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X1D: Where are we at?

tashley

Subscriber Member
So, many of us have had the camera for a few months and managed to shoot a number of frames on a small variety of lenses. It seems that most of us have enjoyed the experience and appreciated the results.

But we still don't have the GPS unit and we still don't have the firmware update and we still don't have lens corrections in LR.

The first and last of those are not biggies: GPS is rarely of much use to me and whilst I might sometimes want it, I'd rarely need it - and LR doesn't do a great job with the files. It's not terrible, but it p***s away highlight detail and so for files that really matter I always run them through Phocus anyway. That's a bit boring (Phocus is far from terrible but it's not up to LR or C1 standards for workflow) but it's not the end of the world.

But the FW thing really does matter, for several reasons. One is the bugginess. On my recent trip to Spain I had endless and countless lockups requiring the battery to be removed, plus some weird focussing lockups too. More important however is the Auto ISO performance.

If the sensor was ISO invariant, it would be easy to get round this in Aperture Priority mode merely by using exposure compensation to underexpose until one got the shutter speed one needs. However, it is pretty clear to me that shooting at the 'right' ISO gives better results. Better to shoot at ISO 800 if that's what the scene requires with the aperture and shutter speed one desires than to shoot at ISO 100 and push in post.

So what that does mean is that it really is quite important, really quite often, to be able to set a minimum shutter speed either in absolute terms or as a multiple of 1/focal length.

Returning from Spain and looking at a lot of low light shots that looked good on my craptop, I see that there is in fact a two pixel blur on a lot of the frames shot at 1/f. I'd generally like to be able to set the 30mm lens not to shoot at less than 1/60th and the 90mm lens not to shoot at less than 1/180th but I can't. Instead, I either have to manually shift ISO, or do the 'exposure compensation' thing.

How do others feel about this? Hasselblad seems to have gone quiet, no?
 

hcubell

Well-known member
So, many of us have had the camera for a few months and managed to shoot a number of frames on a small variety of lenses. It seems that most of us have enjoyed the experience and appreciated the results.

But we still don't have the GPS unit and we still don't have the firmware update and we still don't have lens corrections in LR.

The first and last of those are not biggies: GPS is rarely of much use to me and whilst I might sometimes want it, I'd rarely need it - and LR doesn't do a great job with the files. It's not terrible, but it p***s away highlight detail and so for files that really matter I always run them through Phocus anyway. That's a bit boring (Phocus is far from terrible but it's not up to LR or C1 standards for workflow) but it's not the end of the world.

But the FW thing really does matter, for several reasons. One is the bugginess. On my recent trip to Spain I had endless and countless lockups requiring the battery to be removed, plus some weird focussing lockups too. More important however is the Auto ISO performance.

If the sensor was ISO invariant, it would be easy to get round this in Aperture Priority mode merely by using exposure compensation to underexpose until one got the shutter speed one needs. However, it is pretty clear to me that shooting at the 'right' ISO gives better results. Better to shoot at ISO 800 if that's what the scene requires with the aperture and shutter speed one desires than to shoot at ISO 100 and push in post.

So what that does mean is that it really is quite important, really quite often, to be able to set a minimum shutter speed either in absolute terms or as a multiple of 1/focal length.

Returning from Spain and looking at a lot of low light shots that looked good on my craptop, I see that there is in fact a two pixel blur on a lot of the frames shot at 1/f. I'd generally like to be able to set the 30mm lens not to shoot at less than 1/60th and the 90mm lens not to shoot at less than 1/180th but I can't. Instead, I either have to manually shift ISO, or do the 'exposure compensation' thing.

How do others feel about this? Hasselblad seems to have gone quiet, no?
I agree, Tim that there has been little information flowing from Hasselblad about the timing of firmware upgrades. However, I have been assured that a new firmware version is being tested; they just won't say when it will be released and what it contains. Probably not surprising. Just disappointing. Perhaps the Hasselblad Rep who appears here on occasion can chime in.
 

tcdeveau

Well-known member
So, many of us have had the camera for a few months and managed to shoot a number of frames on a small variety of lenses. It seems that most of us have enjoyed the experience and appreciated the results.

But we still don't have the GPS unit and we still don't have the firmware update and we still don't have lens corrections in LR.

The first and last of those are not biggies: GPS is rarely of much use to me and whilst I might sometimes want it, I'd rarely need it - and LR doesn't do a great job with the files. It's not terrible, but it p***s away highlight detail and so for files that really matter I always run them through Phocus anyway. That's a bit boring (Phocus is far from terrible but it's not up to LR or C1 standards for workflow) but it's not the end of the world.

But the FW thing really does matter, for several reasons. One is the bugginess. On my recent trip to Spain I had endless and countless lockups requiring the battery to be removed, plus some weird focussing lockups too. More important however is the Auto ISO performance.

If the sensor was ISO invariant, it would be easy to get round this in Aperture Priority mode merely by using exposure compensation to underexpose until one got the shutter speed one needs. However, it is pretty clear to me that shooting at the 'right' ISO gives better results. Better to shoot at ISO 800 if that's what the scene requires with the aperture and shutter speed one desires than to shoot at ISO 100 and push in post.

So what that does mean is that it really is quite important, really quite often, to be able to set a minimum shutter speed either in absolute terms or as a multiple of 1/focal length.

Returning from Spain and looking at a lot of low light shots that looked good on my craptop, I see that there is in fact a two pixel blur on a lot of the frames shot at 1/f. I'd generally like to be able to set the 30mm lens not to shoot at less than 1/60th and the 90mm lens not to shoot at less than 1/180th but I can't. Instead, I either have to manually shift ISO, or do the 'exposure compensation' thing.

How do others feel about this? Hasselblad seems to have gone quiet, no?
Sadly I haven't had any time to do any serious photography with mine yet, but here's my 2 cents with my experience

I only just submitted my GPS claim so it's going to be awhile before I see mine. I don't use GPS much and it's not a big deal for me. Given the current need for wifi to remotely trigger the camera, I worry what GPS + Wifi would do for battery life for the camera as well.

I've always done my Hasselblad processing with Phocus first and then output Tif to lightroom. I agree LR could benefit from XCD lens corrections and would like to see that happen at some point. IDK if the hold up is with Hasselblad or Adobe though, it took Adobe quite a long time to get corrections for the Batis 18mm that I've been using for awhile.

Auto ISO important isn't that big a deal to me, but I agree the current implementation isn't great. If often gives me 1/focal length shutter speeds with auto iso in aperture priority mode which I'm finding to be inadequate for sharp photos. I'm finding that 1/focal length isn't cutting it in most circumstances for sharp photos and I try to stay about 1/3xfocal length or so. FWIW I found this to be an issue with the 645z as well and wasn't getting sharp photos with 1/focal length on the 645z either, and I'm just of the opinion that with 44x33mm sensors and up you really have to be careful and use good shooting technique if you want a high hit rate of sharp photos at 1/focal length. Of course this is going to be highly subjective to the shooter and technique dependent, etc etc etc, but this is the case with me.

I have had some lockups with the system that have required removing the battery, and my issues seem mainly to be that the EVF doesn't display anything and the EVF sensor is non-responsive. There's definitely some system stability improvements that could be made with firmware improvements. Other things I'd like to see via firmware updates are things like being able to mirror the card slots for backup, image review via EVF, and long exposure countdown timer on the screen when triggering via the phocus app. Live histogram via EVF and rear screen would also be great.

The thing I'm starting to get frustrated with is the availability of lenses and accessories. I'm at the point where I'm ready to add to the 45mm and 90mm to fill out my kit a little, but the 30mm has been out of sight in the US for at least the last couple of weeks and the XH adapter is also nowhere to be found. Lack of communication and lack of a reliable delivery window is getting tiresome. After some time triggering with the phocus app, while it serves its purpose, I'd also prefer a hardwired remote to trigger the shutter for tripod use. I've heard that Hasselblad is aware that users want this and it's something that they are working on supposedly, but some sort of official indication that they are working on one and a time frame would be appreciated. As I've said, while the Phocus app works, I've experienced some odd things like display of aperture and shutter speed not being consistent between the camera and the app which sometimes require app and/or camera restart/repairing.

All that being said, I'm really enjoying the camera and I'm more frustrated with my lack of actually getting out and using the camera (aka armchair photographer status) currently than I am frustrated with the system.
 

PeterA

Well-known member
50 megapixels hand held requires pretty careful technique and the right ISO matched to conditions - I dont know of any manufacturer who has nailed auto iso so I wont be holding my breath here. I am more interesteed in new lenses becoming available - something wider than the 30 and something longer than the 90.

As an aside does anyone know of a way to put a Nikon F lens on this baby? I have a few Milvus and Otus lenses I really wish to try....

all that said I am very impressed with DR on this camera - very impressed and teh out of the box colour is typical Hasselblad - fabulous.
 

tcdeveau

Well-known member
50 megapixels hand held requires pretty careful technique and the right ISO matched to conditions - I dont know of any manufacturer who has nailed auto iso so I wont be holding my breath here. I am more interesteed in new lenses becoming available - something wider than the 30 and something longer than the 90.

As an aside does anyone know of a way to put a Nikon F lens on this baby? I have a few Milvus and Otus lenses I really wish to try....

all that said I am very impressed with DR on this camera - very impressed and teh out of the box colour is typical Hasselblad - fabulous.
As far as I know, there is currently no way to adapt 3rd party lenses to the X1D because the body itself lacks a shutter and the X system relies on leaf shutters in the lenses. That could change maybe if Hasselblad ever implements via firmware an electronic shutter option, but I do not know how feasible that is. Hate to say it but if you want to adapt your F-mount Zeiss glass on mirrorless MF, the Fuji GFX is the way to go.
 

docmoore

Subscriber and Workshop Member
As far as I know, there is currently no way to adapt 3rd party lenses to the X1D because the body itself lacks a shutter and the X system relies on leaf shutters in the lenses. That could change maybe if Hasselblad ever implements via firmware an electronic shutter option, but I do not know how feasible that is. Hate to say it but if you want to adapt your F-mount Zeiss glass on mirrorless MF, the Fuji GFX is the way to go.
GFX will work physically but Lloyd Chambers showed very poor performance due to the distance of the sensor cover to the sensor itself. 135 looked good ... nothing shorter was
worth the effort.

So native lenses or HC lenses down the road.

Bob
 

pflower

Member
I'm pretty much in agreement with everything you have said.

I've just returned from 4 days in Krakow and about 1500 exposures - all handheld. In general I had no problem in using the X1D as a walkabout camera. I also took my A7ii with me but hardly used it. However it has to be said that the speed of the Sony's AF puts into sharp perspective the limitations of the X1D with subjects with any kind of motion other than parallel to the focus plane.

Over 4 days I received at least 1 system re-set error each day, sometimes 2 or 3 (I was averaging about 300-400 exposures per day). I also experienced a number of No Card errors which had been a problem when I first started using the camera but hadn't cropped up for quite a while until this week. The worst was one day when I got a No Card error after each shot for about 5 exposures (having had to re-set the camera after each exposure). I am using Sandisk 64gb cards, but only rated at 65mbps so it is possible that this is the source of the problem but then again on my first day I made 350 exposures without a single No Card error.

I also had 2 experiences in which I couldn't change the aperture or exposure compensation when in A mode and I had to re-set the camera. I am not entirely certain that this was a firmware bug as I also found on one occasion that I had accidentally hit the AE-L button locking the exposure, so user error cannot be ruled out.

I also had a number of focus failures - some at shutter speeds of 1/350th and faster. Again I can't rule out user error but will be looking carefully at AF vs Manual focus on a tripod in the future. One strange anomaly is that I had set the camera up in manual focus and then used the AF-D rear button to engage AF. This showed the areas in focus via peaking but also allowed me to focus manually at the zoom level even after engaging the AF in that manner. After a couple of system failures I had to re set up the camera and discovered that it is apparently impossible to have both peaking and live view zoom at the same time. Strange that it should have been able to do so beforehand.

I have never used Auto Iso on any camera before, but given that the files at 400 and 800 iso are so clean with the X1D I did try it. Unfortunately I found that too often it adjusted the ISO so as to give me shutter speeds of 1/50th - too short for comfort when handholding. So until it is possible to set a minimum shutter speed when using Auto ISO I shan't be going there again.

The other intermittent problem is that I had 2 "No Lens Attached" errors. Now I only have the 45mm lens and never interfered with it.

Like you I couldn't really care less about the GPS unit but I am quite happy with LR (although with very bright light in Krakow (hot and wonderful late afternoon light) I might look at Phocus a bit more carefully). What I would really like is for the H lens adapter to arrive. 90% of what I use this camera for is satisfied by the 45mm but I would like the opportunity to use my HC 80mm and 28mm lenses on rare occasions. Given that this would be fairly rare, I can't justify the cost of the 30mm or 90mm lenses.

However the good news is that despite all of this using the X1D as a walkabout camera was a pleasure and the quality of the files is wonderful. So a bit of pain and frustration is well worth putting up with. Hopefully the next firmware upgrade will improve things significantly - we can only hope.




So, many of us have had the camera for a few months and managed to shoot a number of frames on a small variety of lenses. It seems that most of us have enjoyed the experience and appreciated the results.

But we still don't have the GPS unit and we still don't have the firmware update and we still don't have lens corrections in LR.

The first and last of those are not biggies: GPS is rarely of much use to me and whilst I might sometimes want it, I'd rarely need it - and LR doesn't do a great job with the files. It's not terrible, but it p***s away highlight detail and so for files that really matter I always run them through Phocus anyway. That's a bit boring (Phocus is far from terrible but it's not up to LR or C1 standards for workflow) but it's not the end of the world.

But the FW thing really does matter, for several reasons. One is the bugginess. On my recent trip to Spain I had endless and countless lockups requiring the battery to be removed, plus some weird focussing lockups too. More important however is the Auto ISO performance.

If the sensor was ISO invariant, it would be easy to get round this in Aperture Priority mode merely by using exposure compensation to underexpose until one got the shutter speed one needs. However, it is pretty clear to me that shooting at the 'right' ISO gives better results. Better to shoot at ISO 800 if that's what the scene requires with the aperture and shutter speed one desires than to shoot at ISO 100 and push in post.

So what that does mean is that it really is quite important, really quite often, to be able to set a minimum shutter speed either in absolute terms or as a multiple of 1/focal length.

Returning from Spain and looking at a lot of low light shots that looked good on my craptop, I see that there is in fact a two pixel blur on a lot of the frames shot at 1/f. I'd generally like to be able to set the 30mm lens not to shoot at less than 1/60th and the 90mm lens not to shoot at less than 1/180th but I can't. Instead, I either have to manually shift ISO, or do the 'exposure compensation' thing.

How do others feel about this? Hasselblad seems to have gone quiet, no?
 

chrismuc

Member
GFX will work physically but Lloyd Chambers showed very poor performance due to the distance of the sensor cover to the sensor itself. 135 looked good ... nothing shorter was
worth the effort.

Bob
Actually I can't copy that behaviour and I even don's see it form LC's sample images.

Acc. my experience, the GFX works fine with any alternative lens from 17 to 180 mm that I tried up to now. The glass in 9mm distance has no worse effect than the glass glued to the sensor.
Lenses with large image circles like 135 PC lenses or 645 or 66 lenses work perfectly, even with shift. And 36x24 mm lenses work within 36x24 mm area on the GFX as well as on a native 36x24 mm camera and outside that area it's a matter of luck how far the sharp and the max. image circle of a particular lens reach.
 

tbullock

Member
I'm with you an all points, Tim. The files are wonderful, but nearly a year after the announcement I still only have a partial system (no 30mm) and often have to coax the camera into taking a picture.

I'm also nearing my second month long trip of the year--this time out west--where I'd hoped to use the X1D. My first trip to Myanmar and Laos required a last minute purchase of a Sony, as I couldn't get the Hassy. That worked out OK, as the X1D might have been too slow for much of the shooting I did there. And as of now I can't locate a 30mm to use on this trip through CO, AZ, UT, etc. Each week without communication, firmware updates, or lens/GPS deliveries, and every time the viewfinder goes black, I can't get it into live view, or it won't lock focus, I think more about repurchasing a Sony or Nikon system.
 

fiver

New member
The X1D is not a professional camera, nor was it ever intended to be, one must have a full, reliable and stable system for that. The X1D is a holiday, travel, city break and general walkabout camera.
 

PeterA

Well-known member
As far as I know, there is currently no way to adapt 3rd party lenses to the X1D because the body itself lacks a shutter and the X system relies on leaf shutters in the lenses. That could change maybe if Hasselblad ever implements via firmware an electronic shutter option, but I do not know how feasible that is. Hate to say it but if you want to adapt your F-mount Zeiss glass on mirrorless MF, the Fuji GFX is the way to go.
Thanks for teh explanation - I was having a brain fade when I asked - forgetting the leaf shutter lens issue..
 

rmatthews

Member
The X1D is not a professional camera, nor was it ever intended to be, one must have a full, reliable and stable system for that. The X1D is a holiday, travel, city break and general walkabout camera.
Can't agree with that. Particularly as there are professionals using it for the exactly the things you say aren't professional use cases. I think it is a great tool for a professional, particularly for any work that is handheld
 

hcubell

Well-known member
The X1D is not a professional camera, nor was it ever intended to be, one must have a full, reliable and stable system for that. The X1D is a holiday, travel, city break and general walkabout camera.
What best describes this comment? Trolling would be a good start. There is no such thing as a "professional camera". If you doubt that the X1D was designed to be used, and is capable of being used, by a "professional photographer", take a look at the imagery created with an X1D by Kevin Then, the "professional photographer" in this video created for Hasselblad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VCV-5W0dZA. He created more compelling imagery in an afternoon than most photographers shoot in a lifetime at 20FPS with their bullet proof Canon 1DXs.
 

jduncan

Active member
What best describes this comment? Trolling would be a good start. There is no such thing as a "professional camera". If you doubt that the X1D was designed to be used, and is capable of being used, by a "professional photographer", take a look at the imagery created with an X1D by Kevin Then, the "professional photographer" in this video created for Hasselblad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VCV-5W0dZA. He created more compelling imagery in an afternoon than most photographers shoot in a lifetime at 20FPS with their bullet proof Canon 1DXs.
Hi,
Not much to add.

Best regards,
 

stephengilbert

Active member
If there's no such thing as a professional camera, how can the X1D be one?

While I think these debates are silly, I don't think that a professional using one makes it so. There are professionals using iPhones.
 

tcdeveau

Well-known member
If there's no such thing as a professional camera, how can the X1D be one?

While I think these debates are silly, I don't think that a professional using one makes it so. There are professionals using iPhones.
Adding to your point, any camera is a professional camera in the right hands. I saw some pictures in an article yesterday where someone shot a Formula One race with a 100 yr old 4x5 (I think 4x5), and those IMHO were better and more compelling than anything I could do with a D5/1DXII. It's what photographers do with the cameras that matter....
 

hcubell

Well-known member
If there's no such thing as a professional camera, how can the X1D be one?

While I think these debates are silly, I don't think that a professional using one makes it so. There are professionals using iPhones.
Try reading my comment more carefully. I never said the X1D was a "professional camera." It's a camera. It is, however, capable of being used to produce extraordinary imagery by both "professional" and "non-professional" photographers. Just like all other cameras. Similarly, I see lots of work done with 100MP Hasselblad and Phase systems that leave me scratching my head.
I really don't think "professional photographers" spend much time thinking or debating about which cameras are "professional cameras." It's for amateurs on the internet.
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
The X1D is not a professional camera, nor was it ever intended to be, one must have a full, reliable and stable system for that. The X1D is a holiday, travel, city break and general walkabout camera.
Hmmm... I wonder on what grounds you are so confident of this odd statement?
 
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