Fun with the Hasselblad 907x

Looks very nice, Vince! The style of the Novoflex adapter is a little cleaner than that of the Fotodiox Pro. :)

And it's nice to see the coverage on 33x44 sensor is pretty darn good with the Summilux-M 50! I'll have to test my Summicron-M 50 as well as the Summilux-R and Summicron-R 50s ... I don't think I've put any of them on the camera since the first week I had it; certainly not made any photos with them that i've posted as far as I recall.

G
 
Now that just makes it so versatile. Should be hard for quite a few fence sitters to hold back on ordering one now. (Unfortunately, I won't be one.)



PF
 
Now that just makes it so versatile.
...

Presuming you mean the ability to use adapted lenses from Leica and other manufacturers, yes. But it's not entirely without some issues.
  • To use adapted lenses means using the eshutter since Hasselblad X system lenses have lens shutters, there is no mechanical shutter on the body.
  • While the field coverage of many lenses designed for 24x36 format will also cover (or almost cover) 33x44 format, there are no guarantees. You have to test each lens to see how it performs on the format. Happily, although many will NOT cover 33x44 without vignetting or falloff, many will cover 33x33 format with few issues.
I bought both Leica R and Leica M to X system adapters, as well as the XV Adapter from Hasselblad (to use V system lenses). The V system lenses are guaranteed to cover the format and work the best. I haven't done a thorough test of all of my M and R lenses, but the ones I've worked with most do work pretty well, presuming that the eshutter characteristics don't get in the way.

I find mucking with adapted lenses quite fun, but sometimes curiously disappointing. And other times, very exhilarating what I can get out of the camera with an oddball lens. I don't know that it's sensible to think that many many users will buy the 907x because of the lens adaptation possibilities, but it was an attraction for me. :)

G
 
Santa Clara is one of the older cities in Santa Clara Valley. Every so often you turn a corner and run into an older house, sometimes those houses might be more than a hundred years old. I don't know when this one was built, but it was a while ago and the house is on a corner across from a local historical house built in the late 1800s, so I'm presuming that it might be around the same age.


The Old House in the Trees - Santa Clara 2020
Hasselblad 907x + XCD 45mm f/4 P
ISO 100 @ f/5 @ 1/160

Half rez available if you click through to Flickr.com. :)

enjoy!
G
 
Wonderful Thread
Godfrey & Vince !

I am loving the M/ R glass
It rocks on Miss Hassy

I think the bokeh is smoother with that glass Than Hassy glass :eek:
Which might be a tad more difficult with electronic shutter:/ not moving when shooting
 
Wonderful Thread
Godfrey & Vince !

I am loving the M/ R glass
It rocks on Miss Hassy

I think the bokeh is smoother with that glass Than Hassy glass :eek:
Which might be a tad more difficult with electronic shutter:/ not moving when shooting

Hi Helen! Thanks!

Between V system lenses and M/R lenses, I think the classic characteristic differences between Zeiss and Leica notions of "best imaging" are clearly visible. But more modern Leica (Peter Karbe) and XCD lens rendering are both a bit away from those old reference looks, to my eye. Better or worse is a personal judgement, I think, but I don't see a heck of a lot different in terms of smoother or less smooth between the latest generation of XCD and current Leica M lenses.

The typical eshutter issues are distortions from subject motion (like a slow focal plane shutter produces) and distortions from camera motion (the "jelly" imaging effect of a rolling shutter in motion capture). There are also eshutter issues that come up with certain kinds of lighting due to the lighting operating with a frequency that 'beats' in the same time range as the sensor's capture speed.

That said, for relatively static subjects and/or with tripod mounted camera and reasonable exposure time range, it's often hard to see any difference at all between an exposure made with the eshutter and an exposure made with the mechanical shutter. I've done a lot of both and have only seen much in way of any eshutter issues surface rarely.

G
 
Presuming you mean the ability to use adapted lenses from Leica and other manufacturers, yes. But it's not entirely without some issues.
  • To use adapted lenses means using the eshutter since Hasselblad X system lenses have lens shutters, there is no mechanical shutter on the body.
  • While the field coverage of many lenses designed for 24x36 format will also cover (or almost cover) 33x44 format, there are no guarantees. You have to test each lens to see how it performs on the format. Happily, although many will NOT cover 33x44 without vignetting or falloff, many will cover 33x33 format with few issues.
I bought both Leica R and Leica M to X system adapters, as well as the XV Adapter from Hasselblad (to use V system lenses). The V system lenses are guaranteed to cover the format and work the best. I haven't done a thorough test of all of my M and R lenses, but the ones I've worked with most do work pretty well, presuming that the eshutter characteristics don't get in the way.

I find mucking with adapted lenses quite fun, but sometimes curiously disappointing. And other times, very exhilarating what I can get out of the camera with an oddball lens. I don't know that it's sensible to think that many many users will buy the 907x because of the lens adaptation possibilities, but it was an attraction for me. :)

G


What I like about digital is when you do experiment with adapted lenses you can find out very quickly just what does and what doesn't work. I consider the 907x body a good platform for such experimentation because of the short flange distance, so one can use rangefinder lenses, and the 50mp sensor will allow for generous cropping without much loss in IQ. Add to that being able to mount the back on a 500 series camera, and what more could you ask for?


PF
 
What I like about digital is when you do experiment with adapted lenses you can find out very quickly just what does and what doesn't work. I consider the 907x body a good platform for such experimentation because of the short flange distance, so one can use rangefinder lenses, and the 50mp sensor will allow for generous cropping without much loss in IQ. Add to that being able to mount the back on a 500 series camera, and what more could you ask for?

The 907x is, again, *exactly* the same as the X1D/X1D II with respect to flange distance, sensor size, and pixel dimensions. So the X1D is equally brilliant for adapted lens experimentation.

But yes: Being a modular camera with separable recording back, and using the CFVII 50c back on Hasselblad V system SLR cameras (and the SWC), nets a different range of capabilities that the X1D family cannot provide. You're singing to the choir on that: It's one of the big reasons I ordered a 907x Special Edition within a day or three of its announcement in July of 2019. :)

I've been considering an X1D body since it was first announced in 2016 or 2017, and still am, but the capability to use my much loved 500CM bodies with a modern digital back at a not-too-financially-crushing price was really what I wanted.

G
 
Finished my work day a little early today, so I thought I'd embark on a little comparison test - Nikon Z7 vs Hasselblad 907x.

Now this isn't particularly scientific, but it did give me a few insights. Both cameras were set up on the same tripod in the same spot and focused on the same scene. I used the 65/2.8 on the Hasselblad (it's considered to be the equivalent of a 50mm lens on 35mm format) and the 50/1.8 on the Z7. Both shot at ISO 100, RAW files (3FR for Hasselblad, NEF for Nikon) and at the same aperture settings (with the exception of the Nikon, which I also shot one additional frame at f/1.8), 2.8, 4 and 5.6. Both cameras focused on the same spot (the white and blue pot on the table).

Hasselblad at f/2.8.

Hasselblad 907x f2.8
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

Nikon at f/1.8.

Nikon Z7 f1.8
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

Nikon at f/2.8.

Nikon Z7 f2.8
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

Hasselblad at f/4.

Hasselblad 907x f4
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

Nikon at f/4.

Nikon Z7 f4
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

Hasselblad at f/5.6.

Hasselblad 907x f5.6
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

Nikon at f/5.6.

Nikon Z7 f5.6
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

The colour difference is one thing that really struck me - I tried to adjust them both so that they were the approximately the same exposure (no sharpening), but the Hasselblad's colours are totally different than the Nikon's. All the images were taken in a total of about 5 minutes and, while the sun was dipping in and out from time to time, it wasn't really drastic from one camera to the other.

Two detail crops (both at f/4):

Nikon.

Nikon Z f4 Crop
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

Hasselblad.

Hasselblad 907x f4 Crop
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

I think I need to do some more 'controlled' tests where the light is more flat and even, but it's a good start.
 
Our Saturday morning walk in the woods....


Mt Pleasant1
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Mt Pleasant2
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Mt Pleasant3
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Mt Pleasant4
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Mt Pleasant5
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Mt Pleasant6
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Mt Pleasant7
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Mt Pleasant8
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Mt Pleasant22
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Mt Pleasant23
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Mt Pleasant24
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Mt Pleasant25
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
 
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