503cx, nice, oh how we had to work to take a photo in the late 80s/early 90s ;) Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a message, Andrew.

You're welcome!

Thanks, Troy.

You’re welcome, Rayan.

You are more than welcome, and thank you.

Thank you, Massimo ;)

Thanks Vasil!

Thank you, James.

Agreed, Phocus is super for tethered shooting and I totally agree regarding the RAW conversion and lens corrections. I must admit I haven't dug into the layers of Phocus.

Thanks kindly.

Good idea. X1D II is a super camera, but by todays standards it's pretty naff in that it has no Eye AF detect, AF it does have is really slow, like 'welcome-to-the-world-of-treacle' slow and there are just a whole host of features that photographers, even medium format photographers, need. Hassleblad really need to overtake Fuji, and then some, with their next camera, if this next camera ever comes that is, with the old Covid, Fish and 'Chip' shortages etc etc. Could be a few years and Hasselblad might go bust before then.

Glad you gave up on the

Thanks, Derm. Yes, I forgot about the CFV II 50c using the same sensor. The CFV II 50c is a great option if you want to modernise an old classic 500cm for example and if I still had my old 500cm and Carl Zeiss lenses I'd certainly be looking at buying one myself. I think Hasselblad should have made the CFV II 50c cheaper though as it is the same price as a new X1D II 50c so if you don't own any Blad gear there would be no point in looking at the CFV II 50c, unless you want to buy used Carl Zeiss lenses off eBay instead of the much improved X series lenses, which would cost more than used Zeiss ones, admittedly.

@@tecraven, Nigel I still own my 503cx & 500cm with a good range of lenses & was thinking about purchasing the 907X but how ergonomic would that set up be shooting commercial & corporate work and how would you operate flash transmitter triggers etc? My thoughts were leaning towards the X1DII purely for ergonomic & speed reasons so happy to hear your thoughts

@@andrewporfyri559 Andrew, I know it’s tempting to go for the 907x, especially as you own 503cx and 500cm with various backs and lenses, but given the 907x 50c is actually about £600 more expensive than the X1D II 50c (WEX prices in the UK) I’d definitely be going for the X1D personally as the ergonomics are better, as you say, and it has the hotshoe for flash triggers etc and, the XCD lenses are a ‘slight’ step up in optical design and image quality over the HC series of lenses and considerably better quality than any Zeiss lenses from the 80s/90s, by a very noticeable margin. Hasselblad are only really interested in pushing the X1D system at the moment as the market for the H6D is miniscule. If it were not for DJI buying Hasselblad I’m not even sure if the X1D would have ever come about. I suspect DJI (by buying the company) saved Hasselblad’s bacon by injecting a load of money into the company that was not available before, hence the X1D arriving. Anyway, point being, Hasselblad are all about the X1D II, that’s about it, but they only, essentially, have one camera and a handful of lenses to offer people these days as the H6D 50c is discontinued as nobody was buying it, they were buying the X1D II instead as it was half the price and the same thing basically, which just leaves the H6D 100c, which cost over £31,000 so that’s very limited and the H6D 400c does not count, unless you are the British Museum and want mega high res images of valuable documents/paintings and the like. Hasselblad need to add more to the X system and get it out there, a few more lenses would be nice, especially some more budget ones along the lines of the one and only pancake lens they have, and they need at least one more camera, an X1D II 100c, so they can compete with the Fujifilm GFX100s, after all, the sensor is already there, Hassy just have to get on the phone to Sony and have them ship a load over to Sweden so they can stick them in their new 100 megapixel camera ;) I suspect, using common sense, that Hasselblad will be brining more cameras and lenses out by the end of the year, they have to if they want to survive or Fuji will kill them off. I know I’m digressing now, but Hasselblad had rested on their laurels for too long until DJI came along and saved them. Fact is, back in the 80s even brides knew to ask prospective photographers if they shot with a Hasselblad. These days nobody shoots weddings on a Blad, they all use Canon, Nikon and Sony and, let’s face it, nobody is sending anybody to the moon anymore so Blad have lost that market too so they need to get it together and get a load more gear out there or they will go the way of Pentax and Olympus, which would be sad. I’m a big fan of the Fujifilm GFX 50s and if it were not for the shoddy build quality of the baseplate I’d have to wrestle over which to buy and the only stumbling block in my mind would be the really slow flash sync speed of the Fuji, just 1/125th of a second, which is next door to useless if you use flash on a regular bases.

@@andrewporfyri559 Forgot to mention how you actually use flash with the 907x. Syncing flash is a real pain in the butt as there is no hot-shoe. The way to do it is to use the small 3.5mm sync socket that is hidden (with mic, headphones, in, out, and ELX sockets) under the rubber flap on the bottom of the digital back and plug a short patch cable into that and the other end into the flash trigger. But as there is no hotshoe to mount the trigger to you have to remove the optical viewfinder (if you bought the version with the optical viewfinder that is) and that reveals a coldshoe where you can mount the flash trigger - a bit of a faff, but can be done.

@@tecraven Thanks Nigel,Everything you mentioned about the 907x & the X1DII is what's going through my mind and I think overall I'm lacking confidence to jump to Hasselblad. Fuji makes sense but after picking up the GFX 50S I put it straight back on the shelve,it seemed poorly designed & toy like feeling and boy is it ugly to look at plus the limitations of 125th flash synch puts me right off.Looks like the X1D might be the overall choice for now but I feel it still has some growing up to do so I'm hoping Hassy come up with a new & advanced version.Thank you again for your honest input.

HI Massimo. I didn't have the 1.7x converter so can't comment on that. The 135mm F2.8 is one of my favourite Hasselblad lenses and if I ever find myself in a position that I can afford to buy an X1D II that will be the first lens I buy to go with it, but I'd get the lens with the 1.7x converter. Back in the day I had a converter with my old Hasselblad 500cm film camera and I remember being impressed with it. It didn't soften the Carl Zeiss lens I used it with, but things have come on somewhat in the science of optics. Knowing Hasselblad I'd expect the converter to be pretty good. Could be there is a little softening in the corners, who knows, but without trying it I can't really comment. With mail order (depending which country you are in) you can buy and try and return within 7 or 14 days, at least you can in the UK with companies like WEX. Might be worth grabbing one and giving it a try?

R5 is a superb camera. If you're doing automotive product, car brochure type photography then I'd look at the 100 megapixel Hasselblad. The X2D 100C. But, could go for a used X2D 50C as you can grab a body off MPB or eBay for £2,650 in mint condition. It's the Hassy lenses that cost, but £2,500 each for two lenses is achievable used for decent ones. Even the pancake lenses are top notch. I'm a little out of touch with Hassy. I would personally not buy one as there is no Eye AF detect. They had Eye AF detect on a beta version, but dropped it for the production version because it was not very good. Not sure what the state of play is with Hassleblad with regard to Eye AF detect. I personally could not use it because I do too much portrait stuff with models and after every flash fire the model strikes another post and I could not be doing with shifting a little green focus box around with my finger to land on the eye to get focus, way too slow in those fashion shoot situations. For product photography of cars in studios it is not a problem though. As for moving cars, a bit more tricky. I'd shout Hasselblad and ask them when they are going to implement Eye AF focusing system as of the X2D 50c the focusing system is slow, no Eye AF and even the little green square never goes where you want it with any degree of precision. But, if you buy a used one and don't like it you should (if you buy and sell wisely) get your money back and that would be cheaper than hiring one for a week for sure.

@@tecraven nice one thank you. Yes plan on just using it for studio and location shots and plan to use the R5 for all action related shots. Very keen on XDii 50 due to the colours I keep reading and seeing…

@@kabizzz it will be perfect. image quality just has something extra special that for frame cameras don’t have.

@@tecraven you have convinced me…thanks Nigel!

@@kabizzz It is built like a tank too and is so comfy in the hand.

Totally love the 120mm lens, it's a beast, quite heavy, but well-balanced as X1D II is quite weighty too. Sorry I didn't go into more detail on the lenses. I guess that's a separate review that would require some sample shots in the real world as well as a test chart. It's super sharp but has nice 'characteristics' too, a really nice 'look' with smooth tones. The combo of this lens and the camera produce really natural portraits - love the way skin looks with this kit.

@@tecraven Thank alot Nigel for quick response. I will be looking forward for your reviews. I loved your honesty about the beast. I have 907x eith same sensor and it blows my mind though I own GFX cameras. It looks like they have to go. Cheers

@@amaimani Ah, no need to get rid of GFX Fuji, it produces stunning images, just treat it carefully due to that brittle bottom plate. I actually considered buying the Fujifilm GFX 50s as, although the Fuji and Hasselblad are similar in price, Hasselblad being about £900 more, the Fuji lenses are cheaper. But, they don't have leaf shutters in them so that would make them cheaper. People forget that about Hasselblad lenses when comparing prices with other brands that don't have leaf shutters in them. I figured I'd buy the Fuji, remove the bottom plate and send it to a metalworker and have them mill a solid alloy one for me so I could screw that back onto the bottom. In the end it was all going to be too much hassle and I figured, why should I? Fuji should have just made the base plate stronger to start with. Also I figured the 1/125th flash sync on the Fuji would limit my studio work so I now favour the Hasselblad, but I can't afford one at the moment so I'll have to make do with my Sony A7 III, which is decent enough, but not when comparing it to the Hasselblad. I'm going to make a comparison video on the Sony A7 III and the Hasselblad X1D II 50c. Obviously there is a difference, but I just want to show what that difference is so viewers can decide if the extra £3,700 for the Hasselblad body is worth it.

@@tecraven I had seen that broken plate from one of the owners of 50s, which was wierd, but I have 50s, 50r and 100. I still bought Hassy for the lenses and the use of the back on film cameras. I am enjoying Hassy more these days. I have 21mm, 45P and 135mm. The lenses are a class that you only feel about them once you own them and shoot with them. I have full range of GFX lenses too, but recenlty I am just hooked up with Hassy. True Fuij is cheaper, but extra quids in Hassy does worth it in my opinion. The joy of leaf shutter is marvlous. Thanks for your advice Nigel.

@@amaimani That 45p Hassy pancake lens is supposed to be ridiculously good, pin sharp, and not a bad price. Cheapest they make ;)

If it was me I'd hold fire. In hindsight (now I've tried Fuji medium formats and used the X1D II a lot more) there are too many issues with the X1D II such as: no Eye AF detect, really crap and terribly slow AF system, not enough AF points, no vertical shooting grip, etc. It still feels like it is not only evolving, but the X1D II is reminiscent of 10 year old technology i.e. Sony had Eye AF detect and way better focusing systems than this 10 years ago.

@@tecraven thanks for the reply Nigel! Would you recommend getting a gfx100s instead or just waiting for hasselblad to announce something?

@@AliIKarimi Personally, I would not go for the Fuji medium format cameras, not yet anyway. The models Fuji have at the moment, well, none of them sit within my comfort zone in terms of build quality, they are of 'questionable' build quality in certain areas. I'd wait and see what Hasselblad come out with later 2021 or early 2022. They have to bring out some new cameras within the next 12 months or they will be all but dead-in-the-water as the X1D II is so damn dated with it's 10-year old tech it's unbelievable. Depends on what you're shooting also as most decent modern mirrorless cameras are so close on the heals of the medium format cameras it's hardly worth bothering with medium format - quality difference too small now. Mirrorless (high end ones) have upped their game so much while medium format have not.

Yes, I fear the Capture One/Hasselblad issue may take a while to get resolved, if ever.

If memory is valid, phase one began making backs for Hasselblad film cameras. Not sure, but suspect the troubles between them began around the time or perhaps because of the separation between the two?

@@savagefrieze4675 You're right, Savage. Phase did make digital backs for Hasselblad film cameras, but back then Phase did not make software (Capture One Pro). These days Phase hope that by not allowing Hassy files through Capture One Pro that people will go and buy a Phase camera to use with Capture One instead, which of course they won't as people who love Hassy cameras will buy a Hassy camera, period, and they will just stick with Hasselblad's own Phocus software, even though (in my opinion) Phocus is nowhere near as good as Capture One Pro. Most Blad owners I know only use Phocus for the RAW conversion with the basic edit, then they save out as a TIFF file and stick that into Photoshop, Capture, whatever, for the bulk of the work. What's silly here is that Phase just don't understand that if they made Capture One Pro Hasselblad friendly all those Hassy owners would buy into Capture One Pro and everybody would be happy, but, due to a stupid pis•ing contest between the two companies it's, as usual, the end use who suffers.

@@tecraven I absolutely agree on all counts. Personally I love Capture One but even for professional photography Phase One is way out of the price range. Hasse X1D and X2D(Someday please!) are within reach. 907 50 C (100 C please!) has a certain nostalgic appeal (truly wonder why I ever sold the 500 c/m) and would have more if it had a pop up viewfinder hood to shield screen from light as the popups worked so well on the film cameras. Be a bit awkward tho'. A lot of modern cameras would benefit from a popup viewfinder shield i should think. Anyway thanks for the video and your take on the world.

@@savagefrieze4675 Hasselblad have some new toys coming later in 2021, Savage. We all know there's a 100 megapixel sensor out there in the Fuji, which is the same physical size as the 50 in the Blad, so I'd expect a 100 megapixel version of the X1D later in the year, that and a range of new budget lenses, pancake type ;) Watch this space and you heard it here first ;)

Hi Savage You’re half right. Ok, here is the full story of what the situation actually was/is. H series lenses (for H6 D for example) are designed by Hasselblad, by Hasselblad engineers and then Fujinon make the lens for Hasselblad, but based around Hasselblad lens science and metal case design etc. The X series lenses (for X1D for example) were made by Fujinon at the beginning, for Hasselblad, but, again, based on Hasselblad’s lens designers and Hasselblad optic science etc. Fujinon made the lenses for the X series for Hasselblad based on the Hasselblad design etc, but then Fuji got cheeky and out-sourced the lenses that they were supposed to be making for Hasselblad and had a company called Nittoh (in Japan) do the work instead so Fuji just ended up being a ‘middle man’ and they took a cut for doing, basically, nothing. Hasselblad, somehow, found out about this so Hasselblad cut out the middle man and told Fuji to f**k off and Hasselblad dealt with Nittoh directly instead. Today, Nittoh Japan make the X series of lenses for Hasselblad. But remember, Hasselblad have their own optics/lens designers and they simply send their designs to Nittoh for them to then build the lenses to Hasselblad’s specifications. Hope this clarifies things for you. I know I’ve probably given you a little too much ‘inside information’ here, but I figured you’d appreciate the whole story and the whole truth ;)

@@tecraven 8n deed I do appreciate the whole story as much as we may know it. Is DJI keeping out of the design and manufacturing of Hasselblad then?

@@savagefrieze4675 Yes, DJI only own Hasselblad, as an investment, but Hasselblad do all the designing, they just use DJI money, that's all. If it were not for DJI Hasselblad would have gone bust as they only launched the X1D as DJI said they need a more 'mainstream' medium format that people can afford, so Hasselblad got to work.

@@tecraven thank you 🙏

Hi Andy. Yes, you're right. I'm aware of the limitations of medium format. I used to shoot on and own a Hasselblad 500cm with various backs and lenses and a Mamiya RZ67 Pro II with various lenses also. Compared to those, the modern X1D is faster, but as you say, still really for studio use and landscape and maybe fashion. But I did find the focus points to be way too few and even when doing a portrait shoot in a studio on a tripod to nail good composition I found I had to ask the model to 'nudge' her head to the right or left so it landed on a square in the viewfinder. The X1D II is seriously dated now, even by medium format cameras. Hasselblad have the build quality, but their technology is 15 years behind everything else. Even first generation Sony from many moons ago still beats the X1D II hands down for tech, eye AF detect etc.

From experience I found the Fuji to be warmer than the Hasselblad. But Fuji does lean towards magenta. I preferred this to the Hasselblad, which leans towards green and makes things look a bit cold and strange. Still no Eye-AF detect on X2D - not good.

@@tecraven AF Face/Eye Detect on a 1.2 lens won't work - you need to manual for that - otherwise lashes in focus eyes not. Hass HNCS has natural zero colour shift- I was a Fuji ambassador back in the day of film when I had the largest Pro Lab and Advertising Studio in the Southwest Of England - and more recently a Hass ambassador. My old Fuji GX680 is in their museum in London at The House Of Photography, Covent Garden in the Heritage Department upstairs, (although I have not been there to see it), courtesy of my generous donation and James Gilbert of Fuji. Fujifilm still use the same emulsion technique to ensure the end results are toward the green and magenta spectrum in order to get good 'skin' tones and foliage - a must for Wedding Photographers who they still consider their main consumer - although I think that mantle is held by Sony for reasons I shall never understand. If you are getting magenta from Hass then something is wrong. Monitor maybe? HNCS on my old H6D 100: We shot a bowl of fruit - printed it out (on Fuji paper in a Pro Lab) and then tried to find something that was off. No-one could find anything - based on what we saw we then adopted a couple of printer profiles for soft proofing with Whitewall. The X series has the same processing and we have found that for skin tones it is more pleasing - also less processing methods employed compared to Fuji GFX. But whatever fits in your bag is fine by me!!! I do still love Fujifilm - but just prefer less hassle with the Hassel!!!! All good. Take care.

I sent some RAW Hassy files to my (then) Hasselblad contact in the UK and they explained it as been the green from the foliage/grass reflecting green light on to the model’s face - hmmm. I was not convinced given the Fuji or my Sony full frame did not do it in the same location at the same time. No, monitor’s fine. You do keep mentioning ‘a must for Wedding Photographers’, but the Hasselblad cameras don’t have any of those ‘musts’ at all from what I can see. Let’s face it, Hasselblad are just not selling that many cameras these days. People aren’t flying to the moon anymore, that was like a zillion years ago, and, thus, they can’t sell their cameras to NASA anymore and they have totally lost the wedding market as wedding photographers simply don’t want to lug around large medium format gear around, especially stuff that does not shoot 10fps or have super fast Eye-AF detect and all the other stuff that wedding guys require. On top of that, wedding customers don’t care about what camera their weddings are shot on and they only want to post the pics on Facebook anyway, or have a few printed out to hang on the wall and a full-frame Mirrorless camera is indistinguishable from a medium format print - certainly to your average couple. I’ve seen surveys etc and something like 99.95 percent of wedding photographers are using DSLR and Mirrorless with the Canon EOS 5D MKIV leading the pack. I digress, but I’m surprised anybody would bother with a Hassy for shooting a wedding. For me, the Hassy is a studio camera these days - think Karl Taylor - that’s the Hasselblad customer. These are personal thoughts though. In that I’d rather buy a new Audi and use full frame mirrorless for weddings - if I were a wedding photographer that is. For me, personally, my perfect camera does not exist. If it did it would have the build quality of a Hasselblad, the colour science of a Canon and the Eye-AF tech of a Sony. James Gilbert hates my arse because I pulled a Fuji medium format camera to pieces with a screwdriver - a camera that Fuji UK sent me for review purposes. Doubt Fuji will ever send me kit to review again but what these manufacturers don’t get is that if they throw their toys out of the pram and refuse to send anybody (other than those sycophantic KZfaqrs who only give good reviews because they know manufacturers won’t send them their stuff it they say anything ‘too’ bad) their gear then it has a negative impact on said company. Me, for example, I know loads of managers, reps, etc, that I can loan kit off and let’s not forget Amazon Prime, where you can buy and return after evaluating and reviewing if any said shop/contact does not have the kit you want. Then when I get the kit I’ll be more likely to focus on the negatives and point them out more harshly than I would if the company had just sent me their latest toy to start with. I was justified in slagging off the crap build quality of Fuji medium format cameras and lenses though. There won’t be many Fuji cameras kicking around in 50 years, unlike Hasselblad, where (I suspect) every single Hasselblad ever made is still around and working.

@@tecraven Cupla reasons I use Hass - and think every wedding photographer of my 'vintage' should - they actually weigh a lot less than people think -and a lot less than a cupla 'zooms and DSLR's with grips etc - and yes run and gun is fine for some - but my customers want a fair and balanced mix - and to do that properly means cropping - you just can't get a decent crop from FF - even Whitewall won't allow some files to be uploaded from MF let alone FF - Also the 10x8 factor of 4x3 - it just works for reprints and picture frames and mention it again albums - true Fuji are not as robust as some would have it - and its possible that you take more care of a Hass than a Prosumer even if it is MF - as for most wedding shooters using DSLR - you are 100% right another reason why I don't!!!! Another reason is I sued to shoot weddings on an RZ!!! James is alright - he left Fuji to go to Leica - then came running back!!!!!

@@nelsonclub7722 This all makes sense. I'm probably of your vintage and I personally owned a 500cm with a few Carl Zeiss lenses. I also owned a Mamiya RZ-67 Pro II with a few lenses. Loved the rotating back for 6x7 portraits. Yes, I always forget about that 10x8 thing. Yeah, I can understand James running back. I knew somebody that worked for Leica as a rep and he said the targets were just stupid. I guess you are one of the very rare 'professional' wedding photographers as, from what I can see of most so-called 'Professional Wedding Photographer's' websites and work there is nothing professional about them. I looked into this about four years ago and found the best wedding photographers (UK) I could find and I found myself doing a mental critique on all their images across about 25 to 40 websites and I found issues with every single photo, usually bit issue and fundamentally stupid mistakes like chopping people's feet off to leave room for that elusive bloody airplane in the sky - why the hell do photographers do that? Just tilt down for crying out loud. Yeah, that and trees growing out of people's heads, people cropped at natural joints like the wrist so it looks like they are an amputee, etc etc. Yup, I've yet to see the work of a true 'professional' wedding photographer.

Haha. Definitely. There was so much technical stuff in this video I wrote a script for it and read it off a teleprompter. I always feel that you lose some of the personal warmth and relaxed feel when reading off a prompter. Note to self, try to relax, even when reading off a prompter ;) Glad you liked the video, Sundeep.

Neither could I and my Sony A7 III does not stop me being creative and enjoying photography. If money were no object then it would be nice to have something like a Hassy, or if I was getting lots of high paid photography jobs, but for now, neither is the case.