Gary, I am quite willing to receive critique. It must be well reasoned though, and not just a knee-jerk reaction based on differences in opinion.
Well, I can keep it balanced I think. Just a perspective from a long time owner/user of both the Legacy V and the H systems. You can apply it "for or against" your comments at will. Sorry for the long post, but you made a number of points I can offer a personal perspective on ... and intelligent responses may require a longer POV.
I am in the process of going to the (near FF) H4D/60.
I am
not put off by the minor crop of the HCD lenses on the H4D/60.
As a H3D-II/39 owner, and previously other 1.1X sensor cameras (H2D/22, H3D/39), and especially the 1.3X crop frame H3D/31 & H3D-II/31 cameras ... the HCD/28 provided me with the wide angle coverage I needed for my work.
To get that same W/A coverage on
those cameras
using a Full Frame lens, it probably would have been a 25 or 26mm ... which MOST certainly WOULD have cost substantially more and been larger or slower (if even possible). A true 28mm FF lens on a 1.1X camera is a 31mm field-of-view, and on a 1.3X crop sensor is a 37mm field-of-view which was NOT wide enough for some of the industrial photography I do. I often barely got by with the 28mm.
RE Camera color:
I honestly don't care that much. Camera color has nothing to do with what I do. Would I have bought into it if it were black? ... yes. Would I have bought into it if it were grey? ... I did. What does matter to me is that the components cosmetically match ... which they do. Would I have liked it to be all black,
yes. But it isn't, and I don't care that much. In 30 years shooting, not one single client has every said anything about the color of my cameras
To me, it's a "lite" issue.
The criteria at the time I bought into the H system was AF. It was the fastest, surest MFD AF out there bar none, and now has been substantially improved compared to anything else out there bar none. That criteria still stands, so I am moving to the H4D.
RE: Legacy support ...
Every manual focus, mechanical CF, CFi and CFE Zeiss lens I own (10 of them) work on my H cameras via the CF adapter. This not a gerry-rigged, dumb adapter ... it is a fully integrated, fully auto aperture, auto stop down adapter. The H camera provides focus confirmation, and the Phocus software corrections support the legacy Zeiss lenses. Cameras are just boxes to me, what counts is the huge investment in lenses ... a legacy investment that Hasselblad protected well into the digital age. Try adapting a legacy Mamiya RZ lens to a Mamiya 645 AFD.
I have opted out of the legacy CFV program. Great solution for V users and nice on-going support for the
long discontinued 200 series cameras. But redundant to me, and I no longer wish to support 2 separate MFD systems. I will use the 203FE system as it was intended ... as a film camera ... or sell off the entire kit (TBD).
My take on the so called "Closed System".
Don't care about others who use different backs on a H camera. As the benefits of a fully integrated system are revealed, it's clear Hasselblad saw well into the future and bit the bullet while taking some flack in the process. They are big boys. Personally, I hope they continue integrating the components even more because the benefits out weight the negatives IMHO and direct experience. Backwards compatibility has it's limits IMO, and should not be the criteria if it hampers what is really possible going forward.
Fan Boy?:
If personal preferences tag me with the "Fan Boy" moniker, I honestly couldn't care less. The fact is, if something else came along that met my criteria substantially better, and I could afford it, I'd drop Hasselblad in a NY heart beat.
I am watching the S2 carefully, but have determined it is a candidate to totally replace my 35mm DSLR systems (the way I use them) more than the fully modular H kit which I use on a studio view camera, and use with the waist level finder. Sony and Nikon may be history to me in the future (TBD).
Gripes about the H system:
Wish they would produce a focal plane shutter body so I can use the H/C lenses like the 100/2.2 in bright available light. But that's a pretty minor occurrence. A focal plane shutter H would also allow possible use of the legacy FE lenses.
Improve the 50mm H/C lens ... either a new lens or better DAC corrections.
Allow DAC corrections to migrate with DNG conversions for further work in Lightroom, ACR, or Aperture. This is gripe #1.
-Marc