I had the GFX50sii and X2d/X1dii. Sold all of them now as I do not need such a camera. I can confirm that the design of the X2d is great, however, I prefered the OOC output and colors of the Fujifilm over both Hasselblads. I would say the X2d has true-to-life look to it which I found boring for my needs. Different strokes for different folks. If I had to buy another medium format, it would surely be a Fuji.
I've never read an opinion about this topic expressed quite the way you have. I completely agree.
Whatever kind of subject matter I have ever shot, landscapes, portraits, product photography - for the image to look - "pleasing," "accurate," "lifelike," "compelling," "eye-catching," believable," riveting," - it is necessary to apply quite a lot of "correction," enhancement," color balancing, etc for the result to look give the viewer experience of looking at the original subject. Or, seeing it the way it looks "best." Whether digital or film processing.
And very often, the image colors have to be quite far from the original. When done right, that's what looks right.
The image is
not the original thing. Absolutely replicating the colors in the image of what was in front of the lens
does not alone make the image look the way the eye wants to see it. Not by a long shot. (No pun intended)
Hasselblad (to me) seems to be very focused (again no pun), on color by measurement primarily. I have no idea how they came up with the process they use, and would love to learn about
all the factors that went into their "color science" decisions. I wonder at how many decision-making forks-in-the-road the functionality of the system was dependent on the seniority of one engineer over another. Or the influence of marketing. Or the crunch of manufacturing deadlines.
I read "reviewers" opinions of the "superiority of a particular brand's color science" as just more worthless Internet insistence on absolute rankings of
everything. As though the quality of music from a symphony orchestra could be quantified on the basis of knowing the makers of any or all of the musicians' instruments.
PS: I also have quite few Leica M lenses which I loved using on the above cameras. The Hasselblads made the experience not as fun since the shutter with adapted lenses is electronic..
Interesting.
.
