Hasselblad’s new 100-megapixel medium-format digital camera system is able to really gorgeous pictures and completely incapable of taking pictures video. This is a photographer’s digital camera, for these fortunate sufficient to nonetheless be photographers, with out the demanding video workload tacked on to each job. If that is you—and you’ve got loads of money to spare—that is the digital camera you need.

The CFV 100C is a brand new 100-megapixel digital again that may pair with each Hasselblad’s 907X digital physique (the smallest medium format digital camera available on the market) and older 501c Hasselblads. Throw in an non-compulsory grip and you’ve got a medium-format digital digital camera system that can be utilized like an outdated Hasselblad movie digital camera (taking pictures waist stage), as a extra versatile digital model utilizing the flip display, or for extra conventional SLR-style taking pictures with the grip.

Second to None

Like most photographers, I should not have a Hasselblad 501c simply mendacity about, so I did all my testing utilizing the 907X with the CFV 100C. This combo is extremely compact, comfy to shoot with at each waist stage and eye stage, plus straightforward to hold round. The 907X portion of the rig is skinny, little greater than one thing that connects an XCD collection lens to the 100C sensor again. The brains and sensor of the bundle are within the new CFV 100C digital again.

The 100-megapixel medium-format sensor is similar one Hasselblad used within the X2D (7/10, WIRED Review), and it stays mind-blowing. Not solely is the decision extraordinarily detailed, however the RAW recordsdata seize 15 stops of dynamic vary and 16-bit colour, providing a few of the finest colour rendering I’ve ever seen in a digital sensor. It’s tough to quantify precisely what it’s that makes these recordsdata particular, however I not often felt the necessity to edit them. They already look the best way I would like. Naturally, this might be as much as photographic type and private style, however for me at the least, Hasselblad’s colour and tone rendering—even in JPG recordsdata—is second to none.

They are enormous recordsdata, although. Be forewarned that the RAW recordsdata are round 200 megabytes every, and even JPGs will be up within the excessive 80-MB vary. Like the X2D, this digital camera features a 1-terabyte drive and a CFexpress card slot to increase that storage capability much more.

The sensor and storage are the identical as the DSLR-style X2D, however the 907X 100C has nothing else in widespread. The X2D looks like utilizing a high-resolution Nikon. Combine that with the shortage of video options—which I would favor to have in a extra DSLR kind issue—and the X2D fell flat for me. The 907X with the 100C is the polar reverse, regardless of sharing the identical sensor. This is the digital camera Hasselblad followers have been dreaming of. It’s every little thing that made the movie Hasselblads particular, with a digital soul. It may not final so long as the movie cameras (electronics being finicky, in any case), however in each different approach, it carries that Hasselblad custom.

That’s to not say there aren’t trendy enhancements right here. Autofocus, a spot the place even latest Hasselblads have struggled, is significantly better. There’s face detection (no, not eye, simply face), which works fairly properly in all settings however very low gentle. I would favor eye detection, however this works in most conditions. I desire guide focusing more often than not.