A landscape photographer's Hasselblad X1D review

[Vieri]

Ladies and gentlemen, for a little Sunday read, and for those interested, I just published my Hasselblad X1D review, seen under a landscape photographer's perspective.

As a landscape photographer, my in-depth Hasselblad X1D review will mainly deal with the use of the camera for a pretty specific genre of photography. I am also well aware that I am late to the party, with the Hasselblad X1D now reaching its third year of existence and with many reviews already out there. However, I think that it is exactly due to my very specific approach to using the Hasselblad X1D, and to my own approach to photography, that adding one more review to the many already out there might still prove of interest. This Hasselblad X1D review is the result of more than six months of experience using the camera for my professional work day-in, day-out, not one based on resolution charts and the like.

Read on to find out what I thought about this amazingly small medium format camera!

https://www.vieribottazzini.com/2019/05/a-landscape-photographer-in-depth-hasselblad-x1d-review.html

Best regards,

Vieri

 

[JimFox]

Thanks for your review Vieri, I look forward to reading it a little later today. At this moment I need to get back on the road as I have a couple of hundred more miles to drive this morning.

 

[Johnny Mendoza]

A very nice review.

 

[Vieri]

Thanks for your review Vieri, I look forward to reading it a little later today. At this moment I need to get back on the road as I have a couple of hundred more miles to drive this morning.

Thank you very much for your comment Jim, I am looking forward to your thoughts at your convenience, hope you had a safe ride home!

A very nice review.

Thank you very much indeed Johnny!

Best regards,

Vieri

 

[Jim Sanderson]

A nice review of the X1D. Love the pictures you’ve made with it. I see that it has now been discontinued. Assuming that the new model will be with the rumored 100 mp sensor and you would consider it, what were the concerns you mentioned in your review with regard to the GFX100 and landscape photography?

Jim

 

[Vieri]

A nice review of the X1D. Love the pictures you’ve made with it. I see that it has now been discontinued. Assuming that the new model will be with the rumored 100 mp sensor and you would consider it, what were the concerns you mentioned in your review with regard to the GFX100 and landscape photography?

Jim

Thank you very much Jim, I am glad you enjoyed the review! Sorry about the late reply, for some reasons I missed your message and just saw it when I posted in this forum again yesterday.

About your question, we now know that the new X1D II still has the 50 MP sensor, which is not a bad thing IMHO. A 100 MP will come at some point though, when Hasselblad's engineers will manage to squeeze it into the X1D's body I guess.

The Fuji GFX 100 is an amazing machine, filled with every possible technology available today. The question is, what does it add to the landscape photographer? To me, just the extra 50 MP. Everything else is not necessary for me to do my job. IBIS? I am always on a tripod. Fast AF? My rocks tend to stay still. BSI sensor? Not so much of a benefit on large sensors as on very small ones. 16 bit vs 14 bit? Possibly making a difference, but extremely difficult to see. Video? I don't care. And so on.

Frankly, MP aside, I don't see any advantage in the GFX 100 over the X1D for my particular photographic application. I would get 100 MP vs 50 MP(a 37% linear increase) for more than double the weight (GFX 100 = 1.400 gr without battery, X1D = 725 gr with battery), much bigger & bulkier body, much more complicated UI, less successful long-exposure implementation, heavier lenses (at least those I use are), less wide wide-angle option (21mm vs 23mm on the Fuji). Overall, its a trade-off that doesn't interest me much - of course, YMMV. If and when Hasselblad will make a 100 MP X2D, same form factor / weight of the current one, I'll think about it: price will be an important point, since I imagine that the only real feature that will make a difference in practice for my job will be, again, just the extra MP.

Best regards,

Vieri

 

[Jim Sanderson]

Thanks for your thoughts Vieri.

 

[Vieri]

Thanks for your thoughts Vieri.

You are welcome Jim, hope that made some sense - the thing is, now that we have 50 MP IMHO we are pretty much set as far as resolution goes (at least for about 80-90% of photographers out there), so I think equipment choice starts to be more down to other features rather than just MP. Of course, 100 MP is better than 50 MP for landscape, no questions about that! Best regards,

Vieri