I’ve been doing closeup and macro work since 1956, so I have at least some experience. I’m not a professional photographer because I did not choose to be. I just love photography and trying to make money with it never occurred to me. In this article I want to share my experience with the Hasselblad X2D camera.
If you are looking at all the faults with the Hasselblad X2D and not at its image quality, you miss the point. It’s not an action camera, not for sports or fast-moving photography. And it’s not for everyone. The cost alone scared me off for many years. How could I afford it? I had to sell dozens of top-grade lenses to have this system. It was worth it, IMO.
The X2D is for slow, methodical, compositions, and color superiority (IMO), and I use it for that, yet I end up using it most of the time while my very large Nikon systems just sit on the shelf. Why? Because they can’t produce what Hasselblad can produce in the way of color and granularity.
I don’t have a dog in any fight. I have used the GFX 50mm, the early Hasselblad X1D-50c, the larger Pentax, the various Sony mirrorless cameras, view cameras, etc., and loved each one as best I could. I have had all kinds of Nikon cameras and scores of lenses, including the Z9, Z8, Z7II, D850, and most of the early Nikon digital back to the beginning.
For now, I have settled on the Hasselblad X2D and a handful of XCD lenses. It gets the job done.
While I love my Hasselblad X2D lenses, each and every one, I have a special love for the XCD 80mm lens with its wide stop of F/1.9. For Hasselblad, that’s a fast lens and it can be put to all kinds of valuable uses, like controlling bokeh (the out-of-focus areas in a photo), a shallow depth of field which can produce a lovely background bouquet. It is heavy, clunky, and a drag to carry around, but it is so, so useful in the work I do that I drag it around.
I tried some of the still-new V lenses, a couple in fact, but ended up selling them, the 55mm and 28mm. It’s not that they were ‘bad’ lenses, but that although they were lighter and ‘newer’, for my work they did not add anything that the earlier lenses could not provide. Weight is not enough, since I am not a street photographer, for the most part.
I would rather put up with the weight and the clunkiness, because in my book, the rule of thumb has always been, I will suffer the inconvenience of heavy, clunky lenses, for the sake of image quality. It’s all about images.
And while almost every online Hasselblad reviewer loves the new “V” system lenses, I bought and tried a couple, and while I agree they are great to lug around and for street photography, the bottom line is that I am just old-school enough that I won’t sacrifice ANY image quality for my own comfort. Nada. These “V” lenses ended up embarrassing me for using them. Why would I do that, settle for less image quality, especially with a Hasselblad?
Now there are some of the new lenses, like the XCD 75mm f/3.4 that look like they may be something I can use, at the same time, since they are designated “P” for portable, I bet I will not trade portability for image quality either. We shall see what the good reviewers say, and good reviewers are few, IMO.
As mentioned, I have a Nikon D850, the Z7 II, and the Z8, which are fine cameras and most of the, for me, meaningful lenses, especially the newer “S” series lenses. I have had all the Zeiss Otus, and even the Noct 58mm f/0.95 monster. And I do use them, of course, but aside from the NOCT the color or depth-of-field just does not stand up to the Hasselblad, at least in my opinion, which is all I have.
When I want really great color and front-to-back detail, or the shallowest depth of field, I turn to the Hasselblad pretty much every time, because it is that good. If it was not, I would not bother.
Is the Hasselblad X2D a perfect camera? Not at all. It is just perfect on a couple of fronts, one of them being Hasselblad’s color science. I can’t find anything better, and the 100 MP senser is so very helpful, as are the quality of most of the XCD lenses.
For a close-up photographer who prefers to create compositions slowly, taking my time, and often on a tripod, the Hasselblad X2D is perfect for my work most of the time. Sorry for this long-winded presentation. Please don’t shoot the messenger. I would be totally happy with the larger GFX cameras and lenses if I was. I can’t accept the color.
The one major fault of the Hasselblad system is that it is too expensive for my wallet, so, as mentioned, I had to sell a ton of glass just to buy used copies of the X2D camera and the 13 XCD lenses I have. I am looking forward to seeing what the Hasselblad X2DII camera brings. It won’t be a larger senser, but I hope it has a separate knob for moving the cursor! LOL.
Of course, this is an issue where people differ and find their differences.
The first flower to appear each year here in northern Michigan. Hasselblad X2D, XCD 80mm f/1.9 lens. Dwarf Iris.
