The Hasselblad X1D puts a lot of camera in your palm (hands-on)
The first medium-format mirrorless interchangeable-lens model is pretty small and light for its class.
When you think about how cumbersome the gear was in the early days of photography, it's boggling how much camera you can pack into a shoulder bag today. Hasselblad ups the boggle quotient with its X1D, the first medium-format model that can fit comfortably into a midsize camera bag. Normally, medium-format cameras have big bodies in part because of the size of the mirror they need to accommodate. By going mirrorless, Hasselblad cut the weight in half, producing a schlep-friendly camera that professionals and well-off enthusiasts spoiled by large-sensor photo quality may be wiling to pay a premium for.
That premium runs to about $9,000 or £5,990 for the body, $11,300 with the XCD 45mm f3.5 lens or $14,000 with both the 45mm and XCD 90mm f4.5 lenses. (Pricing for the UK and Australia wasn't available for the kits. The US prices convert to £7,685 and £9,520, or AU$11,975, AU$15,040 and AU$18,640.) Though the company is shipping the lenses for the X1D, it will also offer an H lens adapter so that you can use all of Hasselblad's H-mount lenses with it. Keep in mind that using the larger lenses can defeat the purpose of the compact mirrorless body.
X1D series launches with the X1D-50c, essentially an adapted-for-mirrorless version of its HDC-50c, and two new lenses specifically designed for the X1D's mount, dubbed the X mount. An interesting side note is the reason it took so long for the camera to become a reality. According to a Hasselblad representative, the lack of the necessary money and vision stalled the development of a medium-format mirrorless. It wasn't until about two years ago that the powers-that-be at the company stopped worried about cannibalizing sales of its pricey reflex (mirrored) cameras. Where TPTB go, investors follow.
It's roughly the same size as the full-frame Leica SL -- which is huge for a mirrorless -- or a cheap dSLR like the Canon EOS Rebel T6/1300D, but smaller and lighter than Hasselblad's HDC models. The X1D-50c incorporates the same 42.8x32.9mm, 5.3-micron-squared-pixel sensor as the HDC-50c, but couples it with an electronic viewfinder instead of an optical one. While the 50c-size sensor isn't large for medium-format, it's certainly larger than that of a full-frame camera. Its benefit lies in providing more control over background blur and much larger pixels for a greater dynamic range; 14 stops, as with the other Hasselblads.
Relative sensor sizes for medium format vs. full frame. The X1D has the same sensor as the H6D-50c.
In fact, many of its specifications match that of the reflex (mirrored) model, including the touchscreen and interface, 1.7-2.3fps burst speed and 1080/30p video recording. It's dust- and weather-sealed, with an ISO range of ISO 100-ISO 12800 and dual SD-card slots.
It's pretty well designed, too, with a comfortable grip, excellent touchscreen, large electronic viewfinder and pretty well-designed dust- and weather-sealed aluminum body. The mode dial is cleverly designed; you pop it up to rotate it and push it down flush with the body to lock. There's a quiet manual mode that suppresses the aperture noise by stopping it down.
While most of the manual controls operate via the touchscreen, there are a few direct-access buttons for sensitivity, white balance and focus, plus front and back adjustment dials.
The biggest potential disappointment is the autofocus, a contrast-based system that reps couldn't provide any details on, and one that isn't as snappy as I'm used to. The lens itself seems slow-moving and hunts a bit before locking. The camera's also pretty slow to start up, which is typical of medium-format cameras. That usually doesn't matter as much in a studio where most medium-format models are used as it does for the more knockaround shooting you expect to do with the X1D. That may pose a challenge for Hasselblad as it takes on smaller, far less expensive full-frame models like the Sony A7R II, which produce excellent photo quality in more feature-packed, faster designs.
Still, I can't wait to head out street-shooting with it. Availability starts at the end of August or beginning of September, though I've already seen preorders available via some specialty outlets. Start saving now.
Editors' note: This story has been updated since its original publication with hands-on photos, video and impressions.