New X1D system arrived

[Michael H. Cothran]

I finally received my X1D system from B&H on April 5th. Body, all 3 current lenses, RRS "L" bracket (which is wonderful for my Arca Swiss tripod mounting), and a slew of new SD cards (since all my current cards are CF). On back order yet are two extra batteries plus the XH lens adapter, solely for use with my HC 300 lens, which is all I plan to keep from the H system.

Sadly, I did have to send back the 45mm lens, as it was simply too tough mounting & dismounting. My 30 & 90 attach as should be expected, with a little snugness due to the weather sealing. But the 45 took every bit of hand strength I could muster to twist it on & off. The thought entered my mind that if a woman had purchased this particular lens, she would not have had the strength. Anyway, it's on its way back to B&H, who will replace it for me.

I am truly loving just about everything about this system. In general, the smaller, lighter weight body & lenses are a big welcome to me. And it also opens up a whole new world of "hand holding" for me. Something I rarely ever experienced with my H4D, or even my V bodies.
I look forward to carrying it with my Black Rapid strap, and playing "tourist." Going to go for a walk this afternoon at a nearby park to try it out.

The bulk of my photography is landscape and studio, which is mostly tripod mounted, and exposures determined with a hand meter. I will still do the same with the X1D. I am loving the focusing systems also. Having the choice of AF points is new to me, and I plan to exploit them to the fullest. But for most landscape and studio work, I rely on manual focus. And the new Focus Peaking is just the thing I need here. Wow, is it ever impressive. To me, this camera is like staying in a 5 star hotel!

[NickT]

About time! looking forward to seeing results, please post to the gallery and link us here.

[SrMi]

Congratulations on your new camera! I have 90mm and 45mm and both are a little hard to mount or remove, I assume that the weather sealing is quite good then :-). Find the lenses a little hard to grip when turning, but that is nitpicking. Love the Hasselblad's way to put the red alignment dot on top of the camera, so it is easily visible when mounting lenses. Used to carry my cameras on Blackrapid straps, but have switched to QD straps since they are much faster to attach and remove (e.g., when storing in a bag or when mounting on a tripod).

[Ario]

Also my 45 was very tough to mont and unmount at the beginning, now it is ok.

[Michael H. Cothran]

Nick - Thanks. I am very pleased with the X1D. I don't have any photo trips planned for the near future, but I'm hoping to soon.

SrMi/Ario - I too found all the lenses hard to grip when attaching and dismounting. In fact, I find it necessary to remove the lens hood when mounting, in order to get a better grip on the lenses. Hopefully I'll get my new 45 lens after B&H re-opens on April 18. It can't be any tighter than the original, but hopefully it will be about the same as my 30 & 90 in mounting.

FWIW - I've got the camera now configured to my liking, and ready to go. Got it set up in LR5 with my color checker passport for custom camera profiles. Sadly, LR5 does not recognize the XCD lenses, but I can substitute the appropriate HC lens instead. I've got my Sekonic L-758DR now profiled to the X1D, so it knows exactly where my clipping points are on the camera. BTW - This is done thru Sekonic's DTS software. The hand meter has little tic marks on its display which now indicates the X1D's clipping points.

FYI/IMO - No camera brands seem to be as good as their manufacturers' dynamic range claims are, including Hasselblad. After running my camera thru the DTS software with test images, here's my results -
I set my dynamic range from 10-250 (total range is 0-255), leaving me a bit of wiggle room at either end. My shadow range is -4.8 stops, and my highlight range is +3.6 stops, yielding a total dynamic range of 8.4 stops. Being an advocate of ETTR, I set my middle gray to 128, which is a bit higher than the software's default 118. Which explains why my highlight range is less than my shadow range.

I put little yellow Avery dots on the top of each of my lenses, at the point of mounting, where the factory red dot is. The yellow dots are much easier to find & see than the tiny little red dot on the lens mount - especially when it's dark. Makes mounting the lenses much faster.
The RRS L bracket fits beautifully, and aids in switching from H to V on the tripod. It also gives the camera a bit more in length when handholding, which is perfect for my little finger to rest on.
I've configured my Custom settings for faster work in the field. C1 is full manual with Focus Peaking. C2 is Aperture Priority, AF. C3 is fully automatic. Works for me. All @ ISO 100.

Looking forward to a long lasting relationship with the X1D.

[hcubell]

I put little yellow Avery dots on the top of each of my lenses, at the point of mounting, where the factory red dot is. The yellow dots are much easier to find & see than the tiny little red dot on the lens mount - especially when it's dark. Makes mounting the lenses much faster.

Thanks. Nice suggestion.