The XCD 30mm F3.5 is a wide angle prime lens for Hasselblad medium format cameras, and with a price tag close to $4000 you expect it to be good. As Chris and Jordan discover, it's an outstanding optic – with interesting bokeh.
Very good comment at the end of the video about the price ! I own a Hasselblad analog camera (and have owned more) , but I do think that the prices of the small (and larger) sensor digital Hasselblad cameras are much too high ! Come again Hasselblad when you can make a sensor in 55x55mm at a much more lower price setting !
This is a nice daytime prime lens. But in low light, well it will struggle against the breed of 1.33 inch sensor phones. It is a 24/2.8 equivalent lens, and if rumours are true, we will soon start seeing cellphones with 26/5.6 equivalent prime lenses, with the S11 being the first one. Now 2 stops of light is still a lot, but it is tiny given that the cellphone gets in your pocket and does so much more!
Being born in Sweden I have a soft spot for Hasselblad. But as a D850 shooter, I'm still wondering looking at these test images, what is so unique with these images that I couldn't reproduce with my camera (or a Sony)?
Good job Chris except for what comes across as a shameless Sony plug. If I could afford to have more camera systems then my work horse Nikon d850 I’d buy an SL2 and a XCD 2, would prefer 100mp though, as secondary systems. Sometimes I simply enjoy doing personal projects and fun slow photography. Heck I’d go to 4x5 or 8x10 film for fun. Different strokes for different folks and one persons work horse is another persons toy. Just wish I could afford and justify the toys....
So, the bottom line would be to get the Sony 7RIV with the Tamron 24 f2.8 and save yourself a lot of money. Hell, you could even add a Tamron 28-75 F2.8 Di III RXD and Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 OSS 'G Master' lens and save a lot of money AND have a much more versatile, three lens system for less money.
A more valid comparison would be the older GFX50 or pentax 645z with a mitakon 65mm f1.4 or a vintage lens
Looks like DPR is getting infected by Sony.
The tamron fails badly in flaring and lens breathing, coupled with a body that only has AF as its advantage against the other mirrorless 35mm cams, and you would be wasting your precious +$3000. No medium format shooter is that obsessed with AF.
Yes you can get the Sony a7r4 etc but some people get more joy out of shooting with the Hasselblad and some people loves shooting with the Sony more. And the feeling you get is something that for many trumps specs on paper. To be honest all cameras today are so good so pick the one that both fits your needs and Wallet and you have most fun with
But the Sony does not take a better photo, even in that limited test scene.
If you compare the portions of the images of people, the Hasselblad skin tones are far superior. The Sony skin tones are pretty bad. This is one of Sony's weaknesses: skin tones. In fact as a general rule the Sony colors do not match up well with the Hassy.
The Hassy is also sharper and shows more details.
So I would give the win easily to the Hasselblad in this case. That doesn't make the Sony a bad camera, and it's definitely a more versatile one. But in pure IQ, the Hasselblad wins out.
People buying Hasselblad or Leica are just NOT interested in what Sony does. You are just not going to drive a Honda if you can afford a Bentley and love driving it.
Even if that Honda is overpowered these people will just NOT care!
These are the same people that buy themselves a Rolex anytime over an Apple watch for that matter.
one of the most expensive milc cam is equal to civic? interesting. don't like the car analogy, but i'd rather say that sony is fully loaded bmw 8...
Thoughts R Us, that is an old comparison, the print has faded. add any new camera and the results will be highly similar. there is no „superior“ colour output, only personal preference...
I don't know by which mental gymnastics one would arrive at a conclusion that the 50 MP Hasselblad has more detail than the Sony 60MP sample, but it most definitely does not, and it is no kind of close call:
Reilly, I don't know how the operator is expected to turn pixels into more pleasing color. DR can help, not px.
NemanRa, preference, sure, but Sony fans are so unwilling to let that test speak for itself they're claiming moving sliders in Lightroom, or weird calibration procedures, will fix Sony colors. I would like to see the helpful, actionable version of this claim, "read this guide which will explain how to do it," instead of attempts to shut down the thread by shaming people as incompetent operators.
what the studio test shows to me: - Hasselblad needs manual moire reduction. From what I've read the algorithm has a detail cost so they leave it off; it's possible to apply to the whole image but preferable to mask affected areas. - Hasseblad colors, even without Xrite / Expodisc features in phocus, are unusually good. - pixel shift can be a big deal. With all the competition $0.8k - $6k offering pixel shift I'm not pleased Hasselblad's holding it back until you pay $40k.
btw, all seasons of GoT were shot with lenses with octagonal bokeh balls.
another comparison for you: for 3000 less i can get a phone that takes wide angle pictures as well! which makes the hassy and the sony redundant, don´t you agree?
That's not quite true; they tend to review a range of products in terms of price.
But what's wrong with them reviewing high end stuff? It's like car magazines when they test drive a Ferrari or Lamborghini. It's still interesting even if one cannot afford.
Huh? The DPRTV videos hardly represent the scope of their total coverage, and if anything Chris & Jordan are usually quicker to post a video of mid-range cameras than the rest of the staff is to publish the full review...
In short, you're way off. On brand for the average DPR comment tho, wouldn't be DPR without curmudgeons and incessant belly aching.
It's mostly a matter of extremely small volumes. A lot of FF lenses are more complex, and some even have similar sized image circles, but they have a vastly larger addressable market to amortize costs over.
...so, yes? Because the marginal returns of MF are so small that it's hard to see it gaining a huge market share as time goes on. The history of photography has ever and ever been towards smaller formats, not the opposite...
The larger sensor will cost more, and the larger glass elements in the lenses will cost more. Production runs will not be as large and so that keeps costs higher as well.
But Fuji is trying to change the cost equation a bit; their MF cameras and lenses are less expensive to equivalent offerings from Hasselblad. And they are great cameras and lenses.
Pentax did a lot to change the cost equation a decade ago with the 645D and 645Z, but it didn't have much impact on the market overall.
The trouble, of course, with the Pentax system is that the bigger your sensor, the more problematic the mirror box is because it grows in size cubically. Which is why 44x33 mirrorless seems so impressively small in comparison.
Ironically, MF is probably the first system that should have gone mirrorless, considering the minimal user market requirements for good autofocus, burst rate, and read-out speed.
Adroole writes: "The history of photography has ever and ever been towards smaller formats, not the opposite..."
How true! And of course we see that with the advent of smartphones and their popularity. In one sense it's smaller sensors to the extreme!
But interestingly enough, what we also witness is that as the dedicated camera market shrinks, what tends to remain are the higher end users either interested in specific high end functions, or those who want a clear differentiator with smartphones in their IQ, or those who value as much the experience of using a dedicated camera. So the market niche that remains tends to go in the opposite direction.
That's one reason why I think in the longer term, if Fuji keeps up the product line, that their MF cameras may become the next FF in terms of being the must-have larger format alternative to the smartphones. They keep driving the costs down, they keep improving the AF, they even added IBIS to one of their cameras, etc.
Google search BOKEH = 85M hits Google search PHOTOGRAPHY = 21.75B hits % of photography world concerned with bokeh = 0.4% or 1 in 250...? They can all be found on DPR...
@biggercountry - I'm not sure that Canon's choice to address the concept on a special variant of a $3,000 short telephoto lens made only for a system that represents about 1% of the total ILC market reinforces your argument that more than 1 in 250 photographers are super concerned with bokeh...
This thread should qualify for statistical malpractice. Neither the stat about Google searches or the size of the market for that Canon lens is in any way a meaningful indicator of the interest in bokeh.
The bottom line is that we don't know; no one polls or takes data on this. But bokeh has been a tool of photographers for a very long time and does have its uses.
But...and again, it's not statistical proof, but it is interesting to note: Apple and Google and Samsung and other smartphone companies, which make the cameras that the vast majority of people use, definitely see bokeh as a feature that many are interested in. Hence they invest a lot of money in developing ways to replicate bokeh in their cameras and market it.
Also, when it comes to stand alone cameras and lenses, one doesn't need a large market to justify the product. Hasselblad only needs a very tiny percent of the market to succeed.
@ Androole - as noted above, that ratio is conjectured and otherwise irrelevant. The fact that a major manufacturer would consider "quality of bokeh" a design priority for any of their products IS relevant.
Sure, only a minority of photographers care about quality of bokeh. But that is changing. I believe that simulated/computational bokeh in smart phones is what has been driving the conversation, and I very much doubt that feature would even exist if there wasn't significant interest in the "effect" of shallow depth-of-field. And that is in the vast consumer market.
And when consumers convert to amateur and prosumer photographers, they probably bring that interest with them. I have little doubt that is the reason why DPR addresses it in their reviews.
I appreciate that Chris pointed out the Sony + Tamron comparison. I'd probably prefer an a7RIII + 24 mm GM. I'm sure there is some benefit from these small medium format sensor cameras but I've never seen it with the advent of the most modern FF sensors.
Anyway, good point 3pgrey, well corrected is nice, but that's another case where I don't see much compelling evidence that poorly corrected = sadness. The Nikon S 14-30 was subject to much discussion when it was released but I still find it very appealing.
@fuhteng Imperfection can be beautiful, but it's also not the easiest to work with; it might suit one photo but not another. And it's also a rarity to see very well corrected lenses and the photos stand out. There's 2 things that make an otus 28mm stand out; the way it handles highlights, and a flat field curvature you won't find on other 28mms. Other f1.4 28mm don't have as shallow dof because of that curvature and it stands out
Firmware version 1.3.0 improves charging speeds by 20% and adds new touch-based settings for ISO and white balance. Two new accessories are also now available for the 907X Special Edition camera: a grip and an optical viewfinder.
We chat to Hasselblad's head of sales for Europe about what went into the new X1D II 50C, and what the company has learnt since it entered the digital medium format mirrorless market
Same body and pixel-count, but the Hasselblad X1D II 50C moves quicker and offers the biggest rear screen in the medium format market – and it costs a lot less than the original.
The Insta360 One R is a unique action camera: it has interchangeable camera modules, including one with a large 1"-type sensor and a Leica lens. We show you how it works and ask, 'who's it for'?
Exposure X6 is the latest Adobe Lightroom competitor from Exposure Software. With great image quality, impressive speed and powerful features, it's a compelling option that doesn't require a monthly subscription.
Sigma's 35mm F2 DG DN designed specifically for mirrorless cameras is a compact, well-built lens that produces lovely images. Is it a good fit for you? Find out in our field review.
US manufacturer Really Right Stuff just released a new lightweight travel tripod, aimed at active and weight-conscious photographers that don't want to compromise on quality. Does its performance justify its high price? Find out in our initial review.
Fujifilm's latest X-S10 is a likeable mirrorless camera with some of the company's best tech packed inside, and it doesn't cost the earth. We think it could be a good fit for photographers of all kinds – find out more in our full review.
Whether you make a living out of taking professional portraits, or are the weekend warrior who knows their way around flashes and reflectors, you'll want a camera with high resolution, exceptional autofocus and a good selection of portrait prime lenses. Click through to see our picks.
What's the best camera for shooting landscapes? High resolution, weather-sealed bodies and wide dynamic range are all important. In this buying guide we've rounded-up several great cameras for shooting landscapes, and recommended the best.
What’s the best camera costing over $2500? The best high-end camera costing more than $2000 should have plenty of resolution, exceptional build quality, good 4K video capture and top-notch autofocus for advanced and professional users. In this buying guide we’ve rounded up all the current interchangeable lens cameras costing over $2500 and recommended the best.
What's the best camera for travel? Good travel cameras should be small, versatile, and offer good image quality. In this buying guide we've rounded-up several great cameras for travel and recommended the best.
There are a lot of photo/video cameras that have found a role as B-cameras on professional productions or A-camera for amateur and independent productions. We've combed through the options and selected our two favorite cameras in this class.
Which high resolution mirrorless camera is best for you? This week, we compare the Canon EOS R5, Sony a7R IV, Nikon Z7 II and Panasonic S1R to answer that question.
As part of CES 2021, Canon launched a new website allowing users to view select locations on earth from the Canon CE-SAT-1 satellite. Using the onboard Canon 5D Mark III and Canon telescope, you can zoom in and see our planet from a fresh perspective.
The new Pro+ and Platinum+ plans cost $150 and $300 per year, respectively, and add additional benefits over the complimentary 'Pro' plan Nikon Professional Services offers. These NPS plans are limited to residents of the United States and U.S. territories.
The Insta360 One R is a unique action camera: it has interchangeable camera modules, including one with a large 1"-type sensor and a Leica lens. We show you how it works and ask, 'who's it for'?
Considering getting your hands on a Soviet film camera? Good for you! There's quite a few quality options out there and many can be had for a reasonable price. But before you go and pull the trigger on a Zorki-3C rangefinder, we suggest reading the guide below, from our pals at KosmoFoto.
Although the announcement wasn’t set to be made public yet, we’ve been able to confirm with Venus Optics the details of its four ‘Argus’ F0.95 lenses set to be released throughout 2021.
Samsung has unveiled a trio of new Galaxy smartphones, the S21, S21 Plus and S21 Ultra. The S21 and S21 Plus incorporate new cost-saving measures amidst a variety of improvements. The S21 Ultra, on the other hand, showcases what Samsung can do with a $1,200 price point.
MacRumors has come across a bit of code that suggests Apple may soon show a warning in the Settings menu when the camera modules inside iOS devices have been replaced with third-party components.
We've been pressing on with our review of Panasonic's Lumix S5, and have put it in front of our studio scene to see what it can do. Spoiler alert, its JPEG engine and high-res mode are both really impressive.
Our team at DPReview TV recently published its review of the new Sony 35mm F1.4 GM lens. How good is it? Take a look at the photos they took while reviewing the camera and judge the image quality for yourself!
Costco has informed U.S. and Canadian customers that all in-store camera departments will be shut down on February 14, 2021. Costco’s online printing services will still be available.
It's been a long time coming, but Sony has finally announced a G Master series 35mm lens for its full-frame mirrorless system. This compact alternative to the Zeiss version has some impressive spec: click through to learn more.
Dora Goodman got her start customizing existing analog cameras. Since then, she and her team launched a company offering open-source designs for 3D printing cameras and selling customers 3D printed parts and fully assembled cameras.
We've been busy shooting around with Sony's brand-new, compact and lightweight FE 35mm F1.4 G Master lens and initial impressions are quite positive: It's extremely sharp wide open across the frame, and controls ghosting, flaring and chromatic aberration with ease.
The 35mm F1.4 GM brings one of photography's classic focal lengths to Sony's G Master series of lenses. How does it perform? According to Chris and Jordan, it's pretty darn good.
Sony has just announced their 39th full-frame E-mount lens, the FE 35mm F1.4 GM. It comes with a complex optical formula and fancy autofocus motor technology, but it's among the lightest fast 35mm lenses on the market.
In an article published by ICAN Management Review, Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki speaks to the future of the company, including the possibility of RF/Z mount Sigma lenses, future camera systems and more.
ViewSonic has announced new ColorPro monitors at CES. The monitors, available in 27" and 32" sizes, range from 2K to 8K resolution and have been designed for color-critical applications including photography and video editing.
BCN Retail, which tracks online and in-person sales of digital cameras in the Japanese market, has shared its end-of-year data, showing the COVID-19 pandemic further compounded the already-shrinking camera market in Japan.
Fujifilm's main macro lens for its GFX system is the 120mm F4 Macro – a lens we've been playing around with for some time. We got the opportunity to update our gallery using the GFX 100, and we jumped at the chance to see what this lens can really do.
A new license or upgrade for Capture One for Fujifilm, Nikon and Sony used to cost $129 USD. A newly-instituted price hike has increased the cost to $199 (or $149 for an upgrade). Alongside the price change, Capture One has added a seat to new license purchases. Subscription costs have also increased.
The OWC Envoy Pro FX is constructed of an aluminum closure that’s IP67 rated to ensure your photos and videos are protected from the elements (and clumsiness)
The new CV5 system on a chip can encode 8K video at up to 60 fps, while also providing enough overhead for AI-powered features and capture modes, such as face-detection in action cameras and collision avoidance in drones.
What is field curvature, and why should you care? In this article – the second of two – professional optics geek Roger Cicala goes even deeper into the subject. Warning: many swirly graphs ahead.
Exposure X6 is the latest Adobe Lightroom competitor from Exposure Software. With great image quality, impressive speed and powerful features, it's a compelling option that doesn't require a monthly subscription.
Researchers at the University of Arizona have used NASA's HiRISE camera, which is onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, to capture high-resolution images of the Valles Marineris canyon on Mars. The new images shed light on how the canyon formed and help better our understanding of Mars.
The Nikon Z7 II has the same great ergonomics as its predecessor, but has more processing power, dual card slots, 4K/60p video, improved autofocus and more. Chris and Jordan tell us why it's a solid choice for many shooters.
Our team at DPReview TV just wrapped up its review of the Nikon Z7 II. Check out the photos they took along the way and judge the image quality for yourself!
Comments