Phocus Crop Tool: The Grid Options Nobody Told You About

When you activate the crop tool in Phocus, you get a 2x2 grid overlay. Two lines each way, dividing your frame into quarters. It's marginally better than nothing, but if you're trying to compose using the rule of thirds, you're out of luck.

Or so it seems.

Disclaimer: This article is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Victor Hasselblad AB. All observations are based on my own testing with Phocus 4.x on macOS. If you encounter technical issues, contact Hasselblad directly at hasselblad.com/support.

The Hidden Keyboard Shortcuts

While actively cropping (with the crop handles visible), press a number key to change the grid overlay:

The naming is logical once you understand it: the number refers to how many gridlines, not how many divisions. Press 2 for two lines, which gives you thirds.

The Persistence Problem

Here's the catch: your grid preference only lasts for the current session. Quit Phocus, and it resets to the default 2x2 grid. There's no preference to change the default, and the setting isn't stored anywhere accessible in macOS defaults.

(Note: Phocus has a separate NGridLines setting that controls a full-image grid overlay via View > Show Grid. That's a different feature entirely and does persist. The crop tool grid has no equivalent.)

This is a minor UX oversight, but if you crop frequently, having to press "2" every time you open Phocus gets old fast.

Is This New in 4.x?

Honestly, I don't know. The most recent Phocus manual only covers version 3.8.x, and there's no mention of crop grid options there. It could be a 4.x addition, or it could have been hiding in plain sight for years. If you're running an older version and can confirm either way, I'd love to hear from you.

Why This Matters

This is a small thing, but it's representative of a larger pattern with Phocus: useful features exist, they're just not documented. The software has more capability than the official materials suggest. Part of why I write these posts is to surface these hidden options so Hasselblad shooters can actually use them.

Found another hidden Phocus feature? Drop me a line.