Hasselblad X1D Hands On Review

[E.J. Peiker]

So if you tested it with manual flash and there was no delay in the flash being triggered, presumably there should be no delay in the shutter being tripped.
Thanks. Hopefully somebody will test it. It would be very helpful to know if this is really an issue.

Correct as the flash has to be synced with the actual exposure.

[joa.silver]

Hasselblad X1D  90 mm lens seems to be very sharp. We have compared the image quality between X1D, Phase One XF/IQ50 and Canon 5Dsr and noticed that Hasselblad XCD 3,2/90mm is sharper in the corners than Schneider Kreuznach 110mm LS f/2.8. Not what we have expected – SK 110 are a really stunning lens.

You can see the comparison on youtube (made in October 2016) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD3An09hmjU&t=2s

[Joseph Colson]

The XCD 90mm is a true gem. It's perhaps the best 90mm lens I've ever used, and I know one other X1D owner that feels the same way. The XCD 45mm is no slouch either.

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

A couple of observations:

1) The Hasselblad X1D uses CDAF (Contrast Detect AF) that is in general a bit slow but very accurate. So, accurate focus gives the Hasselblad an edge.

2) Most really good lenses I have seen are sharpest around f/4 or f/5.6, so I generally see a clearly observable fall off in sharpness at f/8. The X1D 90 mm lens shows this quiet clearly in the video, both at centre and at corner. That indicates its a very good lens that is correctly focused.

3) I don't see this fall of of sharpness on either the Canon or the Phase One, that sort of indicates correct focus was not achieved. Accurate focus is of course a real advantage to the X1D.

4) I feel it is a bit absurd to compare the Canon 70-200/2.8 with MFD primes, although it is a very good zoom.

5) Regarding the overexposure/highlight recovery it is a bit of a nonsense. If something is clipped it cannot be recovered. What is probably happening is that the MFD systems underexpose a bit in order to protect highlights. To really analyse this you need to check the raw histograms, using a tool like RawDigger.

6) Default settings in Capture One blow out images exposed ETTR, so an image that looks OK in C1 at defaults is always underexposed. See attachments below, same image shot on P45+ processed in C1 looks overexposed and lacks highlight detail using default rendition while the LR image is a bit boring but shows a decent amount of highlight detail.  The third image shows the effect of switching curve from 'Auto' to 'linear scientific' in C, 'Auto' left and 'linear scientific' to the right.

Aside from the points mentioned I would say that it is a quiet good demo and I am quite sure the XCD 3,2/90mm is a stunning lens. (Well, I cheated and checked out the MTF curves published by Hasselblad, and those curves are world class).

Best regards
Erik

Hasselblad X1D  90 mm lens seems to be very sharp. We have compared the image quality between X1D, Phase One XF/IQ50 and Canon 5Dsr and noticed that Hasselblad XCD 3,2/90mm is sharper in the corners than Schneider Kreuznach 110mm LS f/2.8. Not what we have expected – SK 110 are a really stunning lens.

You can see the comparison on youtube (made in October 2016) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD3An09hmjU&t=2s

[cocacornelia]

Hi Kevin,

I'm new on the forum. I have enjoyed your very balanced review. There is one feature of the X1D that nobody has pointed out: half-pressing the shutter release does not lock the exposure, but only focus. To lock an exposure reading one must press the AEL button. For those who are used to lock both focus and exposure and then recompose, this means having odd exposures now and then. This may be addressed in further firmware upgrades. I enjoy working with the camera very much. I do hope that the slow startup and the shutter lag will be fixed.

 Best wishes

Pierluigi

[Joseph Colson]

I've read various hand on experiences with the X1D almost all of which report EVF lag but very few reporting shutter lag. I wonder if there could be confusion between the two and if Kevin or anyone else with hands on experience could add further clarification?

What has been reported as shutter lag is more accurately described as EVF/Live View "blackout". Since I, and some of the other early users, didn't know what was happening during the blackout (three distinct click sounds), we assumed it was shutter lag. Now that a few photographers have tested the camera with a flash, they have determined that there is no excessive shutter lag but there is an EVF/Live View blackout that delays the ability to make the next exposure in AF-S mode.

[tintoreto]

New firmware for the X1D available...

http://www.hasselblad.com/x-system/x1d-50c