A First Look at the Hasselblad X1D Mark II

When the Hasselblad X1D came out, it was the world's first medium format mirrorless camera, and as such, it ushered in an exciting new era that has since been joined by the Fujifilm GFX series. Nonetheless, it wasn't the perfect camera, and now with the second version, Hasselblad has made some changes sure to improve the experience. This great video takes a first look at the new version and how it performs.

Coming to you from Matt Granger, this excellent first look video examines the Hasselblad X1D II and how it performs compared to the original model. The X1D was quite the revolution when it came out. Not only was it the first mirrorless medium format camera, it was remarkably small for the size of the sensor it housed. I had the pleasure of shooting with one for an afternoon, and while I absolutely loved the image quality, I was frustrated by the sluggish performance that made it difficult to time shots, along with a few other issues. Still, I could see a lot of potential in the camera and knew that with some refinement, it'd be quite a great option for a lot of shooters. It seems Hasselblad has taken a few steps in the right direction with this release, and I'll be interested to see how many shooters it finds its way into the hands of. Check out the video above for the full rundown.

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

Log in or register to post comments
4 Comments

I doubt that the performance improvement was solely a software optimization. I think the original had some weak hardware component - probably they were rushing to the market and reused some parts from other cameras.

The X1D has received numerous firmware updates which have improved the camera and added a ton of new features. The limitations of the older processor meant some things weren't possible that will be or that will be faster with the new one. Just as we can't expect things like 4K video because the sensor doesn't support it.

Apart from the glacial startup times the X1D is now actually a pretty solid portable miniMF camera.

Gordon

DSLRs are so far ahead of MF software .. Good Luck with this one.

Folks,

I'm selling my Phase One IQ140 Kit (645DF+ Camera, IQ140 Digital Back and 80mm SK Leaf Shutter Lens).

Please let me know if anybody is interested.

Thanks