Hasselblad H1D

[Matt_hil]

hey guys


I need to pick your brains here, im going tobe steping to a medium format Camera to boost my photography and hopfully my business now i have been looking everywhere from diffrent types of medium format "digital" camera's and I came across the Hasselblad H1D with the 22 mega-pixel sensor Digital Back.

I have been everywhere on the web looking for reviews on this Camera but cant find anything! so im asking you nice people if you have tryed one or know of a better camera on a medium format that is Digital?? because I dont want to start spending £20,000 on a camera thats not worth it!

any Information would help!

Many Thanks

[charlesu]

Dunno but I am leary of the expense. The nice thing is that you can upgrade backs in a couple of years. Or, you could buy a 1Ds MKII and keep it 2 years and throw it away and replace it. Do it again 3 years later and you're still only out about the same $$ and you're on the third new body.

[BarbaraS]

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a?topic=Medium%20Format%20Digest

[PhotosGuy]

to boost my photography What kind of photography? The Blad is a well respected cam, but is it right for what you do?

[Matt_hil]

What kind of photography? The Blad is a well respected cam, but is it right for what you do?

Yeh it will be perfect for what im doing which is Fashion and portrait Photography...

Im always on location and i dont want tobe lumping around my laptop hence why i want a digital back on the medium format

[Claire]

Matt,
I haven't tried the Hasselblad properly, but I have a businesscard somewhere from the guy who guided me around Hasselblad. Perhaps he would be able to point you in the direction of some review (which obviously will be biased...).

PM me if you're interested in his contact details.
/Claire

[Mike Panic]

Yeh it will be perfect for what im doing which is Fashion and portrait Photography...

Im always on location and i dont want tobe lumping around my laptop hence why i want a digital back on the medium format

then im afraid you may have some things confused... the "digital back" is a piece similar to a 120 or 220 film back that goes on the camera, there is usually no media slot in them... it is just the huge sensor and all the electronics to go along w/ it. there is no magical little hard drive that records everything.

most all of your major mf digital back companies, leaf, phaseone, hassy, etc - all almost require you to be teathered to a laptop - not to mention file sizes are on the large side so you have almost no buffer when shooting and can take as long as 15-60 seconds to record an image, partly depending on the speed of your laptop's hard drives

[Matt_hil]

then im afraid you may have some things confused... the "digital back" is a piece similar to a 120 or 220 film back that goes on the camera, there is usually no media slot in them... it is just the huge sensor and all the electronics to go along w/ it. there is no magical little hard drive that records everything.

most all of your major mf digital back companies, leaf, phaseone, hassy, etc - all almost require you to be teathered to a laptop - not to mention file sizes are on the large side so you have almost no buffer when shooting and can take as long as 15-60 seconds to record an image, partly depending on the speed of your laptop's hard drives

Im afraid your wrong, if you look on this site here (http://www.hasselblad.se/products/level3.asp?secId=1135&itemId=3362) it cearly says it has a image bank that "stores the images"

There is no need for CF cards, micro drives or other storage media. In the studio the H1D can be tethered to a Mac or PC computer. The H1D includes a separate 40Gb Image Bank that safely and rapidly stores all images. Up to eight hours of constant computer-free shooting is provided from a single charge. Up to 850 images can be stored each viewable on the two inch colour preview display that also offers image browsing and ultra fast zooms.

[Mike Panic]

re-read that... key word is "seperate" image bank - you will still have to be teathered to it somehow. i also looked thru the site and thru the pdf document - no mention of write speeds anywhere... and if you intend on doing fashion work w/this, that becomes an issue.

i'll retract my statement about being teathered to a computer, but you still have to be teathered to something

not hatin' on the camera, but $ for performance is there something that the 1ds mkII can't give you? its much cheaper, faster and more portable.

850 images on a 40gig hdd means that hassy is spitting out 50meg files, give or take... are you doing billboard work?

[DaveG]

hey guys


I need to pick your brains here, im going tobe steping to a medium format Camera to boost my photography and hopfully my business now i have been looking everywhere from diffrent types of medium format "digital" camera's and I came across the Hasselblad H1D with the 22 mega-pixel sensor Digital Back.

I have been everywhere on the web looking for reviews on this Camera but cant find anything! so im asking you nice people if you have tryed one or know of a better camera on a medium format that is Digital?? because I dont want to start spending £20,000 on a camera thats not worth it!

any Information would help!

Many Thanks


I've got a number of problems with the H1. First I'm sure it's superb. Sounds silly that I say I have a problem and then start with that comment, doesn't it? But I bet that it makes just great images.

But at what price? In two years the replacement for the 1DS Mark II will almost certainly be 22MP or more and I'd bet that right now you'd have trouble telling the difference between an 11x14 taken with the S Mark II or an H1. There's just not going to be any long term technical advantages over the Canons. If you had a 500CM you just knew that the EOS Iv wasn't going to grow into a 6x6 camera anytime soon!

The H1D is 16 bit and the S Mark II 12 bit, but I doubt if you'll see any difference in that area either. With those 16 bit images the H1D needs to make huge files and that slows everything down, and you will notice that. You get a frame every two seconds with the H1D while the S Mark II can be shot at four frames per second and it'll be 11 shots before you burry the buffer. That alone would change my shooting workflow. Click, a one and a two, click ... and so forth.

There are a limited number of lenses for the H1 compared to Canon and all but one is a prime. They are slower than the Canon lenses and MUCH more expensive. The ISO range of the H1 is limited from ISO 100-400. Most of the time you won't need more but what if you do? Especially with those slow lenses?

The H1D is also going to be well out of the mainstream. If you were a third party manufacturer would you rush to make products for a camera that is likely to sell fewer than 1000 copies in North America? I like the fact that if there is a third party product it was made with Canon firmly in mind!

And I just wonder about Hassleblad's survival. They are more or less a division of Fuji now and what kind of commitment will Fuji be making? It's such an unsettled time right now in the MF digital world that I have no confidence that any one company will be around in five years. And that's a huge invertment to make in a camera system that may well go the way of Topcon or Bronica.

The only way that I'd buy the H1D was if my art directors TODAY were putting 22MP pressure on me, and my day rates were high enough to ignore the high cost. Other than that I'd spend the money on a 1DS Mark II and would buy some excellent L series glass; and maybe I'd do that anyway.

[PhotosGuy]

I have to agree with Dave, "The only way that I'd buy the H1D was if my art directors TODAY were putting 22MP pressure on me, and my day rates were high enough to ignore the high cost. Other than that I'd spend the money on a 1DS Mark II and would buy some excellent L series glass; and maybe I'd do that anyway."
If it was just one (Dinosaur )client , & I had to work with him 'cause he booked a lot of work, I'd pick up an old film Bronica, or maybe a cam that takes a 2-1/4 X 2-3/4 back & dedicate it to his pics. I'd only get the Blad if it would pay for itself in about 6 months, AND if I knew that I had orders for the work already contracted for.

[iwatkins]

I would concur with Dave's sentiments.

If I had to buy today, I would certainly be looking very closely at a 1Ds MkII. I know plenty fashion/editorial photographers are switching from MF (film/digital) to 1Ds MkII because of the lower cost but more importantly because of the ease of use etc.

Sure, if you *must* have 22MP files, then there isn't a 35mm equiv. right now, but its coming. And the day that happens I would also suggest would be the day that the MF makers all but disappear. They are mainly hanging on by the skin of their teeth via cash injections from parent companies now, so it wouldn't take much. And once they go there will be no backup, support, new lenses etc. and the resale value of the equipment also tends to fall at the same time.

I've a friend who does architectural photography for a living (and a good one at that). He recently ditched his MF in favour of the 1Ds MkII and a stack of L glass. He hasn't looked back by all accounts. He told me the other night (over a rather nice bottle of Scotch I migth add) that he uses Genuine Fractals etc. to upsize the images from the 1Ds MkII to around 30MP when needed without issues with his clients. He is saving a lot of money which obviosuly means he is making more money as well. :)

So, look carefully at the options before jumping on the 'blad wagon. It is not a small amount of money if you get it wrong and in my opinion you would be wrong to go digital MF at this time.

Cheers

Ian

[Matt_hil]

Thank you so much, for the input guys....i think I may reconsider getting this blad, and start looking at the 1Ds MKII, and on the plus side I have already got L Class Lenes for my 20d so really...im only gonna be paying for camera which will make my wallet a lot more healther :D


Thanks Again Guys