Digital Xpan coming?

Hasselblad had long left the field of camera design and production, it has been reduced to little more than a brand marketing Fujifilm pro equipment outside Japan. Even if their new investors plan a return to design and production, they cannot roll out a entirely new camera within a year. Even more so as it would be in several ways of a type they have never designed - everything digital, small format or rangefinder they have ever sold was designed and made by others.

Unless Fujifilm release such a camera for Hasselblad to re-brand, I'd be extremely surprised if Hasselblad came up with one this year...
 
Turtle said:
I worked with mine recently in India and enjoyed it, but felt the 45mm too tight too often. I now have a 30mm and will see how that goes. If I do not feel that I can move up a level, in terms of 'flow' then the whole lot will go up for sale. I do, however, have a feeling that the 30mm will be a game changer.
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Turtle, I know exactly what you mean by the 45mm being often too tight. I nearly completely gave up on the Xpan after a short while due to this. Then I borrowed a 30mm for a weekend, but felt it was too wide (I know others feel it's perfect for what they do). Plus the auxiliary view finder adds quite a bit of bulk. Then there's the slow aperture and the price tag on the 30mm lens.

In the end, I bought a Xpan-Nikon F adapter and now use the 35mm PC-Nikkor f/2.8 almost exclusively on my Xpan. I find its field of view perfect for my way of seeing. I can use the entire viewfinder for framing, and this is reliable enough for me. Sure the lens is not rangefinder-coupled and needs to be focused by scale, but I've gotten quite good at it, and even carry a pocket tape measure in my bag for subjects under 1 meter in distance (the PC-Nikkor focuses down to around 30cm if I remember correctly). Although I try to use the PC-Nikkor stopped down to f/8 or f/11 (seem to be the optimum apertures), I've got quite good results even at f/2.8 with good bokeh and no noticible vignetting.

So I kept the Xpan. The 45mm lens stays in the bag for when I'm in wide-open spaces.

Sorry to ramble so much off topic.
 
I wonder if a pano-proportion focusing screen mask for the Pentax 645D would be sufficient as an alternative, as I doubt a user-changed sensor mask in addition would be feasible. Assuming you have a 645D of course. 🙂

Yearning a bit myself for an Xpan, I went cheap and bought a pano adapter set for my Pentax 67. It consisted of a 24x66 focusing screen mask, a matching film-plane mask, and little spacers to hold a roll of 35mm film in place. Without a method for rewinding the film, the use of 35mm film is awkward, but otherwise it worked pretty well. Widest lens however is the 45mm f/4 unless the 35mm fisheye appeals.
 
I don't know how many would pay that much money for such a specialized camera. I use my xpan maybe 4-6 times a year and that's already a ridiculously low utilization for a $1500 system.
 
jsrockit said:
If they do make this, it will be M9 priced... how could it not be (Hassleblad name, bigger sensor, etc).
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And that will be quite all right. After all there would be an M9 inside that thing. If I could mount good fast glass on film xpan I'd never buy any other RF, whatever color dots it would have
 
I know 4 or 5 guys who have Xpans now and we all admitted we would struggle to ignore a digital Xpan. My Xpan is probably the best camera I own and that includes my M9. My hit rate is close to 100% with Velvia.
 
gosh i hope so! now THAT would be a camera even i would pay $3000 for, as opposed to some mini sony sensored FF with a fixed lens and no vf!
 
A digital XPAN would be a special camera, not sure if accordingly priced high or low to attract new customer. If designed with interchangable lenses and an optical VF / RF system I would be seriously intrigued.
 
i would be happy for the body alone and native ability to use the xpan film lenses. imo, theyre fabulous! in addition, leica r lenses, like with the film xpan, could be easily adapted, but unlike the film cam, would be fully 'focusable' on digital.
tony
 
rbelyell said:
i would be happy for the body alone and native ability to use the xpan film lenses. imo, theyre fabulous! in addition, leica r lenses, like with the film xpan, could be easily adapted, but unlike the film cam, would be fully 'focusable' on digital.
tony
Click to expand...

I'd love to use my X-pan converted Cron-R on a digital x-pan 😀
 
Makes me wonder,
I understand that in order to create an interesting panoramic frame you need to see it when you shoot it and that it's very different than cropping.
why wouldn't Nikon introduce a pano mode in their D600/D800 ?
just light on these pano frames, the same as the frame for DX lenses...
 
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