At what point should I give up?

[wayne1]

I purchased an X1D ii system in early may (body, 3 lenses, cable release, dual charger). I love the ergonomics of this camera...wonderful! Unfortunately, the autofocus had some issue which I described in an earlier thread. The problem was intermittent so one might consider the camera useable. However, at this price I wanted it to be perfect, so I sent it in for a refund (which I have not received yet) and ordered a second body.  As it turns out, I probably should have kept it and lived with the intermittent problem.

A few days later I received my new body with great excitement. To my dismay, this body was far, far worse than the one I returned!! Now I get repeated error messages "no lense detected", "lens issue please reconnect the lens", "failed to access storage, please restart". I could get maybe 10-15 shots in some cases before it started all over again. Problems occured with all 3 lenses. Firmware is up to date on lenses and body. The contacts between the body and lens looked clean, but just in case I treated them with Deoxit gold...no help.

So what to do? I love the system so much that I decided to return this body for a refund and order a third! I must be nuts. So far I have paid for 3 bodies (I have not yet received the refunds for the first two) and have no useable system. My 30 day exchange period is about to expire at least on the lenses. If this 3rd try does not yield success I am not sure what to do. At least I may have some nice lenses. BTW, I am assuming that the lenses are in fact OK. Are there any issues with the lenses?
So I am just hoping the third try is the charm, and I get my  approx $11,000 refund for the first two bodies and the lenses are good.

Don't tell me that there is a Fuji in my future! It is not that I think Fuji is bad, just that this system is just so perfect for me, if it only worked!

[brian]

This is not good news - Hasselblad have to get their act together.

I would call a senior manager at Hasselblad and complain.

[FirstLights]

Is this real or some Fuji (as it is explicitly mentioned!) propaganda?
Caution folks!

[wayne1]

NO, not propaganda! I assure you this is my real experience!

Wayne

[wayne1]

Contacting someone at Hasselblad is up next. Does anyone have a suggestion for a name to contact?

I actually considered sending the last one to Hasselblad for "repair", but then sending a spanking new camera for repair was even crazier than me trying for a third round.

Wayne

[pss]

I don't understand the vendor part? if I buy something that does not work, I send it back and get a refund. if I think something needs to be fixed I talk to hasselblad. the vendor can't help, they should offer a full refund within a certain time frame.
I have had similar issues with my 907, sent it in to hasselblad, part exchanged, problem solved.
a friend had a similar issue with his X1DII, turns out he was using cards (sony tough G) that are not on the list of approved cards. I feel partly responsible for that because I recommended those cards to him because they worked just fine in my X1DII (and 907). so I would definitely start there.
the GFX is a great system, the 50 has the same sensor, isn't much faster and IMO provides slightly worse files, and worse color. too close to my Sonys for my taste to put up with the overall lag.
the gfx100 is great, I have said (since it was announced) that I don't want 100mpix files, now forums are full of people complaining that the huge file sizes are slowing down their workflow, so people are shooting compressed which completely negates the whole point of top of the line IQ IMO.
and (according to DPR "fuji fan" forum) 10% of owners have issues with stuck/broken shutter.
none of this means one system is better then the other, they all have pros and cons. I have read posts where people complain about problems with their Hasselblads and consider buying Leicas instead, which makes no sense to me because they are completely different cameras (other then a certain "bling" factor).
if you like the hasselblad files, there are pretty straightforward ways to make sure your cameras will work the way they are supposed to.
if you want a different system, there are plenty great ones and nowadays you almost can't buy a bad camera anymore (even canon has a competitive body again after a few years off). and with all these systems you might run into a similar problem (in one way or another) 

[wayne1]

pss

So far I sent the defective cameras (2 so far) back to the vendor who immediately honored their 30 day exchange period. Because of my impatience and wanting the camera right away, I opted for a refund rather than exchange, because the exchange process is very slow (weeks rather than days). Then I ordered a new camera, which I can receive in maybe 3 days.

The bottom line is that I really want this camera system. I also do not want 100 mpx; I think 50 is the sweet spot.  I do not want the ergonomics of the Fuji. If you look at the reviews of the X1d ii from actual buyers on B&H photo, they are all 5 star. This implies that there are good bodies to be had, and I must have had super bad luck so far and eventually I will get a good one.

Wayne

[pss]

I love the system as well and agree with 50mpix hitting the sweet spot.
make sure you try the camera with cards listed in the latest manual. I know that other people have had no problems using all kinds of cards, some bodies might just be more temperamental.
I would do the same thing, send it back, get the refund, re-order.
I have had to send my 907 to hasselblad NJ, turnaround time is a few days, their free shipping is ground only, I use my own shipping, I am impatient.
the X systems has (like all other systems) flaws and is not perfect, it is for me the best system out there right now but regardless it should work without flaws.
I actually bought my X1DII as a dealer demo and never had any issues with it. I bought the 907 new and it eventually had to go in. most of my lenses were bought new, some as dealer demos (with the X1DII) no issues at all with any of the lenses.

[wayne1]

Thanks PSS!

The user guide says "UHS-II, 260 MB/s or faster". I was using Lexar 64GB Professional UHS-II SDXC, 300 MB/s. I have read that Lexar may not be the best choice, so I will now use SanDisk 64 GB UHS-II.

I can understand that the card might be responsible for"failed to access storage" error that I received a few times, but do you think the card could have anything to do with "no lens detected" or "lens issue: please reconnect lens" ?  I am willing to believe anything at this point, so I will use the SanDisk when I get my new (3rd!) body sometime at the end of the week.

Wayne

[pss]

I honestly don't know. it seems the "lens not attached" errors would not be related to cards, I agree.
the cards have to be vII, 250mb but it seems the Sony G tough card which fulfill the requirements and are by all accounts excellent cards, might create problems. afaik sandisk should be safe.
btw: hasselblad USA is great with tech support, email or phone. I would contact them regardless and explain your situation. the bodies you sent back to BH will have to come their way anyway. or we hope they do and do not just get passed on to the next customer. 

[wayne1]

PSS

I appreciate the advice, and I will do so Tomorrow morning!

B&H tells me they send the returns to Hasselblad for refurbishing and resale as refurbished at a slightly lower price.
I really think that Hasselblad may not feel there is a problem with my first return since it was intermittent and not immediately apparent unless you spend some time with the camera. For me the trouble would always appear when I really needed the shot!  They will have no trouble detecting problems with return #2.

Wayne

[mrkjhn]

Jeez..... I just purchased a "used" x1d II, though the camera shows no sign of use and all the packaging was still intact, ie.. plastic still on the charger, cable wrapped in it's package as well as the strap.  I'll let you know how I get along with it (ha!) though having problems with incorrect battery status on the camera.

[hcubell]

I know it's easy for to say that you should hang in there and persevere after you received two new defective bodies, but if you love using the camera and appreciate the ineffable color and tonality of the Hasselblad files, you should know that your experiences are not universal by any means. My experiences have been totally different. My X1DII has performed flawlessly, except for a problem with the LCD caused by using the camera in several snowstorms without taking steps to protect the camera. I pushed the envelope too far. I now understand that the body is weather resistant, not weatherproof.
BTW, I also use a 64GB Sony G Tough Card without problems, but others have had issues.

[wayne1]

mrkjhn

You know, maybe purchasing a "refurbished" or used body may not be such a bad idea, particularly if Hasselblad has worked on it. It may solve the problems of getting a new non functional one! Please let us know how it turns out!

hcubell

Thanks for encouragement. I do like this well enough to stick it out to get a good one. I know it is possible and I will keep at it. Getting feedback from other users really helps the morale issue here! My new 3rd body arrives on Thursday and I will report on the result! If there are problems, I will contact Hasselblad to discuss how to proceed.

Wayne

[wayne1]

I just cannot imagine what is the problem. Every Canon I have worked flawlessly out of the box. One might think maybe Chinese electronics in the Hasselblad? I have a DJI Mavic 2 pro (Hasselblad lens) drone that is absolutely amazing. These guys (DJI) know how to do really sophisticated electronics, so I would not think that they would import second rate electronics to Hasselblad. So what is the issue? How hard can it be given the state of the art?

Wayne