Leica, you can do it! - Hasselblad X1D

[Orguy]

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Leica, please, step up to the plate and come up with an answer to this very exciting new medium format mirrorless compact camera:

 

https://blog.mingthein.com/2016/06/22/announcing-the-hasselblad-x1d-50c/

 

You did it for 35mm full format with the lovely Q, now do it for a larger sensor. The X1D is very appealing with what will undoubtedly be excellent images, but appears to really fall short in a lot of ways. Those features are what you have so elegantly addressed with the Q.

 

$12k gasp, but I might consider....

 

I am really looking forward to see the first images and reviews!

[kikouyou]

What about the lens quality for this new body?

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[faxao]

Honestly the price point is really too high (at least for me). Unless you are a pro, I do think the Q is more than enough

[SonomaBear]

Honestly the price point is really too high (at least for me). Unless you are a pro, I do think the Q is more than enough

 

The Q is perfect for me in that my prints rarely are billboards, just 24*36" canvas prints.  This combination of sensor/lens/thinking just makes it happen.

That said, I made delightful prints from APS-C sensors and glass from Canon -- but not quite THIS nice...

So a Leica almost-medium format (I still shoot 6x6 film in Rollie TLRs) would be intriguing.  

Keep the 28mm perspective if (?) you can keep f/1.7 or so... (I guess that f/2.0 on a 50mm medium format lens would give us the DoF we love on our 28mm f/1.7 !

[Ecaton]

Honestly the price point is really too high (at least for me). Unless you are a pro, I do think the Q is more than enough

 

 

If you consider the lens prices it does not cost more than a M with 2 of the more expensive lenses or a SL with glass. Leica's answer could be a SL II with the S007 sensor and mount.

[Orguy]

Now that Fujifilm has jumped into the medium format arena in a big way along with Hasselblad, I really do hope that Leica is planning something like this: elegant, lightweight in weight and forma factor, exceptional ergonomics like the Leica Q. Does anyone know of rumours that they are working on this?

[jaapv]

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None at all.

In fact, they are diversified quite a bit presently, I doubt whether they are ready to enter yet another arena. I think that we will rather see more integration with Sinar in the near future. But then, Leica has surprised us in the past.

[Jeff S]

The S is Leica's MF camera, in an oversized SLR-like form factor, not radically dissimilar to the Fuji in that regard (forgetting about aesthetics and price point).  The question for me is where Leica goes with the S system, if anywhere, especially in light of lens reliability issues and already dramatically reduced prices on prior models (likely exacerbated by entrants from Pentax and now Hasselblad and Fuji).  Assuming Leica continues to invest in the system, a possibility is an EVF variant.  The fact that Leica never delivered on expectations for more S lenses, e.g., wide T/S, tele lenses, etc., is not an encouraging sign.

 

Jeff

[LarryLeica]

I'm holding out hope for a 50mm Q at the same price point as the current Q. The Hassie looks amazing but is too big, heavy, when factoring in lenses, and expensive for me to ever consider walking around with it, although I carried a lot of expensive M lenses.

 

I would rather switch cameras than lenses. :-) I used to shoot an M6 with a 50 Lux and an M7 with a 35 Lux. That was a lot of fun.

Edited September 23, 2016 by LarryLeica

[wlaidlaw]

I have read a lot about the X1D over the last few weeks and actually the more I read about it, the more I think Leica got it right, sticking with a 24 x 36mm FF sensor. The problem with the 33 x 44mm sensor, is that your lenses are either slow (like the current X1D lenses) or enormous like the HxD lenses. The 45 f3.5 X1D lens is about the same size as my 50mm f0.95 Noctilux on the SL. OK I don't have AF on the Nocti but it is so easy to focus with focus peaking, I don't miss it, as it makes focus point selection easier. Can you imagine what the size of a 28-105mm zoom would be for the X1D? Early reports say the image quality of the X1D is little to no better than the Canon 5DS or Nikon D800. This would indicate that a future upgrade on the SL to say a 35MP sensor, would be a better all round camera and much more user friendly than the X1D. 

 

Wilson

[Jeff S]

Apples to apples, AF to AF, and weather sealed to weather sealed, the SL 50 Summilux is huge, and the other announced primes seem to follow the path of favoring IQ over size.  This might be in part not to distinguish the product line from any any future M (especially if it receives a high quality EVF option), with small and high IQ M lenses remaining a hallmark.

 

I more intrigued with the Fuji GFX than the X1D, the latter seemingly not with an overly impressive EVF (at least based on spec).  The removable Fuji VF (which I think will be higher spec than the X1D to start) may prove to be a smart longer term move, leaving room for user upgrades.  

 

Fuji has delivered some excellent products lately, cameras and lenses, and their record for timely firmware updates, providing and delivering on lens road maps, etc. are things that Leica would do well to emulate.  It seems likely that if the GFX is successful, there will be higher MP models (already discussed in previews), so the SL will still lag with its smaller sensor.  Large sensors have a lot to offer....including potentially superior print tonality...and even better when it comes (as the GFX appears) in a package no bigger than a typical DSLR.

 

Of course the Fuji timing isn't known, but I'm in no rush, and will eventually demo and compare it to the both the SL and X1D.....each with native weather sealed lenses.

 

Jeff

Edited September 26, 2016 by Jeff S

[Jager]

Early reports say the image quality of the X1D is little to no better than the Canon 5DS or Nikon D800. 

 

Wilson

 

Which reports would those be, Wilson?

 

I don't have first-hand experience with image quality from the X1D - to my knowledge, no one has... as production cameras only began shipping a few days ago - but I am intimately familiar with the images that sensor produces, using the H5-era Hasselblad processing pipeline.  The production X1D might be a complete disaster in terms of ergonomics or haptics or utility or value.  But I would be utterly shocked if its image quality was in any way inferior to what the H5D, H6D-50, and CFV-50c have been producing for some time.  

 

And those files simply rock. 

Edited September 27, 2016 by Jager

[IkarusJohn]

Which reports would those be, Wilson?

 

I don't have first-hand experience with image quality from the X1D - to my knowledge, no one has... as production cameras only began shipping a few days ago - but I am intimately familiar with the images that sensor produces, using the H5-era Hasselblad processing pipeline.  The production X1D might be a complete disaster in terms of ergonomics or haptics or utility or value.  But I would be utterly shocked if its image quality was in any way inferior to what the H5D, H6D-50, and CFV-50c have been producing for some time.  

 

And those files simply rock. 

 

 

I agree.

 

The sensor is the same Sony 50MP (actually 51.4MP) as in the H6D, the Fuji and the PhaseOne(?) - I thought there was another, but I can't remember.  The difference is in the processing and the lenses (and of course the body and haptics).  I haven't heard any complaints about image quality from those cameras.  On the contrary, they seem pretty good.

[Jeff S]

I agree.

 

The sensor is the same Sony 50MP (actually 51.4MP) as in the H6D, the Fuji and the PhaseOne(?) - I thought there was another, but I can't remember.  

 

Pentax 645Z.

 

Jeff

[wlaidlaw]

Re: X1D image not being a lot better than Canon 5DS or Nikon D800.

 

I read a lot of reports on the X1D and the report did put some sort of proviso about the camera being a pre-production model but I think it might have been in Ken Rockwell's blog. 

[wattsy]

but I think it might have been in Ken Rockwell's blog. 

 

 

Say no more.