XPan owners, I just found this camera - tell me about it

[Pirate]

I love Hasselblads and now that I'm looking to get into Rangefinders, this would be a great addition to my camera set. Can you please tell me about your XPan, what you like, dislike, all the good and bad points? Thanks a million!

 

[fbf]

Lens: all 3 lenses are top notch, among the finest in 135 system
RF: one of the best if not the best. bright, huge with great contrast.
Meter is great in most situation.
Ultra quiet.
If you like pan, then this is your best bet with no comparison (well, at least in 135 system).

All in all, I love it and highly recommended.

 

[FA Limited]

you should also know that it's not a real hasselblad but a rebadged fuji product 😛

 

[Pirate]

I did read that it was a rebranded Fuji, but if it's made to Hassy specs it should be good enough. I also noticed that it's not on the Hasselblad website at all that I could find. But I'm still interested in it. Thanks

 

[fbf]

Dont' care if it is fake hassy or what. At least the Hasselblad USA provide CLA for the hassy branded camera not the fuji one. As long as there is somebody providing professional service, i am happy.

 

[runny]

I love the camera. As said earlier, the lenses are very special. I can get resolutions that I thought could only come from medium format. There are some quirks in the Version 1, like the shutter speed showing on the back of the camera in A mode, so try and get version 2 if you can. The biggest challenge comes in dealing with the film afterwards. I use mainly Fuji Velvia 50, so it needs to be scanned, and unless you have a higher end scanner like a Nikon 9000 like i have, it will be some sort of special process to scan. Add to that if you get your film done outside, you'll sometimes have them cut through frames thinking it is normal 35mm format.

As an aside, the only sub-par thing about the XPan is the quality of the paint. It will look battle scarred very quickly, which belies is actual amazingly strong build quality.

Enjoy it - and leave your friends gasping when they see the results.

David

 

[Pirate]

From looking through the manual on this, am I right to assume that it can only work with batteries? There's no manual winding of the film? Thanks for all the input. Also, where to buy one? I havn't found any shops that sell them yet.

 

[fbf]

Yeah, battery dependent.

Not sure about Europe. I bought mine on ebay as a pack of 20 for cheap. They (CR2) cost about 5-8$ each in regular stores here in US.

 

[x-ray]

I would agree the xpan is an exceptional camera. Great format and switchable to standard 24x36. I've only had mine for a couple of months but really love it. I'm a big fan of the near 3:1 aspect ratio and also shoot 6x17 with my G617 Fuji and have a Canham 6x17 back for my 5x7. I only shoot B&W in it and wet print so it's a non issue like color could be. I purchased a v1 and really don't care about the shutter speed in the VF and the little things the V2 added. The cost difference for these little details is about double the cost of the V1. I purchased both a 45 and 90 and sent the 90 back. It was every bit as good as the 45 but to me the format screams wide not medium tele. I just didn't like the flattened perspective of the 90 in a 3:1 format. The 30 might be good but I don't want the added bulk of the external VF.

Being built by fuji is a non issue. Fuji makes the current H series Hasselblad lenses and has produced first rate professional film equipment and lenses for decades. I shoot a number of fuji cameras and view lenses and find them to be the equal of any other top brand.

 

[majid]

you should also know that it's not a real hasselblad but a rebadged fuji product 😛

As are all the H series models that are the bulk of Hasselblad camera sales today...

I did read that it was a rebranded Fuji, but if it's made to Hassy specs it should be good enough. I also noticed that it's not on the Hasselblad website at all that I could find. But I'm still interested in it. Thanks

The XPan has been discontinued. It was built to superlative standards, easily as high as Leica's, if not more (apart from the smallish rangefinder patch).

I would agree the xpan is an exceptional camera. Great format and switchable to standard 24x36. I've only had mine for a couple of months but really love it. I'm a big fan of the near 3:1 aspect ratio and also shoot 6x17 with my G617 Fuji and have a Canham 6x17 back for my 5x7. I only shoot B&W in it and wet print so it's a non issue like color could be. I purchased a v1 and really don't care about the shutter speed in the VF and the little things the V2 added. The cost difference for these little details is about double the cost of the V1. I purchased both a 45 and 90 and sent the 90 back. It was every bit as good as the 45 but to me the format screams wide not medium tele. I just didn't like the flattened perspective of the 90 in a 3:1 format. The 30 might be good but I don't want the added bulk of the external VF.

Being built by fuji is a non issue. Fuji makes the current H series Hasselblad lenses and has produced first rate professional film equipment and lenses for decades. I shoot a number of fuji cameras and view lenses and find them to be the equal of any other top brand.

Another G617 and XPan user here (although I have the II), and I heartily endorse this assessment of Fuji lenses - the G617 will easily resolve 100 lp/mm halfway through the frame. 35mm is the limiting factor on the XPan, not the optics, but the XPan is viable as a handheld camera, unlike the G617.

One thing you have to consider is that you will need to scan, since hardly anyone prints from 24x67mm negatives, and most 35mm scanners like the Nikon Coolscan 5000ED cannot deal with the format without two passes and stitching, so you would have to get a MF scanner like the Coolscan 9000ED (while they are still being made, that is).

 

[chasfreeland]

I bought a version 1 second hand, but it had hardly been used so is in quite perfect condition. I have the 45 and 90 mm lenses. Didn't think I would like the 90 but find I do because it is allows you to pick out details in a scene for the panoramic format and it makes it easier to control compositions. I had several years experience in the panoramic format using a 612 Horseman and with that camera I also like the 90 mm lens. The most notorious flaw with the Xpan is the finish. So, I purchased a Luigi half-case, which I like. I find the camera a breeze to use; meter is accurate, and film loading is all auto-load, so that, too, is a breeze. A good, no-regrets purchase.

 

[FA Limited]

i had to throw my remark in there because you said you loved hasselblad

but in all seriousness, i've coveted one for a long time but have resisted, primarily due to the price
before you buy, get the seller to give you the shutter count so you can see how much it's been used

 

[Frank Petronio]

Aren't the lenses rather slow?

 

[FA Limited]

there'd be serious vignetting if they made the lenses any faster i think w/o making them larger

 

[splitimageview]

I briefly used an Xpan and thought it was excellent. It reminds me a lot of a Contax G in build quality...top notch. The finish is not as durable but mechanically it's very solid. And Hasselblad USA will do full CLAs for a very reasonable price with quick turnaround.

 

[urban_alchemist]

The XPan is great. I have the original Fuji version (TX-2) - I actually prefer it to the XPan version due to its hard-wearing black paint and more discreet Fuji Professional markings. The image-quality is exceptional, and it is built like a brick sh*&-house - as said above, easily as good as any Leica. The size is a bit odd - wider and heavier due to the format than a normal 35mm, but it is easily portable and not too heavy. The only problem is the quite-slow lenses. f4.0 isn't really fast enough for fast films, so expect to lug either a tripod, or a lot of minimum-400ISO film...

The problem, as others have noted, is digitising the images. May labs nowadays scan XPan format for you, but you will have to shoot the whole roll panoramic (there's a switch to flip to 35mm and back again). Otherwise, you can go down the Coolscan route - not sure I would again (having done it) - scanning an whole roll is a nightmare, and something that takes much more than a few hours...

Other photos here...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7592660@N06/sets/72157606574843465/show/

 

[runny]

For the scanning nightmare, I use an Epson V700 to do a contact sheet by using the film guide and laying out the strips on the glass. Works well enough to (say) 400dpi to allow me to see what is worth going to the trouble of scanning properly. I find I choose about 6-8 out of each film. This is also how I approach the Hasselbald and Mamiya 645 film scanning process as well.

Your night shot clearly shows the fabulous results you can get with this camera. Mine has Provia 400x in it most of the time and Velvia 50 when the scenes are bright.

David

 

[chasfreeland]

Excellent picture, Urban Alchemist. The light and color balance are just right. I love the way the greens in the window shutters work with the blues of the sea and sky and with that mellow yellow you picked up in the street scene. I haven't had to face "the scanning nightmare" discussed above because I have been shooting B/W film exclusively and printing in a wet lab. When I saw the work of such photogs as Oscar Garrido Serra, who uses his Xpan for B/W street photography, I knew I had to have an Xpan for myself. And, yes, Frank Petronio is right, the lenses are a bit slow, but I find 400 speed to be OK and I've been experimenting with Neopan 1600 to overcome some of the handicaps of using a slow lens in softer light. For the tripod mounted color transparency work, I like the Horseman 612.

 

[didjiman]

Scanning is not a problem if using a LS-8000/9000 with the glass carrier, or one of the newer V700/V750 flatbed. Check out the link to my Blurb book, it's almost all XPan photos. I have 5 printed on canvas at 20"x50" hanging in a restaurant right now. Very high image quality.


I am not setting up a wet darkroom and send in $175 to the xpan neg carrier (for B&W. Will see how that works.

// richard

 

[mad mike]

the X-Pan is no longer marketed new in the EU because of some (to me) stupid ban on electrical items which utilise lead solder. similar ban applies to Pentax 67 mk2