Hasselblad X1D: ISO 3200 Highlight Destruction in ACR vs Iridient Developer and Hasselblad Phocus (Dolls)
Related: Adobe, Adobe Camera Raw, dynamic range, Expose Somewhat To Right, Expose To The Right, Hasselblad, Hasselblad medium format, Hasselblad mirrorless, Hasselblad X1D 50C, Hasselblad X1D II 50C, Iridient Developer, ISO, medium format, raw, raw file processing
See my Hasselblad X1D wish list.
A check of the Nikon D810 through ISO 12800 shows that its high ISO exposure scales up with ISO, that is, the camera keeps gaining-up the raw file data—so there is no equivalent issue to contend with. The Fujifilm GFX was not available, as I am waiting for a replacement camera and 120mm f/4.
UPDATE: now includes results with Hasselblad Phocus. Also, this bug has been reported to the Adobe Camera Raw team as of 13 March 2017.
UPDATE 2: bug is stated by Adobe to be fixed in Adobe Camera Raw 9.10.1.
A must-read for any Hasselblad X1D shooter. I take pride in making my reviews far more than routine, and when I find goodies like this, I feel I’ve done my job well. At this point in time, I don’t know if lower ISO values are similarly damaged (versus higher ISO values only).
This page shows how Adobe Camera Raw 9.9.0 destroys a huge amount of perfectly-exposed high-key detail at ISO 3200 (and almost certainly other ISO value as well). No ACR settings could be found that avoid this wantonly destructive behavior.
ISO 3200 Highlight Destruction in ACR vs Iridient Developer and Hasselblad Phocus (Dolls)
Includes images up to full resolution. Proven with RawDigger histograms and by showing that Iridient Developer delivers high-grade images free of the problems seen with Adobe Camera Raw. This destructive behavior also exists in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (proof is shown), which shares the same ACR engine for raw conversion with Photoshop.
In essence, these results show that Adobe Camera Raw destroys at least two stops of dynamic headroom when shooting at ISO 3200 (and probably closer to three stops), at least with the Hasselblad X1D.
Unless and until Adobe fixes the raw conversion pipeline, a powerful case exists for photographers to consider Iridient Developer at the least for “special cases” for which Adobe Camera Raw incompetent to process the raw images. Iridient Developer is available as a free demo.
Hasselblad X1D + Hasselblad XCD 90mm f/3.2 @ 74mm equiv (90mm)
[low-res image for bot]
