A (brief) look at the X1D

[keithcooper]

Recently I was asked if I'd like to have a look at the X1D by Hasselblad UK

Given my day to day use of a 50MP Canon 5Ds I was more than happy to give it a go. Well, December in the UK is not the best of times if you've the camera for a week, but whatever ;-)

It's far more of a 'what it felt like to use' review than my normal detailed printer/lens reviews but I thought it might be of interest to those looking to try larger sensors, and in particular the X1D

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/using-the-hasselblad-x1d-50c/

Image quality was pretty good, as I expected, and the XCD21mm lens very good quality.

When it came down to it though, for myself, the usefulness comes down to what lens types you want to use.

Hope it's of some interest - even if a little basic for existing day to day MF users ;-)

[BobShaw]

Thanks for the review, Keith.
I have both the 5Ds and the X1D so the review was certainly relevant to me as another perspective.
I agree with pretty much what you say.

It is easy to use. You mentioned that you had read the X1D manual. You read the manual because you can. It is less than 200 pages. The manual on the 5Ds is over 500 pages
The X1D is lighter, easier to use and more fun than the 5DS. I believe that the image quality is better and I also like the GPS when travelling.
As a Canon user the reversed Nikon style front wheel Aperture and rear wheel shutter took a bit of getting used to. Hasselblad say that they will look at it being selectable.
I use the Canon TSE24 with the Kipon adapter and find that great for the landscapes I do.
My jury is still out on the EVF. I miss being able to set up the camera on a tripod before it is even turned on. I guess I will get used to it.

I suggest that you experiment more with Phocus. It gives great results. The .3FR files from the camera are compressed raw files. Phocus expands them to .FFF files with corrections. I think that if you are importing .3FR into Photoshop then you are losing features and Phocus will give better results.

Cheers, Bob

[keithcooper]

Thanks - I did read the 5Ds manual when first waiting for the battery to charge, but it has a vast array of functions I did somewhat skim over.

Interestingly, the 3fr files from the camera all come in at ~110MB, whilst the imported ones vary in size with image content (~67-95MB), so it looks as if the imported ones are getting compressed as well when going through Phocus.

If you look at the fff ones in Bridge, the previews initially show the adjustment and then quickly revert to uncorrected as the previews get rebuilt.

I have to say that Phocus was the perhaps the least positive part of my week - not to mention that the latest version won't work on anything other than my MacBook Pro. I just found it rather clunky.  I seem to adapt to different cameras much more readily - the control wheels setup difference never even registered with me.

Ah well, I guess I'll have to wait until I get another camera to try and explore more... ;-)

[Dinarius]

I don't own one of these. I own a multi-shot Hasselblad.

But, one thing that Hasselblad score on with this camera is constant tweaks and improvements (mostly in response to user suggestions) via firmware upgrades.

Canon are simply hopeless on this front. Despite various third-party hacks demonstrating the massive potential of Canon cameras (if you're brave enough to risk bricking your camera; I'm not) via firmware tweaks, Canon do nothing. Pretty much what you get on the day of purchase is what you're stuck with. Not good enough from either of the 800lb gorillas - Nikon are just as bad.

Phocus is superb software. For colour critical work, it's the only way to go with a Hasselblad camera. The DR and amazing elasticity of these MF files is fully exploited by it.

I read somewhere recently that all MF camera manufacturers make about 10,000 cameras a year combined, and that Canon make that many cameras in a day! So, why would Canon (or Nikon, for that matter) give a hoot about the customer? Once you buy their cheap(ish) camera - relative to the cost of their over-priced lenses, you're locked into the system. Yes, it's the same with Hassie; but, they are more responsive to their tiny market, in my view.

As I wrote elsewhere here; thank heavens for the likes of Sigma. Otherwise, we really would be taken for a ride.

D.