The Hasselblad X1D/X2D range has been like nothing else in photography. Expensive, over-styled (some might say, not me) and distinctly glitchy at first, it has evolved into this – an advanced medium format mirrorless camera that is as desirable as it is spectacular.
I’m out of touch with these ‘Blads’. I reviewed the original X1D 50C and found it and its images quite beautiful. It was a bit slow and flaky but I wanted one very badly indeed. I also reviewed the much-improved X1D II and the superb modular 907X – but I haven’t yet got my hands on one of Hasselblad’s newer 100MP cameras.
The X2D 100C was the first of these, and looked pretty good, with phase-detect AF, 7-stop IBIS and 16-bit image pipeline. It was hard to see where Hasselblad could go from here. Well, the X2D II 100C is the answer.
The new model is an evolution of the first, but with some big advances. One of these is its PDAF autofocus system, now with 425 AF points and boosted by a LIDAR (light detection and ranging device) to offer continuous AF for the first time on a Hasselblad (now I didn’t know that) which includes AI powered subject identification and tracking.
Hasselblad has also improved the dynamic range to a claimed 15.3 stops and in-camera HDR capture to produce HDR HEIC and JPEG files. Hasselblad’s color rendering engine was already pretty much in a class of its own, but clearly there was some more potential.
The figure that really caught my eye was the claimed 10-stop IBIS (8 stops at the periphery). These figures always have to be interpreted carefully since although they are CIPA-tested, they are also achieved with very specific conditions and lenses, and the tests are not necessarily tested by CIPA itself. To quote Hasselblad’s own website the IBIS rating is: “Measured by Hasselblad with the XCD 3,5/120 Macro lens using CIPA standards”. Hmm. Even so, 10 stops is HUGE.
Hasselblad XCD 35-100mm f/2.8-4 E
This is a new lens launched alongside the X2D II 100C and being sold by some resellers as a kit with the new camera. It covers an equivalent focal range of 28-76mm, so it covers a decent standard lens zoom range by medium format standards and a variable aperture of f/2.8-4 isn’t bad either.
Will this new lens be good? I haven’t tested every Hasselblad XCD lens but I’ve tested a few and found them uniformly stellar. It’s an expensive system to buy into in full frame camera terms, but not like the old days of medium format digital. If you can afford to look at a Leica, or a Fujifilm GFX, or even an EOS R5 II, then you can afford to look at this.
Talking of cost, there’s one small detail it might be easy to overlook. The X2D II 100C, like the X2D 100C before it, comes with a massive 1TB internal SSD with ferociously fast write speeds of up to 2370MB/s and read speeds of up to 2850MB. There’s a CFexpress Type B slot too, but you don’t have to use it.
Hasselblad X2D II 100C and XCD 35-100mm f/2.8-4 E pricing
- The Hasselblad X2D II 100C is £7399 at B&H | £6,400 at Wex
- The Hasselblad XCD 35-100mm f/2.8-4 E is $4,599 at B&H | £4,100 at Wex
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