Is the New Hasselblad 25V the King of Wide Angle Medium Format Lenses?

Hasselblad has unveiled its latest medium format prime lens that is pitched at night and astrophotography, but is it far more than that? Is the 25V the new king of the wide angle medium format lenses?

Hasselblad has always been seen as the Rolls-Royce of camera brands in many ways and the go-to choice for most when it comes to medium format. The problem was, like Rolls-Royce, Hasselblad came at such a premium, and most would never get the chance to dip a toe in that particular ecosystem; it feels as if that has changed in recent years. Perhaps it's the brilliant Fujifilm GFX systems, perhaps it's that Hasselblad hasn't followed wild inflation and my eyes are now too skewed to tell what's good value, but Hasselblad is approaching — dare I say — reasonable pricing.

The latest offering is the Hasselblad XCD 25mm f/2.5 V lens, an ultrawide-angle prime lens that looks to cater to nightscape and street photography. And, without trying it yet, I can imagine it does cater to those well, but as you see in the above video, those two genres aren't an exhaustive list of its applications.

What do you make of this new Hasselblad V-series lens?