Leica SL3 vs Hasselblad X2D II price, reasonability and real use

IkarusJohn · September 14

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7 hours ago, Olaf_ZG said:

Writing down my thoughts here helps me clear my mind. I don’t have many people around who care about cameras 😎 so writing here is like having a discussion with myself…

Anyway, last week I went for a long walk in the forest with the x1dii. Today I did a long walk with the 907x. Next to photographing I did some serious thinking and analysis.

The 907x is like a M: a great camera, with great haptics, a joy to use.
The x1d is like a SL: big, chunky, but it gets the job done.

To me, the current set I have with the SL is perfect for portraits, events and with the 100macro, super for the flowers in the garden. It’s weather proof. For this, the x2dii will not provide me with anything better.

The x1dii is superb for long exposures, from a tripod. 50mp is sufficient as I will not crop, rather use primes for long exposures and the xcd135 is sufficient for my needs. X2dii will not offer much more, except for its tiltable screen.

So, I should forget about the x2dii: no advantage for me. Maybe a 907x 100c then? It is said there might be a new release, so this is sth to wait for. Meanwhile, I am astonished that I repeatedly managed to get handheld 1s shots with a 50mp sensor … no ibis. But for now, 50mp will do.

So, no upgrade.

I’m not going to feed your GAS, or justify my own purchase decisions, but I would like to add to your mental conversation.

I was an enthusiastic 503cx user back in the 1980s. I had three of their best Zeiss lenses - 50-80-150 - and I traveled with it through Asia (I was living in Hong Kong at the time). I caried a Tenba baskpack, with filters, a Gossen Spot meter, grey cards, a tripod … I had a blast with it. Some of the images I’m most pleased with were with that camera. I then sold it when I had been back in NZ for a while as I wasn’t using it and I was clearing the decks for digital (I’d just bought my M9). Part of me missed the camera, but with kids it wasn’t really feasible - someone else should enjoy it.

Then came the X1D, and I was fascinated. I followed the reviews, and when the X1D II came I jumped back in. Lovely camera, and I quickly acummulated the 21 - 45P - 80 -135 (plus converter). I was very happy, until my niece’s wedding - I spent the entire afternoon fighting the camera. The AF wouldn’t fix on what I wanted and the manual focus by wire simply didn’t work for me (not direct enough), and the black out after each shot was just too long. I re-assessed the system and sold the lot. I was very happy with everything but my ability to actually use the camera for what I wanted. It needed to do more than sit on a tripod.

The X2D, with IBIS and the V lenses lured me back into the water, and the camera now does for me what it should have done in the first place. I am being more cautious, having only the 38V at this stage (the other lenses would overlap into my M system, and my SL(601) covers mid-zoom and telephoto). I took just the X2D and 38V with me to Europe for a few weeks and really enjoyed just having one lens and having to think harder about what I was dong.

At some point, I will look at the 20-35E zoom or the 21V and perhaps the 135 (again). I don’t need 100MP, but then I don’t mind it either - IBIS makes a difference. While I was waiting for my 38V to be replaced (the leaf shutter failed, which is unusual), Hasselblad lent me an XCD 80/1.9, a lens I had enjoyed when I owned it. Now it seemed unreasonably heavy and slow. I already have an 0.95 Noctilux, 75 Summilux and have had the 50 Summilux-SL and saw no point in holding onto the 80/1.9. I guess it all depends on which system you are using. For me, the 50 Summilux-SL was the best of the bunch, but I like the Noctilux so that is what I kept. I was also selling down my SL system in favour of my M system.

I hope this adds a different perspective to your musings.

September 14

Hi IkarusJohn,

Take a look here Leica SL3 vs Hasselblad X2D II price, reasonability and real use. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!

FlashGordonPhotography · September 14

7 hours ago, LocalHero1953 said:

Do we all have our fantasy cameras? Cameras we would love to have, but have no real need for? The TL2 was once this for me: I bought it twice because it was beautiful and seductive, and sold it twice because it was impractical. At the moment the Sigma BF is that fantasy for me, for the same reasons. The ~~R2D2~~ X2Dii could easily become my latest dream camera but with the added discouragement of having to buy unnecessary lenses as well.

I’m still wondering why I bought the GFX RF. Absolutely beautiful camera but why?? Also I do lust after the 907x 100C. I have the 50C. There’s no use case for it for me over what I have. But I want it. It’s about the only HB camera I have resisted. I really hope they don’t upgrade with either IBIS or weather sealing gaskets between the back and camera. That would be a problem.

I have no such thoughts about the M11 Safari. It’s a keeper.

Bizzarely, the X2D2 is a practical upgrade for me.

Gordon

Ne314satel · September 15

18 hours ago, LocalHero1953 said:

Do we all have our fantasy cameras? Cameras we would love to have, but have no real need for? The TL2 was once this for me: I bought it twice because it was beautiful and seductive, and sold it twice because it was impractical. At the moment the Sigma BF is that fantasy for me, for the same reasons. The ~~R2D2~~ X2Dii could easily become my latest dream camera but with the added discouragement of having to buy unnecessary lenses as well.

For 15 years I considered the M9-P to be the perfect camera. Now I'm still waiting for my silver M11 after color correction (it took 4 weeks instead of the promised 2). If the color correction is good, then as long as my eyes can see, I'm quite happy with the M system for street shooting. But I like the color with the x2d. But I saw a slightly different color with the x2d2 (I want a direct, honest comparison). If my children give me grandchildren, I will definitely buy an x2d2 - with age, I can't keep up with the little ones with M lenses))

tom0511 · September 17

I don't have the x2dii but the x2d and sl3/sl3-s ...

some thoughts...

-sl system much shorter blackout when taking an image, makes it feel more responsive

-much much more lenses for SL system, from SL mount from various brands, tele zooms up to adapted lenses which you can use better because of the shutter in the body.

-still a little bit smaller

-lenses IMO show nicer bokeh and less vignetting

x2d(II)

-better color science

-for me-feels even more stable in the hand

-flash synch

-color science

-4:3 vs 3:2 I prefer first for portraits and second for landscape, still you always can crop in each camera to each format and still have many pixels left

...The Leica S2 had continuous AF 10 years ago

BernardC · September 19

In short, it's your classic 35mm vs. medium format trade-off.

The smaller format gives you more responsiveness, more flexibility, and a larger array of lenses. The bigger format feels more substantial, and has a small edge in image quality.

The next step is large format, if you feel that medium format is too responsive and flexible!

pgh · September 20

On 9/19/2025 at 1:58 PM, BernardC said:

In short, it's your classic 35mm vs. medium format trade-off.

The smaller format gives you more responsiveness, more flexibility, and a larger array of lenses. The bigger format feels more substantial, and has a small edge in image quality.

The next step is large format, if you feel that medium format is too responsive and flexible!

The image quality difference in digital (or an SL3 vs an X2D) is so marginal compared to 35mm format now. They were much further apart with film but would have never been the case 10-15 years ago even with digital. The functionality tradeoff is also much closer in digital (than it was with film) with Hasselblad’s latest release, though too. Honestly, at this point, for most photographic applications and most photographers, the IQ difference is marginal enough now that there’s a good chance it’s not even the top consideration when deciding between the 2 systems. I think the biggest considerations that point to an X2d2 are something like Hasselblad’s color, the leaf shutters, perhaps the “look” of 4:3 and the lenses, and ergonomics - and then maybe that little extra bit of resolution and depth. For many those will be more than enough to be swayed this way. But the advantages to Leica are plenty - starting with workflow (no Phocus, no Lightroom (with a loss of HNCS)! and then the flexibility you mention.

As a Hassy X2D and SL2 owner I’m still on the fence about which system to fortify for jobs I can’t use my M’s on, and which camera to sell.

BernardC · September 21

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17 hours ago, pgh said:

he image quality difference in digital (or an SL3 vs an X2D) is so marginal compared to 35mm format now. They were much further apart with film but would have never been the case 10-15 years ago even with digital.

That's partly because today's medium format sensors are only 1.6x the area 35mm sensors, and most film medium format cameras were in the 2.8x to 4x range.

Also, "sharpness" isn't a limitation for most photographers, even if they think it is. You can easily print a 1x1.5m image from a full-frame sensor that is sharp enough to hang on a gallery wall. Your images will be judged on a range of other factors before anybody notices sharpness. Even if they do mention sharpness, it's probably based on your technique rather than the camera format.

pgh · September 21

1 hour ago, BernardC said:

That's partly because today's medium format sensors are only 1.6x the area 35mm sensors, and most film medium format cameras were in the 2.8x to 4x range.

Also, "sharpness" isn't a limitation for most photographers, even if they think it is. You can easily print a 1x1.5m image from a full-frame sensor that is sharp enough to hang on a gallery wall. Your images will be judged on a range of other factors before anybody notices sharpness. Even if they do mention sharpness, it's probably based on your technique rather than the camera format.

Yes, agreed on all points.
as I am making a2 sized prints from iso 3200 pictures on the m10 for display, and while pixel peeping reveals a slight deficiency in fine detail - something not far from when I’ve printed 6x6 frames of Fuji 160 in the darkroom at 16” square, I’ll be surprised if any viewer gives it a second thought. It is more than sufficient.

Edited September 21 by pgh

tom0511 · September 23

Am 21.9.2025 um 14:21 schrieb BernardC:

That's partly because today's medium format sensors are only 1.6x the area 35mm sensors, and most film medium format cameras were in the 2.8x to 4x range.

Also, "sharpness" isn't a limitation for most photographers, even if they think it is. You can easily print a 1x1.5m image from a full-frame sensor that is sharp enough to hang on a gallery wall. Your images will be judged on a range of other factors before anybody notices sharpness. Even if they do mention sharpness, it's probably based on your technique rather than the camera format.

To me it's not sharpness or resolution. Where the MF excels is still 2 things IMO:

a) color and tonalizy

b) sharpness falloff

But to my eyes it also depends on the lenses. For example the 50/1.4 SL creates a look which is very close to MF...but its also as big as the 70S.

I am still also quite undecided between all this gear, certainly I would like to reduce overall.

hoolyproductions · October 16

Unusually the X2D2ii is available to rent in my home town. I’ve had occasional GAS for this camera (and its predecessor) since it came out. I’m fully aware that my SL cameras are not a limiting factor in my camera (rather, I am) and with the X2D I had a long list of objective reasons why it is not the camera for me. The improved AF of the X2Dii blurred this reasoning a bit so I decided to scratch the itch and rent one last weekend, together with the 55V and 90V.

I had a pretty busy weekend otherwise, so did not use the camera a great deal, but enough to get some impressions which I thought I would share.

Like the SL cameras, the body and design is quite exquisite, just in a different way. A pleasure to hold and use. After a few hours of use I really appreciated the grip and handling - the way the camera can dangle securely from your fingertips (even more so than the SL) is very well thought out.
With the 55V it makes for a noticeably lighter package than an SL plus APO, although I am not hugely impressed with the 55V for its price point (vignette, reports of not optimal sharpness in the edges, although it is still a very nice lens). I did not get the chance to use the 90V much but the test shots I took were razor sharp from edge to edge. As a 'side' comment I gather Hasselblad is ‘famous’ for their 6 pointed sun stars but the example I took was not (in my opinion) anywhere as nice a sunstar as I get from my APO or 24-90 lenses. Kinda smudgy looking.
The huge screen is a delight
The shutter button needs a little less pressure to trigger the shutter after half press than the SL. At first I struggled to half press (rather I activated the shutter) because it is so sensitive. Once I got used to it I preferred it: less pressure means a steadier hand when taking the shot
It took me a while to set up the controls and settings as I wanted them. Yes it is intuitive compared e.g. to Sony cameras but I still had to google quite a few times. Once I’d been through that minor pain I did indeed find everything quite intuitive and really liked the UI, although a couple of quirks that I did not like (or maybe couldn’t figure out). With my SL I have the display switch between 1) no additional info (2) histogram only (3) histogram plus spirit level plus zebra blinkies for highlights. With the X2Dii the spirit level takes up a lot of (unnecessary) screen space and I could not get the histogram to appear at the same time. Also the ‘highlight blinkies’ only seem to be available in playback, not while shooting (unless I missed a setting?)
I tried out AF-C with face recognition while outdoors with friends (not a very extensive test so just some impressions). It has a bit different ‘rhythym’ than the SL3-S, which took some getting used to but it is indeed quite responsive and reliable. It seemed to lock on whichever face I aimed the focus point at and then stuck with it well. I forgot to check how it responded to multiple faces.
I do a lot of music photography in low light so wanted to test this. I didn’t have any gigs last weekend so I just took it to my usual music bar and shot my friends. ISO 12800 with a little bit of light (from a beer fridge :D) looked fantastic and focus seemed ok. Same ISO but with only the very low ambient light the focus hunted more than my SL3-S and the image quality really broke down (but was salvageable with Lightroom denoise). From my limited use I am pretty sure the SL3-S has a strong edge here, but it was a limited test. Maybe I’ll rent it again sometime when I have a gig.
I was indeed impressed with the colours, tonality and ‘depth’ of the RAW files when editing (I did not bother to use Phocus, just Lightroom). But it was not a ‘game changer’, just really nice malleable files that did not require much editing. I did enjoy the 3x4 aspect ratio.
EDIT: I forgot to mention I was pleasantly surprised how well my M2 MacBook Air could handle the file size. It was a bit laggy but nowhere near as slow as I had feared. I would probably upgrade my computer if I was working with files like that routinely though.

Overall I think it is a fabulous camera and I would have liked to play with it a little longer. But I am happy to report that I still prefer my SL cameras (and APO lenses). They suit my style of shooting better, I really like the aesthetics, and the IP rating is important to me because I often shoot landscapes in fairly extreme winter conditions. Plus I already have those cameras and a good set of lenses.

Edited October 16 by hoolyproductions

Homo Faber · October 16

vor 8 Minuten schrieb hoolyproductions:

Unusually the X2D2ii is available to rent in my home town. I’ve had occasional GAS for this camera (and its predecessor) since it came out. I’m fully aware that my SL cameras are not a limiting factor in my camera (rather, I am) and with the X2D I had a long list of objective reasons why it is not the camera for me. The improved AF of the X2Dii blurred this reasoning a bit so I decided to scratch the itch and rent one last weekend, together with the 55V and 90V.

I had a pretty busy weekend otherwise, so did not use the camera a great deal, but enough to get some impressions which I thought I would share.

Like the SL cameras, the body and design is quite exquisite, just in a different way. A pleasure to hold and use. After a few hours of use I really appreciated the grip and handling - the way the camera can dangle securely from your fingertips (even more so than the SL) is very well thought out.

With the 55V it makes for a noticeably lighter package than an SL plus APO, although I am not hugely impressed with the 55V for its price point (vignette, reports of not optimal sharpness in the edges, although it is still a very nice lens). I did not get the chance to use the 90V much but the test shots I took were razor sharp from edge to edge. As a 'side' comment I gather Hasselblad is ‘famous’ for their 6 pointed sun stars but the example I took was not (in my opinion) anywhere as nice a sunstar as I get from my APO or 24-90 lenses. Kinda smudgy looking.

The huge screen is a delight

The shutter button needs a little less pressure to trigger the shutter after half press than the SL. At first I struggled to half press (rather I activated the shutter) because it is so sensitive. Once I got used to it I preferred it: less pressure means a steadier hand when taking the shot

It took me a while to set up the controls and settings as I wanted them. Yes it is intuitive compared e.g. to Sony cameras but I still had to google quite a few times. Once I’d been through that minor pain I did indeed find everything quite intuitive and really liked the UI, although a couple of quirks that I did not like (or maybe couldn’t figure out). With my SL I have the display switch between 1) no additional info (2) histogram only (3) histogram plus spirit level plus zebra blinkies for highlights. With the X2Dii the spirit level takes up a lot of (unnecessary) screen space and I could not get the histogram to appear at the same time. Also the ‘highlight blinkies’ only seem to be available in playback, not while shooting (unless I missed a setting?)

I tried out AF-C with face recognition while outdoors with friends (not a very extensive test so just some impressions). It has a bit different ‘rhythym’ than the SL3-S, which took some getting used to but it is indeed quite responsive and reliable. It seemed to lock on whichever face I aimed the focus point at and then stuck with it well. I forgot to check how it responded to multiple faces.

I do a lot of music photography in low light so wanted to test this. I didn’t have any gigs last weekend so I just took it to my usual music bar and shot my friends. ISO 12800 with a little bit of light (from a beer fridge :D) looked fantastic and focus seemed ok. Same ISO but with only the very low ambient light the focus hunted more than my SL3-S and the image quality really broke down (but was salvageable with Lightroom denoise). From my limited use I am pretty sure the SL3-S has a strong edge here, but it was a limited test. Maybe I’ll rent it again sometime when I have a gig.

I was indeed impressed with the colours, tonality and ‘depth’ of the RAW files when editing (I did not bother to use Phocus, just Lightroom). But it was not a ‘game changer’, just really nice malleable files that did not require much editing. I did enjoy the 3x4 aspect ratio.

Overall I think it is a fabulous camera and I would have liked to play with it a little longer. But I am happy to report that I still prefer my SL cameras (and APO lenses). They suit my style of shooting better, I really like the aesthetics, and the IP rating is important to me because I often shoot landscapes in fairly extreme winter conditions. Plus I already have those cameras and a good set of lenses.

Can you show us some pictures?

hoolyproductions · October 16

Sunstars (this and following shots are with 55V)