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101.90 Megapixels	Hasselblad XCD	Medium format size sensor

Hasselblad X2D 100C Hands-on Review

The ultimate imaging machine in the right situation

by Jeremy Gray | Posted 11/16/2022

Editor's Note: RAW image files have now been added to the X2D 100C Gallery.

I've been fully immersed in the Fujifilm GFX medium-format system since its release in early 2017. I've reviewed every GFX camera and nearly every Fujinon GF lens. The system has been extremely impressive and has made medium-format photography more affordable and more practical than ever. However, the GFX 50S was not the first mirrorless medium-format camera. That honor goes to Hasselblad's X1D 50C launched in mid-2016.

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F11, 6.7s, ISO 64. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

The Hasselblad X1D 50C was built around the same 51.4-megapixel sensor as the GFX system – and the earlier DSLR-style Pentax 645Z. However, Hasselblad's approach to a mirrorless medium-format camera system was slightly different from Pentax or Fujifilm. Hasselblad went all in on style, a touchscreen user interface, and the company's legendary leaf shutter. In our X1D 50C Review, Jaron Schneider wrote, "It feels good to use, and it rewards a skilled and patient hand. It's not a do-it-all camera, and it wasn't meant to be. It's exactly what medium format has been good at for decades, but in a body that's easier to maneuver and take with you."

Some of that rings familiar to me as an experienced GFX user, but Jaron's remarks on the camera's svelte appearance and modern interface made me a bit green with envy. Finally, more than five years later, I've gotten my hands on a Hasselblad camera, the brand-new, 100-megapixel X2D 100C. Was it worth the wait?

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F11, 6.3s, ISO 64. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

Hasselblad X2D 100C key features and specifications

• Medium-format mirrorless camera
• Large format 100-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor (43.8 x 32.9mm)
• Up to 15 stops of dynamic range
• Native ISO range of 64 to 25,600
• 294 phase-detection autofocus zones
• 5-axis 7-stop in-body image stabilization
• Built-in 1TB SSD and CFexpress Type B slot
• 5.76M dot OLED EVF
• High-resolution, 3.6-inch tilting touchscreen with 2.36M dots
• Touchscreen user interface with swipe and pinch controls
• 0.8-inch top display
• Built-in Wi-Fi
• $8,200 body only

Hasselblad XCD 38mm F2.5 V lens (30mm equiv.) at F11, 16s, ISO 64. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

Camera body and design: Hasselblad X2D 100C is a work of art with a few usability drawbacks

Before diving into what I like and dislike about using the Hasselblad X2D 100C, I want to immediately point out that the camera is gorgeous. It's a beautiful camera. It has excellent lines and looks both modern and classic. It's also a sleek darker gray color, and Hasselblad has revised the vibrant orange shutter release.

The Hasselblad X2D 100C is a very sleek camera. The angled front grip is among the most comfortable I've ever used.

Importantly, the X2D 100C feels as good as it looks. The camera sits very nicely in the hand. Further, its dials and buttons feel excellent and responsive. The camera has a weighty feel and is fairly heavy at 895 grams (31.6 oz.). It's about the same weight as the Fujifilm GFX 100S, although the X2D 100C feels more robust, thanks partly to its extensive use of metal. In fact, the X2D 100C's body shell is milled from a single block of aluminum alloy.

The X2D 100C is a slightly different size than its predecessors. The X2D 100C is 149mm (5.85 in.) wide, 106mm (4.17 in.) tall and its depth is 75mm ( 2.93 in.). The X2D 100C is a bit taller and thicker. It would only be obvious when viewing the cameras side-by-side.

There are other changes. The X2D 100C adds a top display in place of a traditional mode dial. You must now press a new "mode" button while rotating a command dial. It's simple and works well.

The top of the X2D 100C is quite different from the X1D series. The X2D 100C incorporates a top information display (which is full color, by the way), and ditches a traditional mode dial.

The rear display now tilts, which is nice. However, the tilting mechanism is limited to a maximum tilt angle of 70 degrees. There's a soft stop at 40 degrees. That's less tilt than I'd like. Further, the EVF partially blocks the display when tilted, which is a much more annoying issue.

The X2D 100C's rear display tilts, which is a welcome improvement. However, it only tilts up to 70 degrees. Further, the top of the display is obscured by the EVF.

On the plus side, the display is fantastic. The touchscreen is huge (3.6-inch) and high-resolution (2.36M dots). It's bright, vibrant and sharp. The touchscreen is also responsive, which is good news considering that the X2D 100C relies heavily upon its touchscreen user interface. The UI is inspired by smartphones, with large tiles that you tap, swipe and hold to access and change settings.

The display is large (3.6 inches diagonally) and the EVF is excellent. The EVF is not only high-res, it's also large with 1.0x magnification.

The heavy emphasis on touch is fine, although I do wish the camera had a more traditional joystick or directional buttons. While menu navigation with the touchscreen is mostly a positive experience, using the touchscreen to move the focus point could be better. It can feel like I have to input multiple times during live view. You can also move the focus point using the command dials, but it's cumbersome at best. Also, I wear gloves when shooting a lot since I often shoot early in the morning and live in the northeast. The X2D 100C doesn't work well with gloves. It also doesn't work well when raindrops are on the rear display. These are situations when physical, tactile controls would go a long way.

Another improvement comes by way of a new electronic viewfinder. The EVF is a 5.76M dot OLED with a whopping 1x magnification. It's huge. It's also extremely sharp and clear, with great colors and a serviceable 60 frames per second refresh rate. It's a fantastic EVF, and among the best I've ever used. It also features electronic diopter adjustment, which is like a fun little in-camera vision test. I wonder why Hasselblad didn't stick with the tried-and-true mechanical diopter, but hey, the electronic one is fun and works well, so who am I to complain?

While I'm not a huge fan of the heavy – and nearly exclusive – reliance on the touchscreen for some tasks, the overall user experience is quite good. The camera's displays, especially the EVF, are immensely impressive. Further, the camera itself is a work of art. It's the most stylish camera I've ever used.

Image quality: 100-megapixel medium-format image sensor delivers fantastic imaging performance

While the X2D 100C's design is beautiful, the star of the show is on the inside, the 100-megapixel backside-illuminated image sensor. By the way, as an aside, every bit of marketing material says it's a 100MP camera, but the image size (11,656 x 8,742 pixels) is technically 101.9MP.

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F11, 1.5s, ISO 64. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

It's the same image sensor as the Fujifilm GFX 100(S), although Fuji's cameras deliver a 101.76MP image. The difference is negligible. However, that isn't to say that the cameras will produce identical-looking images. Hasselblad, like Fujifilm, performs its own tuning on the sensor. Of course, lenses also impact resolving performance.

While we don't perform in-house dynamic range testing, we trust the work at Photons to Photos. If you compare the X2D 100C against the GFX 100S there, you'll see that maximum dynamic range peaks at nearly the same level for each camera at base ISO, about 12.3 stops. Interestingly, Hasselblad has made ISO 64 the X2D 100C's base ISO, whereas the GFX 100(S)'s base ISO is 100. I don't have a preference, although I'll say that given that the leaf shutter is slower than a focal plane shutter, a lower ISO is helpful in bright conditions.

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F4, 1s, ISO 64. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

In real-world use, the X2D 100C delivers outstanding dynamic range. Not only are images straight from the camera rich in tonality from shadows to highlights, but the raw files are also extremely flexible during post-processing. I exclusively used Hasselblad's free Phocus software to process the raw files and create JPEG conversions (the camera can shoot JPEG, but I opted to make JPEG exports). While I'm not the biggest fan of Phocus, it offers a nice slate of tools and helps bring out the best in the X2D 100C files.

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F16, 0.5s, ISO 64. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

I'm especially impressed by Hasselblad's color science. The X2D 100C handles many colors very well, especially green, blue, red and orange. Red and orange are often tricky colors, with many cameras missing the mark with saturation. The X2D 100C did a nice job of retaining a very natural appearance to its colors. Like the X1D II 50C, the X2D 100C captures full 16-bit color information.

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F11, 7.1s, ISO 64. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

Unsurprisingly, the 101-megapixel X2D 100C also captures extremely sharp images, especially at low ISOs. You cannot get detail like this from a full-frame camera. Now, that's not to say that high-res full-frame cameras capture soft images – they don't – but they can't hold a candle to the larger, higher-megapixel sensor in the X2D 100C.

You might expect that the tradeoff here is that the X2D 100C excels at low ISO settings but struggles at higher ISOs. However, that's not true. The sensor does extremely well at ISOs like 1600, 3200 and even 6400. You can comfortably shoot the camera at even higher ISO settings if you don't mind grain. The camera's ISO range tops out at ISO 25,600. While you get some serious grain at high ISO speeds, the grain is fine, and the camera does a good job controlling distracting color noise.

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F4, 1/80s, ISO 3200. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

The Hasselblad X2D 100C delivers outstanding image quality. Among the camera's many strengths, imaging performance is its best. There's nothing negative to say about image quality at all.

Autofocus and performance: Solid all-around performance, but speed is occasionally a limiting factor

When it comes to autofocus, the situation is mixed. On the one hand, the new image sensor includes phase-detection autofocus pixels, something missing from the 50MP sensor in the Hasselblad X1D 50C and X1D II 50C. Those two older cameras used contrast-detect autofocus, which, by all accounts, resulted in sluggish autofocus performance.

With PDAF, the X2D 100C delivers faster, improved autofocus. However, faster doesn't equate to fast. The camera's AF isn't especially swift. It is perfectly suitable for still subjects and can even handle slight movement, but it's not equipped for action. The X2D 100C, like its predecessors, lacks continuous autofocus altogether.

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F2.5, 1/80s, ISO 200. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

Beyond fairly slow autofocus speed, the autofocus system itself lacks sophistication. You can use it with a single point, and that's it. There's not a full-area autofocus system. That's not a huge deal, given the camera's other strengths and weaknesses. You probably want to be more precise with focus anyways. However, the lack of any face-detect and eye-detect autofocus is disappointing. The camera's image quality lends itself so well to portraiture that it'd be nice to have eye-detect AF.

On the plus side, the camera's 294 PDAF zones cover 97% of the image area, which is fantastic. It's straightforward to focus on any subject, no matter its location within the frame. Returning briefly to speed. Hasselblad claims that autofocus is 3x faster, although that comes with the slight caveat that the performance improvement was measured using a new V series lens. More on that later.

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F13, 20s, ISO 64. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

Moving to performance, the X2D 100C can shoot continuously at 3.3 fps. That's great. However, for most users, the more important performance metric is how the camera feels in use. The original X1D 50C was frequently criticized for slow startup time and sluggish overall operation. The X2D 100C starts up quickly and feels very responsive.

Another important performance feature is the camera's in-body image stabilization. The five-axis IBIS system promises up to seven stops of shake correction. In use, it's fantastic. I was able to shoot handheld at fairly slow shutter speeds very comfortably.

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F8, 1/50s, ISO 400. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

In the field with two of Hasselblad's new V series XCD lenses

Alongside the X2D 100C, I also used two of Hasselblad's three new V Series XCD lenses. I used the XCD 2,5/38V and the XCD 2,5/55V. In case it's not obvious, they're 38mm F2.5 and 55mm F2.5 lenses, which equate to roughly 30mm and 44mm primes in full-frame camera terms, thanks to the large sensor's 0.8x crop factor.

The XCD 55mm F2.5 V and XCD 38mm F2.5 V lenses are excellent. They have a retro style with a useful focus ring. As for optics, they're very impressive.

These lenses employ a more retro style and are surprisingly compact. They look and feel fantastic. In a very unusual and welcome move, the lenses are not focus by wire, instead relying on mechanically-linked focus rings with engraved distance scales. The lenses use a focus clutch mechanism, so you can easily switch between autofocus and manual focus by moving the focus ring back and forth, as you see with many Olympus/OM System lenses. The manual focus experience with the X2D 100C and these lenses is superb, thanks partly to the excellent focus rings and the X2D 100C's very effective punch-in focus. You can quickly zoom in and see a 100% view of the image. On the EVF and display, this feature delivers a very crisp image, which makes dialing in focus a breeze. That said, there's no focus peaking. I didn't miss peaking since I found it so easy to dial in focus using the EVF and rear display visually. However, the lack of focus peaking is still notable.

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F2.5, 1/75s, ISO 800. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

I'm not reviewing the two XCD lenses I used, but suffice it to say, they're fantastic across the board. The build quality and usability are top-notch. The optical quality is also outstanding. The lenses are extremely sharp, even when shooting wide open and exhibit excellent control over aberrations. There's a bit of a vignette with each at F2.5, but it's easily corrected. The lenses produce great bokeh, too.

The XCD series now includes 13 lenses in total, although the trio of new V Series lenses not only employ a new design and overall style, they include improved autofocus performance and faster leaf shutters that allow for shutter speeds up to 1/4000s, twice as fast as prior XCD lenses.

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F2.8, 1/80s, ISO 400. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

The lenses are costly. The two lenses I used are each $3,699, which is a lot of money when considering wide-angle and standard primes. That said, you get a lot of performance for the price.

Hasselblad X2D 100C Hands-on Review Summary

An excellent camera with a few drawbacks

What I like most about the Hasselblad X2D 100C:

• Well-designed, comfortable camera body
• Great front grip
• Stylish
• Extremely large, sharp EVF
• Large touchscreen
• Good menu and UI
• Impressive five-axis in-body image stabilization
• Built-in 1TB SSD is fast and convenient
• Incredible sharpness, dynamic range and color
• Leaf shutter has many useful applications
• Excellent XCD lenses

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F13, 1s, ISO 800. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

What I like less:

• While the autofocus is improved, it's still sluggish
• Pretty expensive
• I like that the screen tilts, but it doesn't tilt enough and it's partially covered by the EVF in use

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F5.6, 1/80s, ISO 800. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

What I dislike:

• No autofocus joystick or directional buttons
• No face-detect or eye-detect
• Lack of sophisticated AF features and customization

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F13, 36s, ISO 64. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

Missing features that may disappoint some users but not the target audience:

• No video
• No continuous autofocus

At its best, the Hasselblad X2D 100C is fantastic. At the camera's worst, its shortcomings are equally puzzling and frustrating. How often the X2D 100C veers from brilliance to blunder depends heavily upon the photographer holding the camera. I'm not saying that when the X2D 100C comes up short that it's solely because of user error, but rather, a misunderstanding. The X2D 100C is the camera it is. Period. It's inflexible. You can't work against it but must instead work with it.

Hasselblad XCD 55mm F2.5 V lens (43mm equiv.) at F16, 1/11s, ISO 1600. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

When you work with the X2D 100C and achieve harmony, the experience is sublime and among the best. The image sensor is fantastic, Hasselblad's lenses are amazing, and the camera feels excellent to use. Capturing images feels satisfying, and the images themselves are sharp and rich in tonality and depth.

But you must stay in your lane. The camera isn't built for action. If you try to drag it along with you or urge it to go faster, it doesn't reluctantly follow in submission – it bucks. With the Hasselblad X2D 100C, you go somewhere with the camera's full cooperation or go nowhere at all.

Hasselblad XCD 38mm F2.5 V lens (30mm equiv.) at F11, 1s, ISO 64. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Hasselblad Phocus. Click for the full-size image.

Every camera has its strengths and weaknesses and exhibits limitations. However, rarely are the highs and lows felt as acutely as with the X2D 100C. From a pure image quality perspective, very few cameras come close to the Hasselblad X2D 100C, and no full-frame camera matches its imaging performance. If that's the ultimate goal, and you've got the budget for it, the Hasselblad X2D 100C and the XCD lenses are excellent choices.

 

• • •

 

Hasselblad X2D 100C Preview

(From manufacturer's press release)

HASSELBLAD LAUNCHES NEW FLAGSHIP CAMERA AND THREE ALL-NEW LENSES

Introducing the X2D 100C, XCD 38V, XCD 55V and XCD 90V

After the groundbreaking success of the X1D-50c and its second iteration, the X1D II 50C, Hasselblad unveils the powerful X2D 100C, along with three new lenses to the XCD family, the XCD 2,5/38V, XCD 2,5/55V, and the XCD 2,5/90V, providing the ultimate experience for content creators.

Hasselblad X2D 100C - Inspiration in Every Detail

Hasselblad’s next-generation mirrorless medium format digital camera, the X2D 100C, has been engineered to bring substantial technological enhancements to image quality, camera handling, and system responsiveness. Designed in a new dark grey tone body of machined aluminium, the X2D 100C houses a 100-megapixel back-side illuminated (BSI) (43.8 × 32.9 mm) CMOS sensor, delivering up to 15 stops of dynamic range with a 16-bit colour depth. The X2D 100C enables a creative experience unimaginable in the past. It empowers content creators to capture the intricacies of an image’s highlights and shadows, utilising the Hasselblad Natural Colour Solution (HNCS). Working alongside the new 5-axis, 7-stop in-body image stabilisation system (IBIS), handheld image capture is possible in the widest range of conditions. Hasselblad independently developed its own IBIS for the X2D 100C in order to meet the stringent requirements for stabilising a 100MP sensor. Keeping size and weight in mind for easy portability, the X2D 100C is the most compact medium format IBIS solution on the market.1

With 294 Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF) zones, the system ensures the subject is rapidly located and brought into focus. The X2D 100C captures files in 3FR RAW and full-size JPEG, and the cutting-edge, built-in 1TB SSD storage and CFexpress Type B card support delivers a high capture rate for fast-moving subjects.

The X2D 100C features an 0.5-inch OLED Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) with 5.76-million dots, a high magnification of 1.00x with a refresh rate of 60fps, which supports electric refractive error correction to ensure the whole display is sharp and bright, from corner to corner.2 A 1.08-inch colour top display and a 2.36MP, 3.6-inch tilting, touch-capable rear display delivers access to all of these new imaging technologies whilst keeping the intuitive Hasselblad User Interface (HUI) and Scandinavian style of the X System. The battery has a CIPA rating of 420 shots and supports PD 3.0 fast charging.3 Additionally, the X2D 100C is compatible with Phocus, Hasselblad’s free image processing software.

“When developing the X2D 100C, our goal was the same as always, just as Victor Hasselblad himself made decades ago: build a better camera,” said Bronius Rudnickas, Hasselblad Marketing Manager. “This commitment drives us to explore the possibility to improve its performance from all aspects.”

The X2D 100C has an MSRP of EUR €8,699 / GBP £7,369 / CNY ¥54,900 including VAT and USD $8,199 excluding sales tax.