Hasselblad introducing mirrorless medium format. now. live from Sweden!

[MFloyd]

I'm rather skeptical with regard to "everything is in-house design / house made". The digital era has made the camera building business very capital intensive; 100% vertical integration became an impossible task; and Hasselbad is a rather small company.  The aforementioned overstatement is probably there to wipe out the horrific "Sony rebadging era" memories; or not ?

[Frank Fremerey]

Good. We hear what we hear and believe what we want to believe.

45, 90, 30 then

it is better to see it in writing.

My verdict: This is a potentially VERY intersting product for me personally because the offerings I
received in this direction recently from Phase One and Sinar were much more expensive and or far less capable.

The Sinar Backs are limited to Mac ... more you need the Notebook from Apple to operate the Back.

The Phase one P65 is really really sweet when it comes to quality output and is Windows compatible but it is really
old now when it comes to electronics and still sold in the 10.000 Euro region.

So here comes a very transportable current technology medium format back sub 10.000 Euro
packaged into a small and lightweight body that is capable of doing events or Scheimpflug work in the field.

very tempting.

[Akira]

The new Hasselblad will surely be a game changer, I mean, for Leica who just released SL.

[Roland Vink]

A digital back for all the large-format cameras still floating around in my storage bins - now, that would be a great idea.

The new camera has no mechanical shutter and it has no electronic shutter (as far as I can tell). The new 45 and 90mm lenses have built-in leaf shutters. If the camera has no electronic shutter, it will considerably limit the number of lenses which can be used.

[bjornthun]

Then the Hasselblad X1D barely has moving parts, only the wheels and buttons to operate it. That should lower the assembly cost.

[Roland Vink]

With a short flange distance and no shutter or mirror in front, that big sensor is very exposed to dust when switching lenses. I guess it's also easy accessible to clean ...

[Hugh_3170]

I share the skeptism. 

My guess is the Research & Development is good old Fujifilm knowledge and effort, no matter where the metalwork is pressed and screwed together.  The Hasselblad/Fuji association is a long standing one and Fuji have said that they have been working on mirrorless MF technology, so it is likely that this association has given rise to the new 'Blads. 

Be that as it may, I for one hope that the new system does well.  Its competitive influence just might possibly force down the price of the D5 and EOS 1Ds a little if the uptake of the 'Blads by studio photographers is significant. 

Also nice to see mirrorless technology being adopted by the larger formats.

I'm rather skeptical with regard to "everything is in-house design / house made". The digital era has made the camera building business very capital intensive; 100% vertical integration became an impossible task; and Hasselbad is a rather small company.  The aforementioned overstatement is probably there to wipe out the horrific "Sony rebadging era" memories; or not ?

[John Koerner]

Would rather wait for the Sony A7r III than jump on a $9,000 Hassy, when the Sony will probably be just as good, or better, for less than half the price.

The new Sony will also likely have 4K video, which the Hassy doesn't, which is a kick-in-the-balls at a $9000 price point for a camera, in this day and age.

Not to mention more lens choices with a Sony ...

[Frank Fremerey]

With a short flange distance and no shutter or mirror in front, that big sensor is very exposed to dust when switching lenses. I guess it's also easy accessible to clean ...

I get dust on my sensor through the monorail bellows. Cleaning is necessary.

Also interesting how the camera will work  conjunction with the LF shutters mechanical and electronical.

[MFloyd]

First quick crash review by Matt Granger https://youtu.be/gGnoNq4d4Mk

[Michael Erlewine]

Ming Thein, who recently switched to the Hasselblad system and has become a rep for them, reports that he understands that Hasselblad is working on an electronic shutter in firmware that would open up the X1D-50c system to a plethora of lenses, including the Otus series from Zeiss, etc. That would interest me. However, my guess is the Sony will release a system this fall that will be “close enough” at around $4k, and, who knows, Nikon might just surprise us with... something.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Central shutter lenses make this interesting to those who use flash outdoors, in particular (1/2000s sync at full output, so a smaller and lighter flash system can be used in sunlight).

The camera and lenses are compact so it could be used as a travel camera with image quality. I suppose it is a bit like the modern equivalent of a Mamiya 7.

[Les Olson]

Then the Hasselblad X1D barely has moving parts, only the wheels and buttons to operate it. That should lower the assembly cost.

Quite possibly - as well as lowering inventory costs.  But why is that a good thing for consumers, unless it translates to a lower price?  The alternative is that it translates to higher profit for the manufacturer; which do you think is more likely? 

[Bjørn Rørslett]

This probably will be a niche camera unless it can appeal, and sell, to a lot of non-studio photographers. In itself the limited market will keep price up.

As to the fewer moving things inside the camera, that possibly could mean higher reliability in use? Time will show.

[JohnBrew]

It was interesting that HB chose not to use Fuji lenses since Fuji makes the HC line of lenses. Image quality will be exactly the same as the H5D-H6D 50c if the lenses are as good (no reason they shouldn't be).
However, this is such a small market internationally I really must question whether Fuji, Sony or Nikon truly have any interest in going there with their own MF camera. I would imagine it would take years to recoup R&D costs.
I must say I'm impressed with the packaging of the X1D. Very portable compared to my Leica S!