Gentlemen,
Glad you found my X1D summary to the point.
Howard, I totally agree with you on the Mamiya 6/7: the X1D is the closest thing to a digital Mamiya 6/7 produced (to date, at least), but improved in so many ways. Lens selection (and all lenses are stellar, as Dan noted), ease of focussing, dynamic range, portability of camera & accessories (carrying 1 extra battery takes much less room that 5/10 rolls of film), and so on.
About your question, for my work the X1D is near perfect as it is; however, there are a few new features that I would like to see in the next iteration (pixel count aside). Top of my head:
- Faster startup (I personally don't care, but I can see that it might be important for others);
- A digital focus scale, i.e. like that on the Leica SL (showing distance of the point of focus, and the limits of both front focus and back focus;
- Live View histogram, with option to have it in RGB single channels, RGB together and white, as it is now for the playback histogram;
- "Sticky" playback mode between LCD & EVF (now when you take your eye out the EVF in playback mode, the camera defaults to live view: there night be a way to set it, but I didn't seem to find it);
- Focus magnification in the EVF (there night be a way to activate it, but I didn't seem to find it);
- Interval shooting with the counter starting at the end of the taken image, not at the beginning, which doesn't make much sense, if at all. I.e., consider a 30 seconds exposure that you want to take at 10 seconds intervals: setting the interval at 10 seconds will result in all photos taken one after the other, you'd have to set the interval at 40 seconds. This is annoying enough but doable; however, since the interval limit is 60 seconds, this bug makes it impossible to take, say, 90 seconds exposures at 60 seconds interval: they will be taken one after the other, no way around that;
- Unlabeled "cool" mode dial: that would take away even the last physical control on the camera body, allowing you to change everything from the app (again, i.e. like on the Leica SL);
Plus:
- Ironing the bugs, both in the camera and in the lenses;
- Better battery charger (i.e., I'd like the new double charger to be sold with the camera);
- Better app (the existing one is not that great, to say the least), and better app connection (the new Bluetooth registration should take care of this one); this would take away the need for tilting screens and the like, which personally I find would make the camera bulkier, uglier and weaker;
I am sure that there will be more, these are just what comes to mind real quick.
About the pixel count, while I would love to have more resolution for my work, ideally I would love it for Hasselblad to keep two models in their lineup:
- X1D 50-C Mark II, still 50 Mp but much faster;
- X2D 100-C, 100 Mp, as fast as the X1D is now would be just perfect;
I know, this is probably not going to happen - but one can dream
Best regards,
Vieri