Railfan Technology > Hasselblad X1D camera

Barron's has a short piece on the new camera from a non-technical reporter. Hasselblad invited him to try out the 50 megapixel portable camera on a Nevada mine site, littered with old mine gear, sand, rock, etc.   Wonderful medium format results in a smaller camera. Low light, great detail and depth of field.

$9,000 body + $3,000 lenses

The other interesting part is that Hasselblad is now majority  owned by DJI, the Chinese drone maker. Which means that individually hand made cameras may be in the rear view mirror, at least at this price point.


Barron's is a subscription site, here's a small snip:Among the nifty features of the X1D are dual SD-memory card slots, and a super LCD monitor. It's comfortably large, and when using it to view the camera settings, the font is big and bold, making it easy to eyeball the f-stop and such. I took hundreds of photos, and didn't glance at the battery information, so in practice I have no idea how it compares to other cameras.This is a mirror-less device, but there's also a traditional viewfinder in addition to the LCD display. Although I don't tend to use a viewfinder, I ended up using it for almost every shot. It's just a pleasure to look through when framing things.There are three fixed-focal length lenses made especially for the X1D, in 30, 45 and 90 millimeter. I used the latter two. Several more are planned to be introduced this year, says Hejtmanek, and that may include a wider lens below 30 millimeter, which would be nice for architectural and landscape shots. In addition, you can use any of 13 existing “H-series” lenses made for Hasseblad's other cameras with it.The X1D is delightfully fast to focus. The shutter release has a very solid click that's immensely satisfying. It goes hand in hand with what feels like extremely solid construction overall. This thing is like a tank. And its fit and finish, with a gentle grey metal frame, is very attractive.

 

It's still a little too steep price wise, but in
the day, Hassy did make great stuff, even if it
was a bit over built. Heh. It got to the moon,
so it much be sorta alright.

I'm happy with my Nikon D600, and doubt that the
Hassy would improve my picture taking much. For
studio guys, this might be the best thing since
sliced bread.

John.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/22/12005978/hasselblad-x1d-mirrorless-medium-format-hands-on

Wow, this may have to go on my list for when I win the lotto...

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer