difference between h4d-50 and an upgrade h3d-50 to h4d-50

[msadat]

hi you all and TIA, i am looking to buy an upgraded h3d-50 to h4d-50 body, is there an difference in the sensor of a new one  (h4d-50) and the upgraded oen

[ACorrodi]

None. Depending on some factors (I am being told) you either get a completely new kit (which I did) or only the body is replaced.
Be careful, though.
I have a long list of issues with my H4D50 which i received this May. The symptoms are mostly a frozen camera, either body or back or both
- when certain of my battery grips go below 30% (and I reset them ...)
- when the dimmer of the viewfinder display gets confused (was an issue with H2 already I am being told)
- when it is too cold or too warm ... ;-)
- after lens changes (contacts are squeeky clean)
- FireWire port was dead on arrival

I desperately hope for a good firmware upgrade. None of my Leicas or D3X ever show any of this sort of amateur camare quality trouble

A

[davidthescot]

Hi

I asked the same question when buying and H3D-II-50 last week.

The upgrade (priced at around £1750 in the UK) is for the body only.  You return the complete system to Hasselblad and they will then replace it with an H4 body and calibrate it to the 50MP back from the H3D.  Differences?  Principally the better screen on the back and not much else.  I decided that as I do not need True Focus particularly I would stick with the H3D-50 configuration.  Some lucky people may have just got a brand new H4D-50 but I wouldn't count on it.

Best wishes

David

[msadat]

thanks guys, is anybody else experiencing  problems with the h4d and also do you (ACorrodi ) consider your problem a show stopper! r these known by the company and a firmware would fix these issues!

None. Depending on some factors (I am being told) you either get a completely new kit (which I did) or only the body is replaced.
Be careful, though.
I have a long list of issues with my H4D50 which i received this May. The symptoms are mostly a frozen camera, either body or back or both
- when certain of my battery grips go below 30% (and I reset them ...)
- when the dimmer of the viewfinder display gets confused (was an issue with H2 already I am being told)
- when it is too cold or too warm ... ;-)
- after lens changes (contacts are squeeky clean)
- FireWire port was dead on arrival

I desperately hope for a good firmware upgrade. None of my Leicas or D3X ever show any of this sort of amateur camare quality trouble

A

[ACorrodi]

you bet they are known to the company - this was on the heels of my H3DII-50 with a back that wouldn't come out of firmware boot mode ... and nobody knew what to do ...

I hear a lot of noise about Hassi quality. Most people seem to be content with having to "boot" their system every 100 shots or so.
I am priviledged to be able to afford many kits and I shoot with Leica (M9s), Nikon D3X and PhaseOne (back on H1).
No other system currently has so many glitches. Anybody ever having a software crash on Nikon?

Same for Phocus which is simply a waste of resources as a package. (check out my friend www.diglloyd.com on H4 - he disliked the S2 much for the same reasons I did and I urged Hasselblad USA to loan him an H4 for comparison, which they did, thanks)
It is fine now that I have gotten the latest MacPro with sensless amount of power and the Radeon 58870 - but in my previous MacPro it would take the system down by its rotten kernel extensions and it would misbehave with the GPU which you cannot influence (like you can in PS).

My take as a business man (I am a banker) and the opinion of my photographer pro friends - unless Hasselblad gets the quality right soon - and the segmentation/value proposition too - there is trouble ahead.

Alfred


PS: Speaking of value proposition - anybody feel capable of truly utilizing 80MP backs? I mean, does anybody have a system calibrated well enough to get the benefit? How do you do that? Tolerance between all components' alignement must be below 5 microns or so

[Greg]

Currently I have an H4D60 and an H3D22.  I am sitting here scratching my head about your complaints about build quality.  My Macbook Pro is a 2007 model, and the only problem with it is the time it takes to export files.  You will get no complaints from me about any problems I have had with Hasselblad equipment, because there have been few.  Any complicated equipment will display issues which I feel are rare, but when it affects you I know it is major.  With the ability to complain on the internet, and its wide audience, those rare problems seem to be magnified when highlighted by those affected.  And people with problems are far more likely to post on the internet than those of us who are satisfied. 

Greg

[davidthescot]

Hi Alfred

I wish to concur with everything that the others have said.  I am on my 7th Hasselblad and have had only one problem in 26 years (maybe I am lucky) but I can honestly say that I have nothing but praise for the company and its products.  Quality and reliability in my view are awesome and support from the company itself is impressive.  I cannot speak for any othe dealers other than the one in London (The Pro Centre) which is a Hasselblad subsidiary and they too are first class.

I think you need to do as another subscriber has suggested and talk directly to David Grover about your problems.  When the firewire connection on my back went down (my only problem) I was sent a loan camera within 24 hours - service could not have been better.

David

[ACorrodi]

Thanks all - sorry to say but I am definitely not the only one with issues, far from it.

Hasselblad is an expensive kit, always been. Yes, I have been shooting with it for 25 years, too. I also collect them. Not until the H series it was that the trouble really started. I also run British sports cars from the 60s ... so I know what trouble means and consider myself almost bullet proof.

Going to Hasselblad themselves, yes, good idea, except that the dealer here in Switzerland is (Light & Byte super guys!) more knowledgable and helps me straight away with a replacement, doesn't ask me if I have switched the thing on and off like a parrot from a Bangalore helpline, doesn't engage me in miles long email conversations and doesn't try to deliberately misunderstand me. One exception, the guys from Hasselblad USA, super dudes! Problem is, I am only there a few times a year.

It's quite simple. They don't have the quality control right, the product has been announced and delivered prematurely, the firmware stinks and they must have wasted lots of money building the 60' back (because P1 has it? follow the blog here on delivery) rather then making their cameras uselful to a wider audience, like with weather sealing, second in camera shutter, better power supply, develop the lenses, auto ISO ... just copy the D3 menu

My guess is the the Pentax 645D or any concept like it will seriously hurt both P1 and Hasselblad.

Times change.

Fast

All the Pros out there: which client pays for the right kind of grey of the camera body rather then final result?

A

[ACorrodi]

Hi Derek

Yes, sure did. As said, the guys in the US and my local distributor here (light & byte) are great.
I exchanged the H3DII for the H4D straight away as I was so fed up with waiting and using up a rental body from the dealer (very kind of them).
The H4D50 arrived with all those freezing issues and a dead fire wire port. I got the FW fixed but now it freezes even more.
Raw data taken pre some freezes were sent to Hasselblad ... nothing.

So I continue to sometimes swap power grips and boot the thing for minutes. The other day, me waiting forever for that heron that steals fish from a local fisherman, 6 in the morning or so, batteries charged up ... the heron finally glides in, beautiful light ... guess what!!??
The lake almost got some expensive debris thrown into it! Forget it, it is D3X from now on when I really need it.

I suspect it is a power supply problem

A