I see the 907x/CFVII 50c camera a bit differently. I don't see it as a competitor to the X1D line. I see it as an extension of the V system.
I bought the camera because I can fit the back on my 1978 500CMs and make them into modern, digital capture machines ... retaining all the goodness of their original design and workflow. AF has never been very important to me. Yes, the format change is significant ... But I set the back to square crop and drop down one focal length in my V system lenses, and I have the same thing that the 500CM captures... Done.
The 907x body coupled with the digital back opens up the system to lens adaptation: It works very nicely with most of my Leica R lenses and macro gear (bellows, BEOON, etc), a few of my Leica M lenses, and with the V system lenses. Also with pinholes and zone plates.
I've always used a Hasselblad 500CM primarily on a tripod and work the same way with the 907x. It suits me well this way. So the use of the LCD as the primary viewfinder is no problem at all. For tripod use, a good L-bracket make full rectangular format easy to deal with. The X1D body with its built-in EVF is much handier for hand-held, eye-level shooting: If that is your priority, that's the body you should go with.
The LCD becomes really easy to focus with manually when I'm using a tripod ... Turn on focus peaking and I can see the in-out of focus pop quickly for coarse focusing and high DoF settings. Turn focus peaking off and double-tap the screen for full zoom and critical focus with wide open settings.
The 907x gives me access to the X and H system lens lines, X natively and H through the adapter, with AF capability. The XCD 21 lens on the 907x body, cropped square, nets me an all digital capture SWC. The combination of the body with the optical viewfinder and grip nets a shooting workflow virtually identical to that of the SWC ... no need for the LCD viewfinder for hand-held shooting in that idiom, but when you want precision framing (and you're using a camera stand or tripod) you don't need to do the focusing back/film back juggle by just using the LCD. With the back and grip, I go to full-format use more because it makes it a cinch to flip the camera from H to V orientation.
The XCD 45P on the 907x fitted with the grip and the optical viewfinder gives me the same excellent viewing/shooting workflow as I had with the Leica X typ 113 using an optical viewfinder with one added benefit: one press on the X button and the focus point is centered—the viewfinder has a center indicator. So it's easy to let the AF work and target what I want precisely. (Same goes for the 21mm lens too.)
Bottom line is that I have been looking at the X1D since it was first announced and have almost bought one several times. But that kind of eye-level, hand-held shooting isn't my priority with MF-D cameras. It's something the Leica M, CL, SL and other smaller format digital cameras do so well I really don't see the point of buying a camera with a bigger sensor just to replicate what they do with bigger lenses. The 907x suits me better: The back brings my V system Hasselblads up to digital capture gracefully, and the 907x body's modular design expands my lens options and shooting capabilities. The necessary fixtures to make full use of it ... grips, optical viewfinder, etc ... just add to its value for my uses and make it even more flexible.
It's not a camera for everyone's use. The X1D, the H system, the Leica S, the Fuji GFX series, etc etc, all have their different take on MF-D use and workflow. Why disparage one in preference to the other when they're all excellent performers and all suit various diffrent photographers' use niches well, even if any specific one doesn't suit YOUR use as well as some other might? Just pick the right one for your uses and give a pass to the others that aren't for you.
I also miss my SWC, both the original 903SWC and the earlier 1978 500 SWC that I owned after it. Two of my favorite cameras. But I found that I didn't use the second one as much as I'd thought I would because my uses now are more geared to digital capture. I sold the second one to help fund the 907x + XCD 21 lens, and I'm delighted with that combination as a proper replacement. Yeah, sure: I only get 39 Mpixels out of the square crop frame that way. You know what? 39 Mpixels is just fine by me.
G
