Well, after years of dreaming, I finally did the unthinkable and stepped up to a medium format camera. I was tipped “into it” by Hasselblad’s newest entrant to the market, which does some crazy stuff.
What exactly makes it better than full frame cameras (Sony, Nikon, and Cannon)?
- It’s 16-bit processing vs the 14-bit used by the full frame guys? What? Essentially, the camera has 100 times the processing depth and can reproduce colors the others can’t. For example, capturing the subtle sky details in a brilliantly lit sunrise or sunset. Being able to pull out the details in post without banding.
- Better dynamic range and the ability to better shoot backlit objects.
- 100 mb photos (massive sensor), which also produces lower digital noise.
- Also crazy impressive image stabilization (10 stops). How crazy? Like being able to handhold a 2-second exposure of a waterfall. The water is blurred while the landscape surrounding is tack sharp. Goodbye, tripod for many shots.
- Note the Hasselblad has a negative crop factor of .79, meaning your 20-35mm lens has the 35mm equivalent of a 16-27mm lens.
- What’s the downside? Only the fact that it costs the same as a used car. Ouch. I can’t give you the details. Too painful.
- Also, the rig weighs a bit more than a full frame. Comparing the Hasselblad with a 20-35mm lens to a Sony A7r V (w a 16-35mm zoom) the former weighs about 1lb more.
- The optimal setup: The camera and two zoom lenses (20-35mm and 35-100mm). Each of these has leaf shutters inside the lenses (vs inside the camera for full frame cameras). That allows you to achieve super high speed sync if doing portraits with flash. It also makes the lens very…I mean very…expensive.
This short video from Tony and Chelsea Northrup does a great job showing the actual workflow differences when stepping up to this camera. Click the link below to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3F_o8gzbTE
