I need your help! To get rid of camera or not!

[RdEoSg]

Ok here is the deal everyone! I have a Hasselblad Xpan with 45mm and 90mm lenses. I have had them since 2004. I love the camera. Unfortunately, I don't know that it is a very good fit for me. I may love the camera, but I have only shot about 25 rolls in it total. Only 3-4 in the past year and it was at one event and I didn't get a single shot I liked. I have taken some in the past that I really enjoyed with it though.

Now I have the opportunity to get a Hasselblad 503CW system and I am debating getting rid of the Xpan to fund it. I can't afford to spend any money out of pocket. Making enough money in the sale shouldn't be an issue because I can get a great deal on the 503.

I really am torn. I am worried that I will regret it if I get rid of the Xpan. I won't have the money to buy one again for a very long time if I decide I want one. But TWENTY FIVE ROLLS in 3 years?!?!?!?! Does it make sense to keep a camera that I never really use?

I only use the pano when I am doing landscapes. Lately it's almost become a hassle. I have a hell of a time finding a place to do E6 process which is all I really use in the camera. B/W on occasion, but mostly the slide. I also have issues with the fact that I take my Canon digital gear too and end up fighting with myself over which camera to use when on the excursions. Not to mention having to carry two camera systems with me. The Xpan is only 24mm in Pano mode with the 45mm and I have a 16-35 on my 5D so the range is certainly covered in that. I feel like I go out using it because I have to justify the expensive panoramic camera but is it really doing anything I couldn't do by cropping the digital?

I wouldn't use the 503 for landscapes or scenics at all really. I'd just use it for portraits and candids of people. I don't see myself buying a lot of lenses or anything in the future. I've just always wanted to have a Hassey with an 80mm on it.

HELP!!!!!

 

[Morca007]

If I were you, I wouldn't hesitate to do it. The whole 25 rolls thing is what would tip the scales once and for all.

 

[Doug]

If it doesn't fill a useful niche in your photographic interests, then why not move it along in favor of something you will use... Good luck!

 

[jbf]

I say get rid of it. If your getting very little use and have always wanted a hassy, go for the hassy 503. I would. If i had a choice between the two it'd be a 503 in no time.


If i ever have enough funds for a hassey outfit i'll definately purchase one. 🙂

 

[kuzano]

Panoramic very specialized

Panoramic very specialized

I never really understood the whole small film (35mm) panoramic camera craze (if it ever made craze heights). I tend to perceive panoramic as an art form that gets blown up to sizable print sizes. It would not be hard decision for me... Goodbye Xpan. Particularly while there is still film and a market for the camera.

Panoramic also, as a format, is being supplanted by the ease of digital stitching in many software packages. I shoot a big old $500 Fujica G690bl which takes pictures to die for. I use a panning head and panoramic attachment, which allows me to stitch two shots together for 6X17, and three for 6X24, with no distortion on the 6X17. Discovering that work-around has ended my lust for $3000 or more worth of gear for 6X17.

You're hesitation will likely fly out the window once you hold up a transparency created on a 6 cm square of film. The only thing I would recommend is that you be sure you want to be hooked into the whole square format is the "ideal" format argument.

Your Xpan should raise enough money to purchase any number of medium format camera formats... 6X4.5, 6X6, 6X7, 6X9, etc. The argument for 6X6 is based on high speed composition, where the frame being square does not force the photographer to slow down and consider frame lines. However, in reality, most 6X6 images are cropped into some form of triangle, losing part of the advantage of the bigger film width. To me, it has always made more sense to pick a format you think you will use most often. In fact, many consider the true ideal format to be 6X7. Now that's a problem if you are actually hung up on the hasselblad misplaced mystique. I've used Hasselblads, but never been impressed enough to replace any of my Mamiya's, Bronica's and YES even Fuji's to own one.

I shoot 6X4.5 Fuji and 6X9 Fuji. I grant that the 6X9 is a hard format to place and print, but I would rather cut a bit off the end of a 6X9, than surrender acreage from a square 6X6 to make an appropriate rectangle.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

 

[pvdhaar]

The most sensible thing to do is sell it.

If it's sitting in a case without being used, it will be aging and gumming up faster than when it's constantly exercised.

 

[kuzano]

My bad... not cropped to triangle....

My bad... not cropped to triangle....

Where did that come from. Most 6X6 shots are eventually cropped into some form of RECTANGLE. Think about it. How many times have you actually seen square prints or framed work compared to a rectangular piece. Certainly not in publication and most advertising work.

 

[dazedgonebye]

Pano cameras are sexy...but I don't think I'd ever take one home to mother.

Re: stitching.
I shot a pano of the desert with 20 shots from a 300D and an old manual 28mm lens. That picture is now a 10ft by 50ft display at a new home site.
When I have the rare impulse to shoot pano, that's the gear I use. It's cheap and mulit-purpose.

 

[mfogiel]

In my opinion, a film camera nowadays, especially for someone who also shoots digital, should be used primarily for B&W. In this sense, if you have a Canon with wide angles for landscape, I'd think the X-Pan is redundant. However, in my opinion, Hasselblad is mainly a tripod camera, and obviously is a pretty good tool for B&W. If you want something for street photography too, buy instead the Mamiya 7 which is in the classified right now. If the Hasselblad-Zeiss combo is what lights you up, I'd get the 503CW (or 501C/M) with the 100/3.5 Planar and 60/3.5 Distagon. This will give you two superior lenses, and a very nice combination for interiors/street, and portrait/short tele.

 

[RdEoSg]

Thanks everyone for the input. It sounds like the general consensus is that I should move on to the next camera. I think you may be right! I'm not sure about the triangle format 😛 but otherwise! 😉

A few have mentioned square being hard to shoot, but I have shot with it many times in the past. It's been a few years, but I am comfortable "seeing square" and actually prefer it to 645 and the others. I also own a 124G which I think I will sell along with the Hasselblad. No real point in keeping that one if I get the hassey.

I am a little worried about the xpan's value because of the dreaded paint issue. Mine has some serious paint problems on one side where it was in a bag all day one time in London. The end result was beautiful scuffed up titanium showing and not much paint on one end. The camera functions perfect but obviously looks sell so I think this is going to reduce my value a few hundred. I hope I find that buyer that isn't bothered though!

 

[kuzano]

Whoooah?

Whoooah?

You have a 124G... For what the camera will yield in the market, I'd hold on to it for the backup square format, no mirror slap, quiet shutter moments you may run into. The time may come when you want to dump the hasselblad, but still keep a low cost 6 square format in the stable. Just a thought.

 

[RdEoSg]

That's a good point. My fiancee is now eyeing it as well so yea 😉