X2D II today…

[iiiNelson]

Now that we’ve been a few months past the release, what’s everyone’s thoughts on this camera compared to the X2D? With the price drops on the X2D (~$5700) is the extra $1700 or so worth it to those that have or owned both?

For a little background, I was holding off on purchase of th X2D once I started hearing rumors of the replacement about a year ago or so. I was also holding out on seeing what the eventual M EV1 was going to turn out to be since I’m already invested in that system. The idea was to add a modern camera that shoots color as my M is the M11 Monochrom.

Well the M EV1 didn’t turn out exactly like I hoped (it has the slower processor and “only” 64 GB of built in storage plus I guess the larger factor for me is that it priced about $2-3K too high relative to direct competition). So this sort of solidified my decision to go with the Hasselblad since I’d need to sink about another $500 for a grip or half case with built in grip to make the M suitable for my hands placing it in the $9500 range or roughly $2k more than the X2D2 body (lens purchases not withstanding).

So yesterday I purchased the open box 38V that Capture Integration had on their site and I’m still debating between the 90V, 75P, or the 35-100E… probably in that order. Primarily it’ll be used for a travel kit and portrait kit. I’ll probably still keep my M11M and a single lens with me (something in the 35-50mm range for a single lens kit).

 

[Precision]

My impression is unchanged from my evaluations of both:
Post in thread 'Hasselblad X2D vs X2DII'
https://www.getdpi.com/forum/index.php?threads/hasselblad-x2d-vs-x2dii.77928/post-933791

I would not bother wth the X2D. The X2Dii, well, I will be renting it a second time soon. If it goes as I expect, that will turn into a purchase. The improvements over the X2D were quite obvious in my evaluation, and it fills in a gap between the 907x form factor (extremely difficult to use in the field on a bright day) and the great big mirror slappin‘ XF (very usable but extra expense in chiropractic care after use in the field…)

 

[Paul Spinnler]

The X2D has been selling on ebay at the 4.5k mark from what I saw after it cam out.

I hear from retailers that everyone would like to trade in their gen I for gen II - AF is a big improvement apparently. This seems more like a key rather than incremental upgrade case.

Skip gen I.

 

[PapaJoe]

Now that we’ve been a few months past the release, what’s everyone’s thoughts on this camera compared to the X2D? With the price drops on the X2D (~$5700) is the extra $1700 or so worth it to those that have or owned both?

For a little background, I was holding off on purchase of th X2D once I started hearing rumors of the replacement about a year ago or so. I was also holding out on seeing what the eventual M EV1 was going to turn out to be since I’m already invested in that system. The HOA was to add a modern camera that shoots color as my M is th M11 Monochrom.

Well the M EV1 dint turn out exactly like I hoped (it has the slower processor and “only” 64 GB of built in storage. I guess the larger factor for me is that it priced about $2-3K too high relative to direct competition. So this sort of solidified my decision to go with the Hasselblad since I’d need to sink about another $500 for a grip or half case with built in grip to make the M shop table for my hands placing it in the $9500 range or roughly $2k more than the X2D2 body (lens purchases not withstanding).

So yesterday I purchased the open box 38V that Capture Integration had on their site and I’m still debating between the 90V, 75P, or the 35-100E… probably in that order. Primarily it’ll be used for a travel kit and portrait kit. I’ll probably still keep my M11M and a single lens with me (something in the 35-50mm range for a single lens kit).

Tre,

Skip the X2D and go straight for the X2D II. It's a better camera in many respects. And that's spoken by a guy who has both an Earth Edition X2D and an X2D II. I'd also highly recommend the XCD 35-100mm E lens as a single lens solution to most of your travel and portrait needs. If you want more from me, just send an email or PM.

Joe

 

[iiiNelson]

Tre,

Skip the X2D and go straight for the X2D II. It's a better camera in many respects. And that's spoken by a guy who has both an Earth Edition X2D and an X2D II. I'd also highly recommend the XCD 35-100mm E lens as a single lens solution to most of your travel and portrait needs. If you want more from me, just send an email or PM.

Joe

Would you take the 35-100 over the combo of the 38V/90V?

 

[Ai_Print]

Would you take the 35-100 over the combo of the 38V/90V?

Just a word of advice, strongly consider getting your lenses from a place that has a reasonable return policy if you are not totally satisfied. Hasselblad / DJI's quality control in terms of optics is not good, at least in my direct experience.

 

[iiiNelson]

Just a word of advice, strongly consider getting your lenses from a place that has a reasonable return policy if you are not totally satisfied. Hasselblad / DJI's quality control in terms of optics is not good, at least in my direct experience.

Yeah I bought the 38V from Capture Integration.

 

[ron787]

I have not posted here in recent times, but I came across this thread and felt compelled to add that there is, IMO, a big difference between the X2d and X2dII, the IBIS alone is a big positive factor. As for the XCD 35-100E zoom, good luck finding one. I had been on the B&H waiting list, like many others, and just received an email indicating that they had no idea when the lens would arrive, and that is not an exaggeration. I’ve cancelled my order and will either look elsewhere or do without for the time being.

 

[Paul2660]

Hasselblad seems to always take one step forward 2 steps back with new products. The 35-100 drama follows all the supply drama mod 2024 and 1st half of 2025 with the V series. Each was announced with no supply. The 90V was by far the worst taking over a year to become readily available. Only the 20-35E did not seem to have supply issues and I had hoped the 35-100 would be the same but it’s not. Forecast for new products is something all companies need to have a good handle on and Hasselblad even with DJI’s help can’t seem to figure it out.

Paul

 

[Paul Spinnler]

Hasselblad seems to always take one step forward 2 steps back with new products. The 35-100 drama follows all the supply drama mod 2024 and 1st half of 2025 with the V series. Each was announced with no supply. The 90V was by far the worst taking over a year to become readily available. Only the 20-35E did not seem to have supply issues and I had hoped the 35-100 would be the same but it’s not. Forecast for new products is something all companies need to have a good handle on and Hasselblad even with DJI’s help can’t seem to figure it out.

Paul

I don't think it is about forecasting: its a production problem: to make such blockbuster "lenses of the year" are readily available they need to build up a lot of capacity quickly which may only needed for a few months (ie plant and personnel capacity), but not once the initial say 5k units have been sold. Then demand is steady at a lower level.

So what actually happens is they're not building overcapacity which would be expensive to then pull back, but instead just modeslty increase it, let the people work at full throttle and then when demand normalizes they do not need to fire or change much in capacity.

The photo industry is so volatile, it does not make sense to massively scale up production for 3 months for one blockbuser lens to then have 20% overcapacity hard which is then costly to wind down. Sometimes it is even more mundane, they can't find the skilled labour fast enough to scale.

This is also the reason btw why Leica right no has lead times for Wetzlar repairs beyond 3 months - they don't scale up massively repair shop people end of the year, knowing that they'd sit idly there in Q1 (people like to repair things before Xmas season).

I've had my S3 at Wetzlar for 5 weeks and haven't even gotten an process number ... and apparently if you repair somethin in February it takes just a few days.

So demand will normalize sometime next year once the initial wave of orders is through and Hassy will operate at optimum capacity, hopefully.

This capacity topic is even more complex if you work with third parties, in this case Nittoh as I imagine iets even more costly to build and scale back production line capacity when everything is outsourced.

 

[Paul2660]

Paul, I hear what. you are saying, but have to disagree to some level.

This is a pattern of release, not available from Hasselblad since the original X1D, it was released and it took over 1 year to become readily available. At the time, Fuji already had a 100MP camera out the GX100, (not the best solution) and it was available day one and really was never not in stock.

Forecasting, is just part of the business model. You reach out to users, ask them are you interested in this idea for a lens, if so when would you purchase it. You also reach out to your dealer channel, as they have a much better idea of what's going on. To their credit, Hasselblad has seemingly improved on their relationships with their sales channels and especially the smaller companies as evidenced by CI's recent change of opinion on the company in general. They also have an excellent product line in the X series of cameras and lenses. But for some reason, they insist on this same pattern of release. This particular lens, the 35-100 fills in a huge gap in their line up. In fact it may be the single most important lens in the line up as with the 20-35 and 35-100, they now have a similar solution to Fuji. Hasselblad's is 2x the price of Fuji, (lens wise) but the lenses are smaller, more compact and have excellent optical quality.

The announced the 35-100 on 08-26-25. There are many people I know of that placed positional orders on that day, and still have no idea as to when they may get a lens. Over three months later. So let's now take this forward. Someone considering this lens now and follows the various forums, and talks to their dealer has to realize that it may be 6 months or longer before they receive this lens. In the current state of unrest and unreason in the U.S. with tariffs on, increased, then decreased, then increased again, it's hard to budget for this type of purchase, especially if you are selling off older lenses to make way for the cost. I realize the rest of a world is not dealing with the (crap) that's occurring with not reason in the U.S, but the U.S. can only be a small fraction of the overall market for Hasselblad.

I worked in marketing for a large computer company for 27 years, and I fully understand the needs for forecasting. In my world, if I could not supply the product at time of order within 30 days, the next vendor in line was going to get the product.

Hasselblad's X series has become my go to solution, and I have been slowing moving away from P1, and Fuji. The former as I don't need the resolution or the hassle of using it and the later because I just prefer the Hasselblad solution overall. I believe in HNNR and HNCS as very viable advantages and put up with the current Phocus desktop software as I feel it's the best overall solution to get the most from the files. Hasselblad is owned by DJI, and DJI fully understands how to roll out a new product (Mavic 4 Pro for example). The fact that it's not been available in the U.S. has nothing to do with actual supply but instead the politics behind DJI being owned by manufacturing company based in China.

I only hope that Hasselblad figures this issue out. I feel that the price point of the 20-35 may have been one of the reasons that supply never really was an issue for that lens, where as the 35-100 is less than a 35-75 new and offers a lot more.

Paul C

 

[Paul Spinnler]

I bought a Leica M EVF in the meantime because the Hasselblad dealer I have told me he doesn't know when the 35-100 comes. I asked how many preorders they had, he said more than 20, meaning sometime mid next year, lol.

So we agreed to look into things next year for a system entry.

But if you really want that lens and are only on that platform it is extremely frustrating, I fully get that.

I don't know whats happening with that lens, but it seems to me that the specs are so good that it essentially dwarfs all lens preorders they ever had, including the ones for the 90V and now there's this mess where some people who would like to buy this camera just can't because they just want this lens and not some prime combo + the zoom.

Just this zoom as sort of mono lens / camera combo which is killer.

This said, I think in their online store the wait times are the lowest, but then you cut out your local dealer ... which is what they'd like of course.

Fuji in the meantime made an ad in social media asking Fuji buyers to give their local dealers a ring as sign of support.

 

[iiiNelson]

I bought a Leica M EVF in the meantime because the Hasselblad dealer I have told me he doesn't know when the 35-100 comes. I asked how many preorders they had, he said more than 20, meaning sometime mid next year, lol.

So we agreed to look into things next year for a system entry.

But if you really want that lens and are only on that platform it is extremely frustrating, I fully get that.

I don't know whats happening with that lens, but it seems to me that the specs are so good that it essentially dwarfs all lens preorders they ever had, including the ones for the 90V and now there's this mess where some people who would like to buy this camera just can't because they just want this lens and not some prime combo + the zoom.

Just this zoom as sort of mono lens / camera combo which is killer.

This said, I think in their online store the wait times are the lowest, but then you cut out your local dealer ... which is what they'd like of course.

Fuji in the meantime made an ad in social media asking Fuji buyers to give their local dealers a ring as sign of support.

Interesting insights and some that I was partially aware of concerning lens availability as I’ve gone back and forth over the last year of what I really wanted to choose for a color camera solution for me. I’ve actually have longed looked at paring down my photo kits. I’ve owned everything pretty much except Nikon over the last 20+ years but something was always missing from all of them on some level. When I finally broke down and bought my M11 Monochrom a couple of years ago I finally felt like I had something of an “end game” solution for my B&W photography and I was completely fine with running with it as my sole take everywhere camera until about a year ago and I was traveling to places where I felt that the colors actually began to matter in some of the photos.

 

[Steve Hendrix]

I bought a Leica M EVF in the meantime because the Hasselblad dealer I have told me he doesn't know when the 35-100 comes. I asked how many preorders they had, he said more than 20, meaning sometime mid next year, lol.

So we agreed to look into things next year for a system entry.

But if you really want that lens and are only on that platform it is extremely frustrating, I fully get that.

I don't know whats happening with that lens, but it seems to me that the specs are so good that it essentially dwarfs all lens preorders they ever had, including the ones for the 90V and now there's this mess where some people who would like to buy this camera just can't because they just want this lens and not some prime combo + the zoom.

Just this zoom as sort of mono lens / camera combo which is killer.

This said, I think in their online store the wait times are the lowest, but then you cut out your local dealer ... which is what they'd like of course.

Fuji in the meantime made an ad in social media asking Fuji buyers to give their local dealers a ring as sign of support.

I don't usually lend much credence to the notion of - Actual orders far surpassed expectations (projections). It almost sounds like a marketing ploy. If anything, when I have sat in sales projection meetings with the various manufacturers I've worked with, the numbers are rarely underprojected, if anything, they are usually overprojected. It's the nature of sales teams to be (over) confident. Instead, I feel at least some of the dominant factors for ship times on new products comes down to availability of components, and difficulty of production. We've had more X2D II bodies shipped to us than any other camera launch out of the gate from any manufacturer ever. Clearly, that product was ready to go, and production was not an issue.

I think the lens is difficult to successfully produce, and I think the timeline for it was a very tight window, as opposed to X2D II bodies, which seem to be easier to make and they had ample supply already leading up to the launch. Initially, 35-100 interest was good, but not overwhelming. However, after 2-3 weeks from launch we noticed a substantial uptick, almost as if people thought about it, saw a few good reviews, and decided yes, this range would be a benefit.

But I don't think that the orders for this lens meaningfully exceeded their projections. I think the timing of the lens to coincide with the launch of the X2D II presented some production challenges. It's not a simple lens to execute. In the case of a version II body, with the same sensor, they can have those sensor yields already vetted in advance. That wouldn't be possible with a lens like this.


Steve Hendrix
[email protected]

 

[Paul Spinnler]

Maybe one factor at play here is this one:

The X2D MK II is a step change in features for the platform with finally good AF so this combined with the fact that on paper and according to early reviews this lens essentially matches primes except on speed and compactness on the long end makes the combo of the camera with that lens an ideal entry point.

I also noticed social media reels from Hassy heavily pushed the combo …

 

[iiiNelson]

Thank you to everyone that provided their experienced feedback. It was helpful and I have my initial Hasselblad kit ordered now. Just have to wait for it to all come in. I had a decision to make overnight as the Hasselblad store received a new shipment of 35-100’s overnight (that are gone now I believe). In the end I decided against ordering directly from Hasselblad as I prefer to support the dealers that provide valuable support and feedback at places like this forum. If it were solely a decision between Hasselblad and ordering say from B&H (or other similar big box photo stores) I’d care less about where I purchased.

In the end I went with the X2D II, the 38V/90V, a couple of extra batteries, and the dual charger. I think this will cover what I need from the system in the short term. Primarily I’ll shoot this alongside my M11 Monochrom to cover my color images. If I want to add anything else down the line then I’ll move accordingly.

I’m hoping for a longer V series lens in the 100-110mm equivalent in 35mm terms so maybe something like an updated 135mm that works with the updates to the new continuous autofocus. Or maybe the longer E series zoom will fill my desires if it’s something like a 100-200/4-5.6

 

[jduncan]

Now that we’ve been a few months past the release, what’s everyone’s thoughts on this camera compared to the X2D? With the price drops on the X2D (~$5700) is the extra $1700 or so worth it to those that have or owned both?

For a little background, I was holding off on purchase of th X2D once I started hearing rumors of the replacement about a year ago or so. I was also holding out on seeing what the eventual M EV1 was going to turn out to be since I’m already invested in that system. The idea was to add a modern camera that shoots color as my M is the M11 Monochrom.

Well the M EV1 didn’t turn out exactly like I hoped (it has the slower processor and “only” 64 GB of built in storage plus I guess the larger factor for me is that it priced about $2-3K too high relative to direct competition). So this sort of solidified my decision to go with the Hasselblad since I’d need to sink about another $500 for a grip or half case with built in grip to make the M suitable for my hands placing it in the $9500 range or roughly $2k more than the X2D2 body (lens purchases not withstanding).

So yesterday I purchased the open box 38V that Capture Integration had on their site and I’m still debating between the 90V, 75P, or the 35-100E… probably in that order. Primarily it’ll be used for a travel kit and portrait kit. I’ll probably still keep my M11M and a single lens with me (something in the 35-50mm range for a single lens kit).

Hi,
I will say go for it the X2D II if you can afford the lenses. In that sense the 35-100E looks like a winner. If olderish lenses are important to you, you may like to take a look at this video:

Best regards.

 

[iiiNelson]

Hi,
I will say go for it the X2D II if you can afford the lenses. In that sense the 35-100E looks like a winner. If olderish lenses are important to you, you may like to take a look at this video:

Best regards.

Yeah I did go for the X2D II with the 38V and 90V.

 

[algrove]

Great combo those 2 lenses.

 

[iiiNelson]

Great combo those 2 lenses.

Yeah that’s what I figured. I can walk around with either lens on the Hasselblad and have my M11M with either the Contax G45 or CV 50mm APO on it to cover most of my most used range between 28-90mm. I may add either the 25V or the 28P later on though. We will see in time if I feel the need to have something wider for travel.