by Ben Hattenbach
I've been shooting a D2X for a couple of years now and decided to give medium format a try. I acquired a Hasselblad H3D-39, a decision influenced in significant part by Hasselblad's new 28mm lens for which Hasselblad's software automatically corrects distortion and chromatic aberration. The H3D and the 28mm accompanied me to Death Valley this weekend and these are my initial impressions.
I am making this posting because I had a difficult time finding this sort of information on the web before making my purchase. I hope that those of you considering a jump to medium format digital find this useful. I'm a professional, but not a professional photographer. I am in no way presenting this as a comprehensive or scientific analysis, or suggesting that in the abstract one camera is better than the other?they are plainly different horses for different courses.
Ease of use: The ergonomics of the D2X are phenomenal ? it is simply not a fair fight. Many of the functions I frequently use on the D2X, which are directly accessible through buttons on the D2X body, are buried in menus in the H3D, menus that are something of a challenge to navigate. This includes white balance, ISO, and deleting recent photos. In fairness, the H3D does have a user-programmable button and I'm still becoming familiar with the camera, but I would put the D2X ahead in this category by a wide margin.
Autofocus: The H3D has only one center focus point. Focus is slow relative to the D2X and seems to require far more light. In low light where the D2X would have no problem whatsoever, the H3D often hunts without locking focus.
Display: I'm sure there is a reason for it, but the display on the digital back of the H3D is abysmal. The resolution, quite seriously, seems materially worse than that on your average $99 point-and-shoot. It is useful for displaying a histogram and that's about it. I hear that this shortcoming is shared by most medium format digital backs out there.
White balance: The D2X auto white balance rarely requires correction. The H3D does not even determine a white balance. You can dial it in when you're shooting based on your own measurement at the scene, or you can shoot a white balance card and use eyedroppers in post. This was a disappointment, but I'll live with it. At this point you may be asking yourself why anyone in their right mind would ever want an H3D. Read on.
Light meter: The H3D light meter does seem quite accurate. With my D2X I typically dial in at least a third of a stop of exposure compensation. This seems to be unnecessary as a general rule with the H3D.
Viewfinder: I never had a problem with the D2X finder. The H3D viewfinder is much larger and brighter.
Weather sealing: The H3D, unlike the D2X, is not weather sealed. I used it in 50-60 MPH winds in Death Valley this morning (so strong that it was a real challenge to remain standing) and there does not seem to be much dust on the sensor. Time will tell whether the lack of weather sealing will become an issue, but the camera certainly passed the first test.
Mirror up: The H3D has a large mirror to accompany its large sensor and large viewfinder. When the mirror goes up there is a significant kick. While I have been able to take sharp pictures handheld, the H3D is at home on a solid tripod. I use a Gitzo 1325, RRS BH-55 and RRS L-bracket. The H3D has an easily accessible mirror up button on the front of the body. The button puts the mirror up and it stays up until the button is pressed again. Thus, when bracketing, the mirror does not go up and down between exposures like on the D2X.
Lenses: Hasselblad lenses are expensive, but once you hold one you will understand why. They need to cast a far larger image on the sensor and, thus, are far larger. They are also made with impeccable workmanship. They are built like tanks and weigh approximately as much. They lack advanced features such as VR, but as mentioned, they live on tripods so this distinction is one without much of a difference.
The lenses feature a leaf shutter. Consequently, there is less shutter vibration than with a focal plane shutter. You can hardly hear the shutter open and shut. The price you pay is that the maximum shutter speed on the H3D is 1/800th. For landscapes this is a worthwhile tradeoff.
Image quality: The H3D-39 sensor is twice the size of a 35mm full-frame (e.g., Canon 5D or 1ds2) sensor and, if my math is correct, occupies about 4.5 times the real estate of the D2X sensor. It sports 39 megapixels. The RAW files are losslessly compressed to about 50MB when stored on a CF card and expand to about 80MB when downloaded to the computer. The image quality is, in a word, amazing.
The increased level of image detail was expected. The shocker was the dynamic range ? this is where the H3D really distinguishes itself. With the D2X, I frequently resorted to bracketing just about any scene with meaningful dynamic range (often 5 or 7 exposures) and then combining them using layer masks in post (I always found this to achieve much better results than HDR in CS2). With the H3D you nearly have to be taking a picture of the sun to blow highlights. In scene after scene where the D2X would have suffered from massive blown highlights, HD3 handled the capture with ease. The difference is truly dramatic, will significantly shorten my landscape workflow, and should improve the resulting images. A sample image from my trip to Death Valley may be found here: http://www.pbase.com/hattenbach/image/77570448 . With the D2X this scene would have required blending at least two bracketed exposures (one for the ground, one for the sky). This image is straight from the camera, curves and levels applied and then downsized for the web. Less than a minute of processing.
The H3D outputs true 16 bit files, supposedly leading to finer tonal gradations than the D2X. The images do seem smoother than those of the D2X. I haven't yet figured out whether this is due in part to greater bit depth.
ISO: The H3D operates between 50 and 400 ISO. I'm told that it gets noisy above 200 and that the new Phase backs are better in this regard. Having shot only landscapes at 50 and 100 so far, this hasn't been an issue for me.
Batteries: The batteries are about the same physical size as those of the D2X. I have shot thousands of photos over a period of weeks on a single D2X charge. In contrast, my H3D battery (also lithium ion) died after just over 100 shots on the first day. Having taken the advice of an excellent salesperson, I had a backup on hand. The H3D battery doubles as the grip for the camera.
Frame rate: The H3D is not your camera for auto racing or birds in flight. It shoots at a little less than one frame per second. Again, not an issue for landscape.
Software: The H3D only shoots in RAW. The H3D comes with Hsselblad's Flexcolor software. Unlike Nikon's Capture, Flexcolor is free. I actually like it. Although Phase's CaptureOne (to be used with Phase backs) seems to have a better reputation and may indeed be better, Flexcolor is perfectly adequate and relatively easy to use. The interfaces and functionality are somewhat similar to Nikon Capture 4.
Price: The H3D-39 is approximately the price of a nice new car, roughly six times the price of a D2X. There are other H3D variants with different sensors for slightly less. Don't be fooled by list prices. They are materially negotiable. In addition, Hasselblad has a number of discount programs that require you of your salesperson to jump through hoops but will save you thousands (e.g., currently you can buy a medium format Holga for about $25, turn it in with your purchase, and save $3,000). I purchased mine over the phone from Steve Hendrix at PPR Digital in Atlanta. He was fantastic. When you buy a H3D, some personalized training tends to be included and Steve has proven himself to be accessible, knowledgeable and eager to assist when needed.
Final verdict: I had plenty of advance notice that the H3D was not the most user-friendly beast. My principal objective in moving to medium format was improved image quality. Without a question, the H3D delivered in that regard. The improved resolution will make a difference for those printing large but the improved dynamic range should make a difference for everyone. While the price is high, if your time is valuable and you spend a lot of it on photography, the investment may well be worthwhile.
