Hasselblad X1D 4116 Edition and V1D Prototype

Hasselblad announced the X1D ‘4116 edition’ in black, together with an innovative concept study, the V1D ‘4116 edition’. We spoke to Perry Oosting, Hasselblad CEO about the new 4116 edition cameras, including the X1D, V1D concept, and Hasselblad True Zoom.

The new 100-megapixel V1D concept camera, shown above, is a square cube concept designed to be a modern V camera, that is modular and portable with interchangeable parts such as the grip, screen, and viewfinder. However, Hasselblad has no plan to produce the camera at the moment and is interested in getting feedback from customers. Hasselblad is celebrating their 75th birthday, and when designing the V1D with a 100-megapixel medium format sensor, the 1:1 square crop ratio produces 75-megapixel images. As a mirrorless camera, the V1D would use XCD lenses. Additional images can be found here.

Commenting on the recently announced Fujifilm GFX medium format camera, Perry Oosting, of Hasselblad said that there is a size benefit to the X1D, as the lenses have the shutter built-in to them, rather than having the shutter in the camera. He sees the introduction as good for the market, as it gets more people interested in medium format cameras, and the expected price of the Fujifilm is likely to be similar. 

Hasselblad has just announced the new XCD 30mm f/3.5 lens for the XCD system, shown above, the third lens in the lineup. Hasselblad has a roadmap of 5 additional XCD lenses for the X1D. The H adapter is also now available for the X1D, so you can use any Hasselblad H lens on the camera.

Hasselblad sold more X1D cameras in 10 days, than they expected to sell in a year.

We also talked about the new Hasselblad True Zoom attachment for Moto X smartphones, designed to resolve two of the major issues with smartphone cameras: the lack of optical zoom, and the lack of adequate lighting in low-light conditions, as the Hasselblad True Zoom adds a 10x optical zoom lens, and a true Xenon flash. The camera is also easy to add to the smartphone, without the need to setup a Wi-Fi connection, like some other cameras, such as the Sony Cyber-shot QX10.

The Hasselblad True Zoom is surprisingly thin, as it doesn't need to use its own screen and uses the battery of the smartphone to power it. The Moto X smartphone is extremely thin so carrying both shouldn't be a problem, and the Hasselblad True Zoom gives you the ability to share photos straight away. The True Zoom also shoots raw images, and whilst Hasselblad has no plans to introduce a second model, if the camera is popular and successful then it's possible that Hasselblad would consider another.

Hasselblad X1D Photos of Equipment