Hasselblad XCD 1,9/80

Photographers craving the shallowest plane of focus beloved lenses with wide, bright apertures. If you fit that bill, and use Hasselblad'due south medium format mirrorless system, the XCD 1,ix/80 ($4,845) will take some appeal. Information technology's an expensive, heavyweight prime number lens, but one that more than lives up to the renowned Hasselblad name. I've but had a risk to use a pre-production re-create, just have some kickoff impressions to share.

Worth Its Weight

The XCD 1,nine/80 is built for medium format photography. Its eyes cover a 44-past-33mm image sensor, the type used past the X1D II 50C camera, so it needs more glass than a similar lens for the smaller, more common total-frame (24-by-36mm) sensor format.

And extra glass is heavy—the lens weighs in at 2.3 pounds, which is especially weighty when you consider the X1D 2 comes in at merely ane.7 pounds. It measures four.iv by 3.3 inches (Hard disk drive) and uses a long, metal lens hood, then information technology juts out quite from the photographic camera torso. Fifty-fifty with the length, the lens is substantial enough to make the system feel a bit front heavy. Like the X1D body, it includes protection against grit and splashes.

But the results are worth it. The 80mm focal length nets an angle of view that'southward at the edge of the standard-angle range, roughly matching the bending of view of a 60mm lens on a full-frame system. The 80mm focal length introduces more than image compression, and when coupled with an f/one.9 aperture nets images with smoothly defocused backgrounds.

The X1D camera doesn't have its own shutter, instead putting one into every XCD lens. The i,9/80 tin make exposures as short as i/2,000-2nd and every bit long every bit 68 minutes. You may find that you'll need a shorter shutter length to make f/ane.9 images in bright light, and then it's a skilful idea to invest in a neutral density filter—the lens has a 77mm thread.

You lot can focus as close equally 2.three feet (0.seven-meter), good plenty for 1:6.4 life-size reproduction. It's not a macro lens, and you lot'll certainly have to pull back to go some shots, but the working distance is by no ways limiting.

Our pre-product copy showed occasional issues with autofocus, but when it worked, information technology worked as well as the other XCD lenses we've used.

Outstanding Optics

I paired the XCD 1,9/fourscore with the 50MP X1D II 50C and Imatest software. Even though our copy isn't final, it netted outstanding resolution all the mode from f/1.ix through f/11, hovering effectually 4,800 lines throughout. Diffraction cuts into resolution a bit at f/xvi, but it's really only the smallest f/22 and f/32 settings you lot should take care to avoid, as they notably soften shots.

Distortion is minimal, just the lens does testify a vignette at its widest discontinuity. The effect, which darkens corners and edges, isn't most equally apparent at f/2.8 and smaller settings. In that location's really zilch bad to say when it comes to image quality—the lens does well in the lab and nets gorgeous results in the field.

For Bokeh Fiends

If yous love snapping shots with smoothly defocused groundwork blur—bokeh—the XCD 1,nine/80 offers a lot of appeal. It's a big, heavy, and expensive lens—most as much as the X1D II camera itself—but for portrait specialists, conveying an extra couple pounds in your pocketbook may be worth information technology.

I've only had a chance to use a pre-production copy, so I'm not giving it a rating at this time. But overall, I tin can't think that anyone would exist disappointed by the images the lens captures. If yous're an X1D system owner, be happy to know that you lot'll go gorgeous photos with this large piece of glass.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/cameras/35957/hasselblad-xcd-1980

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