algorithms in the
viewer in between 25 and 100%. We expect this to be the last feature release that will
run without a Metal capable GPU.

Phocus will take full advantage of an external GPU.

Supported products

Image files from all Hasselblad USB and FireWire based digital camera products are
supported. Tethered operation will work with the same range of cameras except for the
first generation Ixpress series.
Capture of micro-step images is not supported.
Scanner 3F files are not supported.
3F files generated by Phocus are not backward compatible with FlexColor!
New features in 3.6

Focus bracketing

The Capture Sequencer tool now introduces an additional tab for control of focus
bracketing. For convenience it includes controls to turn live video on and off and to
control the focus distance.

There are 4 possible sweep modes:

▪ Towards Infinity
▪ Towards Near Limit
▪ Symmetric
▪ Specify Limits

The first 3 basically work like the focus bracketing feature build into the X1D cameras.
You select the step size from 5 different options, specify the number of frames, focus
the camera at the outer range of the sweep and click play to start the sequence. Step
sizes will take the currently chosen aperture into account.

In the Specify Limits mode you will also select a step size, then move to the position
for the start of the range and click Sweep Limit 1, thereafter focus at the end of the
range and click Sweep Limit 2. Now you are ready to start the sequence.

The Specify Limits mode is available for X series cameras only and both camera and
lens need to be running the latest available firmware.

Film grain tool

The new film grain tool will enable a highly flexible simulation of film grain.

There are basically 3 types available and for each you can vary 4 parameters which are
amount, granularity, roughness and color. Roughness might need further explanation -
it basically controls the perceived sharpness of the grain.

Adaptive chromatic aberration correction

The standard correction of chromatic aberration that has been the only option until
now relies on theoretical lens data based on the lens design. In some cases lenses can
have slight deviances from the theoretical data, of course more so if having been
subjected to rough handling. Also you may be using 3rd party lenses for which we do
not have theoretical data. To cover those cases we have added a new Adaptive option
for chromatic aberration removal. This option will perform the correction based on
image analysis.

This also makes CA correction available for 3rd party lenses. For these the lens
correction tool will show the usual UI for specifying a V lens - if you just leave this at
"Other" then it's still possible to select the adaptive chromatic aberration correction.

Note that the current implementation limits the possible movement of color channels
to 4 pixels so in some special situations that will not be enough.
Misc improvements

Apart from a number of fixes this release also includes:

• correction support for more V lenses

• improved XH 0.8 lens corrections
• EIZO calibration support on Apple Silicon (requires Rosetta)
• support for IT8 color targets
• adds workaround for 3rd party image handling on Big Sur
• improved chromatic aberration correction for multi-shot images

Change log

V 3.6.1

- incorrect readouts for images using both mirror and rotation has been fixed

- defringe range slider buttons now look correct on Big Sur

- the straighten slider range has been increased to +/- 45 degrees

- export to PSD now works correctly again

- improved results when using checkerboard removal in combination with scene

calibration

- a crash issue related to undo actions in the adjustment layer tool has been fixed

- also contains further stability improvements