new gear & tech
Hasselblad X1D II 50C
The second generation of Hasselblad’s compact mirrorless medium-format
camera isn’t for everyone, but the image quality is superb
Text & Photography By Wes PittsM
y college graduation present from
my parents was a Mamiya 6
rangefinder. I loved that camera.
It offered the image quality of medium-for-
mat film but in a hand-friendly, rangefind-
er-style body rather than the boxy form
factor of most medium-format cameras. It
had its limitations. There were only three
lenses available, and rangefinders can be
more difficult to use when you’re trying
for a precise crop in-camera. But the extra
detail captured by the medium-format
frame made the trade-offs worth it for me.
The Hasselblad X1D 50C, introduced in
2016, and its successor, the X1D II 50C,remind me a lot of the Mamiya 6. It’s a sim-
ilar story: medium-format image quality in
a body that’s familiar, approachable and
designed to be used on-the-go rather than
stuck in a studio. It, too, has limitations,
however, and depending on your style of
photography, they may be deal-breakers,
especially when you consider that the body
alone is priced at $5,750.SPEED
The most important limitations of the X1D
II center on speed. This isn’t a camera
for wildlife or sports photographers—it
maxes out at 2.7 fps continuous shooting,and though Hasselblad states that the X1D
II is faster at startup and has less shut-
ter lag and blackout time than its prede-
cessor, it’s still noticeably slow in these
respects compared to most digital cameras
today. If you’re picking up the X1D II
after growing accustomed to the speedy
responsiveness of a modern enthusiast
or pro mirrorless or DSLR system, you
may feel like you’ve stepped back in time.
On the other hand, for landscape pho-
tography especially, you could make an
argument that slowing down is a good
thing. The X1D II forces you to be a bit
more intentional. Once I adjusted to the18 Outdoor Photographer outdoorphotographer.com