02/09/25 Color comparison of Hasselblad X2D No2–Phocus and Lightroom Snipes Bluff Buffalo River

Fall colors are an excellent way to compare the color output from Phocus and Lightroom on X2D raw files.  For this test, I imported the same raw file into Phocus and Lightroom and tried to keep the base work the same.  I use the “camera standard” profile in Lightroom and Phocus Natural Color.

Comparison of Snipes Bluff Buffalo River Phocus and Lightroom

These side by side examples were screen printed from a Mac Pro M1 machine and I used Photoshop 2024 as the workbench.  The Phocus output is on the left in all the examples.  Shown below are screenshots showing how the raw files loaded into Phocus and Lightroom respectively without any adjustments.

Click on either of the images to see them in larger view with a Lightbox.

As you can see the image was underexposed and I did this intentionally to help hold the details in the sky.  I have found that the X2D is very sensitive to overexposure on highlights.  Once these are blown, there is no way to recover them, whereas if you underexposure the rest of the image, you generally have plenty of room left to push up the shadows.  This is true especially if you are at base ISO of 64.

Let’s look at a view closeup comparisons after working up output from Phocus and Lightroom.  In this case, no additional work was done yet in Photoshop 2024 for fine tuning.   All the shadow push and highlight recovery for both files was down within Phocus and or Lightroom.  Additional sharpening was added to both images, again within Phocus and Lightroom.  Some color work was also done.  Mainly on the colors of the fall leaves using the color pickers within both Phocus and Lightroom.

Upper left Corner comparisons for color of leaves

Albeit the two images are close, click on the image and view it in more detail.  I believe you will see that the orange color of the sweet gum tree is more pronounced from the Phocus conversion.  There is also what I feel is better overall versatility in the color shown in the Phocus example.

Color comparison of Phocus and Lightroom Middle left of image

Both images have nice color, however I still prefer the Phocus example.  There are more variety  of yellow and orange in the sweet gum leaves.  Also the color is slightly less saturated on the Phocus example.  It’s very easy to blow out a fall color when working with leaves.  When you look at the images closely the Phocus image seems to have better definition in the edges of the leaves, where there is demarcation from orange to yellow.

Shadow comparisons between Phocus and Lightroom

These two crops are very close with the Phocus example being slightly warmer.  However once you zoom into the two, I believe you can see more demarkation in the various colors of the rock in the background.  The Lightroom example seems to show slightly better shadow recovery in the dark greens of the cedar trees up against the bluff.  The bark of the sycamore tree in the foreground is better defined in the Phocus example.

Sky comparisons between Phocus and Lightroom

The sky on this image was mixed with blue and white clouds.  I noticed immediately that the Lightroom version has tended to a more red tint to the blue.  Yes this can be tweaked later on, however look also at the details in the clouds themselves.  They are more pronounced in the Phocus example, i.e. have more life to them.  The cedar tree in the lower left has more shadow recovery in the Lightroom example. However the trees against the sky have better overall definition in the Phocus example.  With Lightroom, I did use the “select sky” mask layer feature, where as in Phocus I was only able use a graduated ND filter to help along with the “recovery slider”.

Clouds, compared from Phocus and Lightroom

The Phocus example has a much more natural look to the clouds, more separation in the graduations of the white and grey.  There are a few spots where I ended up with slightly blown whites from the Phocus example, which I would fix later on in Photoshop.  Also notice the trees against the horizon, clearly the Phocus example has a much better look to it.  The trees towards the left edge have better shadow recovery in the Lightroom example.  The most important aspect to me is the color of the clouds and this can be very hard to tweak later on.  Getting a pure nature white.  The darker parts of the clouds are grey whereas the darker parts of the Lightroom clouds are taking on the red tint and moving possible towards magenta.

                                                                                        Rocks and shadows, comparisons from Phocus and Lightroom

In this case, the Lightroom conversion I feel did a better job on the rocks, lower right corner.  The rest of the image seems better from Phocus.  Especially the finer detail along the edges of the rock ledges.  Look in the center for the brown plant growing on the top ledge.  Also the reflections on the water are much more pronounced from Phocus and the details of the river bottom.

Obviously from looking at all of the images, you can see slight differences between the conversions.  I feel that I am giving the Lightroom files more than enough work to get as close to the Phocus output as possible.  NOTE, Phocus has by far the WORSE workflow of any raw conversion software I have used in the past 20 years.  The program is slow, tedious, and has limited tools, like masking.  The available mask drawing tool i.e. brush is terrible and there is no ability to “select sky” which is a huge advantage in Lightroom.  However I feel that if you purchased the X2D for the HNCS (Hasselblad Native Color Solution), then you still need to do some comparison on your own to see if it’s worth delving into Phocus.  I feel the advantages are there enough to continue with the software. 

Written for Photosofarkansas by Paul Caldwell, Please ask before using any of this article in any other form of media.