Changing camera system from Hasselblad, recommendations?

[Stokkland]

Hello,

I had to sell my Hasselblad H5D-40 last year, and no longer have access to the H4D-40 I have been using since, so I'm looking for a new system. I mainly shoot still life and portraiture; any recommendations? Price range of ~$3000/body for used or new.

I used to have a Canon 5D MKIII before my tenure with Hasselblad, but always felt that the red and green colours were too saturated, and would spend too much time in Capture One to get things 'right'. With Hasselblad, the colours just worked, and I'm looking for that same "feel" again. I'm wary of Nikon, due to 3 sepparate D800E's I rented having soft focus issues on the bottom left hand side of the sensor, but I hear the D810 is different.

I'm considering the following (which I've found around my budget):

5D Mark IV
A7RII
Nikon D810
Fuji X-PRO2
Used Leica M9
...
Hasselblad 503CW + Fuji X-Pro 1

[Paulo Bizarro]

What lenses do you have? For the intended subjects, the Sony A7 series will be fine, with the advantage of being able to adapt a lot of lenses.

[BernardLanguillier]

Both the a7rII and the D810 are likely to be replaced soon, I would wait a bit if you can.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Stokkland]

What lenses do you have? For the intended subjects, the Sony A7 series will be fine, with the advantage of being able to adapt a lot of lenses.

Sold my lenses throughout the years, starting completely fresh.

Both the a7rII and the D810 are likely to be replaced soon, I would wait a bit if you can.

Cheers,
Bernard

Good catch, though I may end up getting a used D810, as some can be found second hand at quite a reasonable price now.
Thumbed through your Flickr and was immediately attracted to your shot of a Japanese bathing pool, naturally it was also shot on a Hasselblad. Good captures!

[Paulo Bizarro]

Sold my lenses throughout the years, starting completely fresh.

If that is the case, then I would recommend the Sony A7 system. Just make sure you budget for the top quality glass:)

[BernardLanguillier]

Good catch, though I may end up getting a used D810, as some can be found second hand at quite a reasonable price now.
Thumbed through your Flickr and was immediately attracted to your shot of a Japanese bathing pool, naturally it was also shot on a Hasselblad. Good captures!

Thanks for the kind words. The image quality of the Hasselblad is great indeed. And the bath was amazing also.

You can't go wrong with the D810, nearly 3 years after its release it remains IMHO the best compromise on the market even without taking its lower price into account. Its ISO64 image quality is to die for. Simply an amazing bargain.

Cheers,
Bernard

[HywelPhillips]

You can't beat Hasselblad colours.

I've got an A7RII, and while it is a technical tour-de-force, I have a similar experience as you've had with the Canons- always trying to coerce the colours to where I want them to be (within my preferred image processing chain).

It's amazing how good a job a small boutique company like Hasselblad has done compared with the scientific might of Sony, Canon, Nikon et al.. Even more so because their colours somehow seem to stay good regardless of whether one's preference is subtle and naturalistic or whack up the saturation to three notches beyond Velvia (which my proletarian tastes tend towards). It takes a LOT of provocation to get Hasselblad colours to fall apart, especially in Phocus.

I do find myself using the Sony a lot. Its shooting envelope is very broad- low noise, high resolution sensor, image stabilisation and some cracking lenses. Capture One does a decent enough job with the colours. But I don't love it the way I love the Hasselblad.

If I had to buy a single camera system for everything I think I'd still go with a 5DS or a D810. But Sony is innovating like all heck, and if you don't have an ultra-pressing need, I'd wait to see what the sure-to-be-coming A9R or A7RIII is like.

Cheers, Hywel

[BobShaw]

I had to sell my Hasselblad H5D-40 last year, and no longer have access to the H4D-40 I have been using since, so I'm looking for a new system. I mainly shoot still life and portraiture; any recommendations?

I don't know why you "had" to sell the H5 , but it sounds like you miss it. A 2nd hand H3/H4 may be the best solution. I prefer my H3DII to my new Canon 5Ds for image quality.