The 907x Has Landed ...

[Godfrey]

Hasselblad 907x Special Edition + XCD 21mm f/4​

With the 21mm lens, it's a bit bulky, not overly heavy, and feels just right in my hands on balance and control organization. The back integrates beautifully with my 500CM bodies as well, giving access to a high quality digital capture capability for the entire Hasseblad V-system kit.

I waited 19 years for this kind of equipment to exist, and half plus year from when they announced it and I put the order in. And I have to say, the wait looks like it was well worth it! 🙂

G

 

[photony texas]

Beautiful setup...
Mine arrives Monday, I don't think I've ever been this excited to get my hands on a camera. The mOOn camera 😉

 

[Hogarth Ferguson]

I would absolutely love this back for my 501c/swc even though I really love film. It would just be nice to have. What is really nice is that, although it is still out of my price range, it is very reasonably priced. One day. Also, 6x6 one day, pls? Thanks

 

[jsrockit]

Very cool... jealous. 🙂. Enjoy it!

 

[Vince Lupo]

Ah so it’s not a Konost after all!

Congrats - I’d love one.

 

[aizan]

*Drool*

This is the form factor of my dreams.

 

[robert blu]

Congrats! Fabolous!

 

[trix4ever]

This looks right up my street, could you tell us what that particular setup cost, I'm seriously interested.

 

[jsrockit]

This looks right up my street, could you tell us what that particular setup cost, I'm seriously interested.

I think about $11,000.

 

[trix4ever]

Thank you for that. How does the field of view in a square crop compare to a SWC? I understand the rendering and dof will be different but still interested in the comparison. Thanks

 

[Vince Lupo]

Okay Godfrey - you know what we're expecting of you, to verify that you are in fact worthy of this exceedingly special camera.....

Cat photos. Lots of cat photos 🙂

 

[lcpr]

I’d love to see how that back performs on an SWC if you still have one.

 

[Godfrey]

Thank you for that. How does the field of view in a square crop compare to a SWC? I understand the rendering and dof will be different but still interested in the comparison. Thanks

The Field of View (HxV Angle of Views combined) is close. 21mm on 33x33 presents just a little bit wider FoV and about 2.3 stops more depth of field than the SWC with Biogon 38mm on 6x6 format:

SWC (Biogon 38mm on 6x6 film)
Width = 56 mm, Length = 56 mm, Diagonal = 79.196 mm
f - Hor - Vert - Diag
38 - 72.8 - 72.8 - 92.4

Depth of field @ Subject distance 10 feet @ f/9
Near limit 5.43 ft
Far limit 63.4 ft
Total 58 ft

In front of subject 4.6 ft (8%)
Behind subject 53.4 ft (92%)

Hyperfocal distance 11.8 ft
Circle of confusion 0.045 mm

907x (XCD 21mm on 33x44 sensor, cropped square)
Width = 33 mm, Length = 33 mm, Diagonal = 46.669 mm
f - Hor - Vert - Diag
21 - 76.3 - 76.3 - 96.0

Depth of field @ Subject distance 10 feet @ f/4
Near limit 5.48 ft
Far limit 56.7 ft
Total 51.2 ft

In front of subject 4.5 ft (9%)
Behind subject 46.7 ft (91%)

Hyperfocal distance 12.1 ft
Circle of confusion 0.03 mm​

Okay Godfrey - you know what we're expecting of you, to verify that you are in fact worthy of this exceedingly special camera.....

Cat photos. Lots of cat photos 🙂

Queue insane laughter! 😀 😀

G

 

[Godfrey]

This looks right up my street, could you tell us what that particular setup cost, I'm seriously interested.

I think about $11,000.

The 907x Special Edition with CFV II 50c back is US$7500. The XCD 21mm f/4 lens is $3725.00. A spare battery is $99.00, the X system release cord is $80.00. All up, $11,404.00 plus any relevant shipping and tax. The 'standard' edition camera and back in chrome should be released soon, but I have no idea yet what the difference in price will be.

I gave up a lot of other things last year to be able to obtain this lovely camera. It was worth it, and it was worth the wait... I placed the order a week or so after the press announcement at the beginning of August 2019. It is without a doubt, the closest actual product to what my imaginary ideal camera (past the LEIcht CAmera type, of course) of the past twenty-some years has come. 🙂

I'm taking it slow learning it and savoring the experience. In addition to what it itself provides as a camera with this lens, remember that it also brings my 1978 era Hasselblad 500CM system (two bodies, four lenses) forward into the digital capture age.

AND I have mount adapters that allow me to fit all of my Leica R and Leica M lenses (and bellows, other macro equipment) to it as well. The square crop format (33x33) is well within the range of what the Leica lenses can cover nicely, and many will cover the full 33x44 format quite well too; the use of the sensor as a fully electronic shutter presents some limitations on using shutterless lenses like that, but those limitations aren't generally significant for the kind of work I have in mind in their use.

(I also have the new Hasselblad XCD 45P f/4 lens on order, in order that I have my usual walking kit of ultra-wide and wide-normal lenses in native mount, supporting all features and capabilities of the camera (AF, etc). This lens is offered at a remarkably affordable (for Hasselblad) $1199.00 and is very light and small. It nets a FoV on the 907x square crop that is about the same (just a couple of degrees wider) as the traditional Planar 80mm lens on a Hasselblad 6x6 camera.)

In effect, the Hasselblad 907x is a 'universal system extension' kind of camera for me. These factors make the heavy purchase price worth it, and this system pairs beautifully with my Leica CL (digital) and M/R (film) kit to cover all the bases that I use a camera for.

And now to put it to use... I'm finishing up reading the instruction manual and playing with the controls, will take it on my Saturday morning walk in a couple of hours. 😀

G

 

[lynnb]

Congratulations, Godfrey! I too am seriously envious. I will enjoy the camera by proxy... +1 vote for the cat pictures 😀

 

[Larry Cloetta]

I’d love to see how that back performs on an SWC if you still have one.

I’m still waiting for the 6x6 version for that very reason. Like a lot of likely-to-remain-frustrated people.
But, it’s nice to see Hasselblad doing this, and I hope they sell a lot of them.

 

[Godfrey]

I’m still waiting for the 6x6 version for that very reason. Like a lot of likely-to-remain-frustrated people.
But, it’s nice to see Hasselblad doing this, and I hope they sell a lot of them.

I don't have any expectation that a 6x6 digital back will surface at a price I could remotely afford any time soon, nor do I really thing that the Biogon 38mm lens is ever going to actually work well with one. Physics argues against it ... but never say never, it might happen someday!

I chose to sell my SWC in part to fund a camera like this, because with an f/4 lens of this caliber on the 33x33mm sensor, I can actually get the kind of imaging that the SWC provides with near equivalent field of view and depth of field couplings, just using different settings. I mostly shot with the SWC at f/8 to f/16, so with this lens and sensor combination I'll work with f/4 to f/8 most of the time. There are some advantages to that (easier to work in low light, etc) and the differences in what you can capture are small.

The key will be what the lens renders like more than anything else. It will be subtly different but, from what I've seen in others' work, it is equally satisfying and pleasant, and different from what the other equivalents I've been working with (using FF and APS-C format) can do. Better or worse ... eh, that's too difficult to say. 🙂

G

 

[lcpr]

I dunno, the short flange distance on the 907x makes me think that the CFVII is better at handling oblique rays compared to the first version, so the SWC might finally be useable.

 

[Huss]

When I saw the title 907 I thought G bought a classic Ducati!

 

[valdas]

I tried to google photo samples made with this 907x - no success. Reviews also give pictures of the camera, description (how it feels, what it does), but where are the photos??? No cats, no walls or bricks, nothing! And surely no Moon pictures.