sts2
Leading Member
Last week I've been kindly lended an X1D by the Dutch Hasselblad importer Transcontinenta, and I thought it'd be useful to share my experiences here. Point of reference: I am a sports photographer in the area of strength sports (weightlifting, powerlifting, CrossFit) and do both on location coverage of competitions as well as studio shooting with artificial light. I shoot a Nikon D800 and have never before used a mirrorless, medium format, or leaf shutter camera before (so my review will be done from that perspective).
(bit of a long rant, sorry ;-)
The good:
That sensor. Seriously. The image quality is sublime. Forget about the detail from the 50mp (not an enormous step up from 36mp), but the colours, the dynamic range, skin tones, they are all way ahead of what FF can produce. Out of camera the differences are already visible, but once you start editing the raw files there's just so much more highlight and shadow detail recoverable. Night and day. Regarding detail, I did find myself from time to time doublechecking if my D800 shots of the same scene were out of focus... they are just that much sharper on the X1D. It doesn't seem to have an AA filter, which is a good thing (one image I took I detected a little moire but who cares).
The lenses. I have no reference point with other Hasselblad lenses, but simply put: they are great. I used the 90/3.2 and 45/3.5. Would have loved to see a bit larger apertures, but they are sharp corner to corner without any distrortion or vignetting that I can see (didn't shoot brick walls though). There's a little bit of chromatic abberation (very easy to spot on the knurl of a barbell), but easily correctable. Bokeh quality is awesome and the transition of in-focus to out-of-focus is buttery smooth. I'm not any good at manual focusing but the "focus by wire" manual focus felt very smooth and light years ahead of anything Nikon puts together. The 45mm is essentially a kit lens, but they certainly did not cheap out on it.
The build quality. Best built camera I've ever handled. The weight is spot on: not heavy, but feels very robust. People I've handed it to said "it feels heavier than you'd expect", which probably sums it up. It feels great in the hand, and there really is not a single thing about the build that I could say felt "cheap" or "fragile" (and I am quite picky about those things). Literally it's a block of metal with a few buttons on it, and that feeling doesn't change with a lens attached.
The user interface. I had a demo model so it's probably not even finished, but the touch screen was very responsive, easy to navigate, and just a joy to use. Comparisons to an iPhone are certainly not out of place. Hasselblad seems very committed to keep improving the software and it had some major firmware updates recently when I got my hands on it. They will keep coming.
In terms of physical controls, I love the dual control dials which work almost like a Nikon: aperture and shutter controls in M mode, and the rear button controls exposure compensation in S or A mode. Great!
The sync speed. This is why you want a leaf shutter. Being able to sync strobes up to 1/2000th is liberating, allowing you far more control over ambient light and depth of field. To those who will say: yes but there's HSS or HS: it's not the same. Both those rob power from the flash so you have to compensate in some way for that. When I took it out to location I set it to ~750th of a second and still had 1.5 stop in either direction to control ambient light without touching the strobes. Very, very nice indeed.
The not so good:
Responsiveness. I've told my friends when I was taking pictures of them during a CrossFit workout, about 10 mins into it: "this ain't no sports camera". And yes, I knew that beforehand, but it really does slow everything down. Which in some situations, like street photography, I actually enjoyed. But even for predictable sports like weightlifting, it doesn't help. The leaf shutter introductes a few tenth of a second delay before actually taking the image, and because the sensor takes so long to read out, the screen blacks out for over a second afterwards. Focus speed is "ok", but as there is no tracking it's not any good for moving subjects.
Autofocus. They've recently incorporated selectable focus points into the firmware so you're not stuck to the one in the middle. Selecting a new focus point via the touchscreen works well enough, but if you're used to changing focus points with a multiselector and your eye to the viewfinder, you're screwed: there is no multiselector. Hasselblad has implemented a clever way of doing that by using the control wheels, but it's just not fast enough. Finally, autofocus speed as mentioned before is "ok". I didn't expect much so I wasn't disappointed, but without tracking or a fast phase detect sensor, it reduces the keeper rate during sports shooting.
Close focus. I didn't actually measure it, but I did find myself getting too close to my subject a few times (especially with the 45mm). I like to fill th frame and I also consider wide angles to be able to get "into the scene". Close focus is a tradeoff and it's clear to me they relaxed this feature a little to improve other optical qualities.
A little buggy. Tiny things that I think can be put down to this being a demo model, but the focus stopped working a few times (completely, even manual because it focuses electronically) so I had to activitate the menu and then go back to live view. Doesn't seem to remember all its exposure settings when you shut it down and start it up again. No auto ISO in manual mode (yet). Got a few strange errors telling me no lens was attached when there clearly was one. These things happened a few times during a week of use... not frequent enough to really bother me, but frequent enough to notice.
The rest:
Battery life is "ok". It has a huge sensor that's swithced on all the time, but you can run on a single battery for several hours. Pretty impressive I'd say, but how you use it can have a great effect on battery life. First time I took it out, I went through a whole battery within a few hours. When I got the hang of it I did an entire afternoon photoshoot with it, capturing around 180 images, using only half the battery... so with 1 or 2 spares on hand you'll be fine for a day. Batteries do take 6 hours to charge, which seems weird (my Move battery which is over 2x as large gets charged in little over 1 hour).
I've heard people complain about it getting hot. I don't understand that. Yes the grip starts to feel a little bit warm after heavy use... actually makes it even more comfortable to hold.
Startup time, yes it takes about 5-6 seconds to start up, but just leave it on, switch off the screen when it's in the bag and it's not an issue. Didn't bother me at all.
High ISO performance is pretty good. I wasn't expecting much but those expectations were beaten. Sure, it only really blows you away at low ISO, but you can definitely use it up to say 3200 and get good images.
It didn't give the ability to use the secondary card slot as backup, but I've been told they are aware of this and will fix it in a future firmware update
It has an EVF, obviously. I thought it was pretty responsive, clear, and detailed, but I don't know how that compares to other mirrorless cameras. The fact that I'm a lifetime OVF user and I managed to get used to this EVF pretty quickly probably means it's a good one. I still prefer an OVF though.
Conclusion:
The images it produces are amazing, but you do make a few sacrifices for it. And to Hasselblad's credit, they've never claimed going for anything other than outstanding image quality, even when it means compromising on other areas. So it delivers on its promise.
It's not meant for sports photography but as I do a lot of studio shooting as well, I wouldn't rule out getting one. I loved it for street photography too. It's hard to describe that walking around with a 10k camera made me stand out less (and worry about attracting thieves less) than when you're using an entry-level Canon or Nikon in the street.
Although it's a "cheap" Hasselblad, it certainly feels like a luxury product. It's well built, handles well, and produces the goods. The lenses are very, very good too. I consider this total redemption for that little Sony adventure they went into a few years ago.
Did I forget anything? Any questions? Feel free to ask!
(bit of a long rant, sorry ;-)
The good:
That sensor. Seriously. The image quality is sublime. Forget about the detail from the 50mp (not an enormous step up from 36mp), but the colours, the dynamic range, skin tones, they are all way ahead of what FF can produce. Out of camera the differences are already visible, but once you start editing the raw files there's just so much more highlight and shadow detail recoverable. Night and day. Regarding detail, I did find myself from time to time doublechecking if my D800 shots of the same scene were out of focus... they are just that much sharper on the X1D. It doesn't seem to have an AA filter, which is a good thing (one image I took I detected a little moire but who cares).
The lenses. I have no reference point with other Hasselblad lenses, but simply put: they are great. I used the 90/3.2 and 45/3.5. Would have loved to see a bit larger apertures, but they are sharp corner to corner without any distrortion or vignetting that I can see (didn't shoot brick walls though). There's a little bit of chromatic abberation (very easy to spot on the knurl of a barbell), but easily correctable. Bokeh quality is awesome and the transition of in-focus to out-of-focus is buttery smooth. I'm not any good at manual focusing but the "focus by wire" manual focus felt very smooth and light years ahead of anything Nikon puts together. The 45mm is essentially a kit lens, but they certainly did not cheap out on it.
The build quality. Best built camera I've ever handled. The weight is spot on: not heavy, but feels very robust. People I've handed it to said "it feels heavier than you'd expect", which probably sums it up. It feels great in the hand, and there really is not a single thing about the build that I could say felt "cheap" or "fragile" (and I am quite picky about those things). Literally it's a block of metal with a few buttons on it, and that feeling doesn't change with a lens attached.
The user interface. I had a demo model so it's probably not even finished, but the touch screen was very responsive, easy to navigate, and just a joy to use. Comparisons to an iPhone are certainly not out of place. Hasselblad seems very committed to keep improving the software and it had some major firmware updates recently when I got my hands on it. They will keep coming.
In terms of physical controls, I love the dual control dials which work almost like a Nikon: aperture and shutter controls in M mode, and the rear button controls exposure compensation in S or A mode. Great!
The sync speed. This is why you want a leaf shutter. Being able to sync strobes up to 1/2000th is liberating, allowing you far more control over ambient light and depth of field. To those who will say: yes but there's HSS or HS: it's not the same. Both those rob power from the flash so you have to compensate in some way for that. When I took it out to location I set it to ~750th of a second and still had 1.5 stop in either direction to control ambient light without touching the strobes. Very, very nice indeed.
The not so good:
Responsiveness. I've told my friends when I was taking pictures of them during a CrossFit workout, about 10 mins into it: "this ain't no sports camera". And yes, I knew that beforehand, but it really does slow everything down. Which in some situations, like street photography, I actually enjoyed. But even for predictable sports like weightlifting, it doesn't help. The leaf shutter introductes a few tenth of a second delay before actually taking the image, and because the sensor takes so long to read out, the screen blacks out for over a second afterwards. Focus speed is "ok", but as there is no tracking it's not any good for moving subjects.
Autofocus. They've recently incorporated selectable focus points into the firmware so you're not stuck to the one in the middle. Selecting a new focus point via the touchscreen works well enough, but if you're used to changing focus points with a multiselector and your eye to the viewfinder, you're screwed: there is no multiselector. Hasselblad has implemented a clever way of doing that by using the control wheels, but it's just not fast enough. Finally, autofocus speed as mentioned before is "ok". I didn't expect much so I wasn't disappointed, but without tracking or a fast phase detect sensor, it reduces the keeper rate during sports shooting.
Close focus. I didn't actually measure it, but I did find myself getting too close to my subject a few times (especially with the 45mm). I like to fill th frame and I also consider wide angles to be able to get "into the scene". Close focus is a tradeoff and it's clear to me they relaxed this feature a little to improve other optical qualities.
A little buggy. Tiny things that I think can be put down to this being a demo model, but the focus stopped working a few times (completely, even manual because it focuses electronically) so I had to activitate the menu and then go back to live view. Doesn't seem to remember all its exposure settings when you shut it down and start it up again. No auto ISO in manual mode (yet). Got a few strange errors telling me no lens was attached when there clearly was one. These things happened a few times during a week of use... not frequent enough to really bother me, but frequent enough to notice.
The rest:
Battery life is "ok". It has a huge sensor that's swithced on all the time, but you can run on a single battery for several hours. Pretty impressive I'd say, but how you use it can have a great effect on battery life. First time I took it out, I went through a whole battery within a few hours. When I got the hang of it I did an entire afternoon photoshoot with it, capturing around 180 images, using only half the battery... so with 1 or 2 spares on hand you'll be fine for a day. Batteries do take 6 hours to charge, which seems weird (my Move battery which is over 2x as large gets charged in little over 1 hour).
I've heard people complain about it getting hot. I don't understand that. Yes the grip starts to feel a little bit warm after heavy use... actually makes it even more comfortable to hold.
Startup time, yes it takes about 5-6 seconds to start up, but just leave it on, switch off the screen when it's in the bag and it's not an issue. Didn't bother me at all.
High ISO performance is pretty good. I wasn't expecting much but those expectations were beaten. Sure, it only really blows you away at low ISO, but you can definitely use it up to say 3200 and get good images.
It didn't give the ability to use the secondary card slot as backup, but I've been told they are aware of this and will fix it in a future firmware update
It has an EVF, obviously. I thought it was pretty responsive, clear, and detailed, but I don't know how that compares to other mirrorless cameras. The fact that I'm a lifetime OVF user and I managed to get used to this EVF pretty quickly probably means it's a good one. I still prefer an OVF though.
Conclusion:
The images it produces are amazing, but you do make a few sacrifices for it. And to Hasselblad's credit, they've never claimed going for anything other than outstanding image quality, even when it means compromising on other areas. So it delivers on its promise.
It's not meant for sports photography but as I do a lot of studio shooting as well, I wouldn't rule out getting one. I loved it for street photography too. It's hard to describe that walking around with a 10k camera made me stand out less (and worry about attracting thieves less) than when you're using an entry-level Canon or Nikon in the street.
Although it's a "cheap" Hasselblad, it certainly feels like a luxury product. It's well built, handles well, and produces the goods. The lenses are very, very good too. I consider this total redemption for that little Sony adventure they went into a few years ago.
Did I forget anything? Any questions? Feel free to ask!
