Hasselblad Xpan Body Rangefinders

Hasselblad Xpan Body Rangefinders 

DESCRIPTION

The Hasselblad XPan incorporates a dual-format facility providing a full panorama 24x65 mm format as well as a conventional 24x36 mm format on the same film. This innovative camera offers all the convenience and advantages of the 35 mm format, but provides the option to rapidly switch to the full panorama format, without changing film. It becomes, therefore, the first and only dual-format camera on the market that expands the format instead of masking it, ensuring that every exposure utilises the full area of the film. In addition, the 65 mm width of the full panorama images is similar to the medium format, ensuring that the Hasselblad XPan will always give you superb image quality.

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 33  
[Mar 06, 2024]
cupcake


Strength:

It becomes, therefore, the first and only dual-format camera on the market that expands the format instead of masking it, ensuring that every exposure utilises the full area of the film. atlantadrywallservice.com

Weakness:

None so far.

OVERALL
RATING
5
[Feb 20, 2023]
Janwil


Strength:

Your product is very good! Houses for sale Cincinnati

Weakness:

none so far

Purchased:
New  
OVERALL
RATING
5
[Jan 30, 2023]
pagekeller


Strength:

This holds everything from a moderately wide angle lens to a moderately long telephoto, none of which are cheaply built or very small. The weight of 8 lenses and two bodies in the bag, along with some filters, film, etc. is well supported on the heavy duty shoulder straps. I have still been carrying a Bogen 3021 tripod w/ 3047 head separately, but have had no problems when I clipped it in. Arden Towing Company

Weakness:

None . .

Purchased:
New  
OVERALL
RATING
5
[Apr 30, 2003]
blowfish
Expert

Strength:

Light strong, optics, winder, IF ANYONE KNOWS WHICH CHEAPER SCANNER 35mm will do 24mm x 65mm then please email me blow-fish@bigfoot.com

Weakness:

slight cutoff by lenshood (but that is a rangefinder trait .... Duhhh ... also lens min focus distance could be better

I have always loved panoramic cameras / images and took the plunge with the X-Pan. I take photographs for 2 picture libraries and like the ability to switch between pano and standard 35mm. ALTHOUGH I only ever seem to take pictures on panoramic. Fantastic camera and the only slight niggles (film left out after rewind, mulitple exposures, shutter info in viewfinder) have all been sorted out by the XPAN2. IF ANYONE KNOWS WHICH CHEAPER SCANNER 35mm will do 24mm x 65mm then please email me blow-fish@bigfoot.com

Similar Products Used:

Contax G series

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Jan 24, 2003]
luc van hoeylandt
Expert

some problems accure during the use of my xpan-camera. as I was in Venice and wanted to make some shots with the use of nd-filters this needed exposure times of sometimes more than 1 or 2 minutes. This is impossible with the xpan camera. If you put the exposure knob to the B-stand the camera shuts down after a period of 25 sec or 40 sec depending of the climat or the state of the battery I guess. As I mentioned the problem to Hasselblad it seems they put in an electronic circuit that shuts the camera down if by accident the release buttom is pressed for a long period. This is done for battery-saving purposes. I say this a stupid thing to do ! Why put a B-option to it if you can't use it properly. For a camera of that quality and price-range they should try to fix this. I use the ND (neutral density) filters (holding back the light) so that exposure times are very long. I can make shots of streets where a lot of people circulate but in the end I get pictures of empty boulevards. The same with shots of water and seeviews. Please Victor do something about it. ...and keep me informed a second thing that should be perfectionized is that the exposure time has to be read in the range finder. In poor light conditions it is not practical to everytime look at the back of the camera to see of the shutterspeed is to low to handle the camera by hand or if a tripod is needed. for all the rest it is a super great camera and I won't wanna miss it for the world.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Jan 02, 2003]
montyaj
Professional

Strength:

User-friendliness, by Hasselblad standards. Great finder. Incredibly soft shutter - I've regularly shot at a 30th on the 90mm with no problems at all. Unfeasible edge-to-edge sharpness - I've supplied pictures for reproduction (using Fujichrome Velvia) in books and had the repro people call me up and ask how the transparencies were produced as they've never seen anything with such resolution. Best of all - like the old Leicas - it works, every time.

Weakness:

I guess the lenses are slow, but with this quality, who cares? The meter indicator lights become unreadable in bright light, but I generally use a separate meter anyway. The neck strap frays on the right-hand side. The 30mm lens is too expensive.

Over the past decade I have tended to buy older and older 35mm cameras, ending up using III series Leicas. Purchasing the Hasselblad was an agonising decision as I feared that I would be spending a whole lot of money on something that would turn out to be not as good as what I had already. I went out and put a roll of Fujichrome through both the XPan and a IIIf, taking the same shots, on a 90mm in both cases, in order to compare the results. Guess what? I sold the Leicas! I should have known that Hasselblad wouldn't have put their name to a dud piece of kit, but like their medium format cameras, the XPan is an acquired taste and may not appeal to a lot of people. What's particularly pleasing is that the XPan has been designed clean, without having to carry anything over from previous cameras - hence the neat film loading system that exposes back into the cassette - I really like that. The panoramic format is immensely useful, particularly for illustrative work.

Customer Service

Hasselblad service back-up and customer support is second to none and they produce a wonderful quarterly journal.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon Fs various. Leica M & III series. Lomo. Hasselblad 500 series. Rolleiflex.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Dec 30, 2002]
chenlx
Intermediate

Strength:

Unique design. Normal view is as good as panorama. Great brand, great product.

Weakness:

Auto metering only up to 4 seconds. My film auto counting is broken.

I've been using this camera for almost 1 year in combination with my 501cm -- what an enjoyment to have a choice of panorama and square at the same time (a bit heavy though). Generally speaking it's a very innovative machine, changing from normal view to panorama just by a switch. The lenses quality is good enough for Japanese made, body paint could be better with more solid build body (top left hand corner is very plastic). I take it onto streets for documentaries, excellent views.

Customer Service

Never used.

Similar Products Used:

501CM. Nikon F90X.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Nov 01, 2002]
visionstudios
Professional

Strength:

All that previous reviewers indicated, plus the focus ring works in the same direction as Leica, Canon, and Hasselblad lenses. Quiet shutter and film transport

Weakness:

DX wheel (when not set on DX) and exp +/- wheel are easy to bump accidetnly. RF patch could be larger. The rear LCD display is an odd place for shutter speeds. Poor sensitivity of the exposure meter exacerbated by f4 lenses. Finish quality is so so. 45mm lens: the aperture ring is very close to the focus ring. Four stars because of all that. But don't get me wrong, this is a very good tool when used within its limits.

I bought x-pan less than a month ago, so these are initial impressions. The concept is excellent. The camera switches back and forth between formats seamlessly. Autoload and film advance are very convenient. Do not hang me for this but to me the shutter is as quiet as Leica M6 ttl. I tried them side by side and X-pan sounds even quiteter of the two. However, the film advance makes a noise (but not as much as Motor M). A fully loaded x-pan with 45mm on it is lighter than M6 with 35mm 'cron ASPH with Motor M. X-pan is extremely comfortable to hold.I bought it used and the finish starts showing wear. Strangely, there are pin hole size wear spots on the rubberized back cover. Probalbly I should expect it to look all spotty after some use. The viefinder is pretty good. The magnification is lower than Leica's .72. The RF patch is also smaller but it is contrasty and very useable. Overall the camera is pretty good and doubles as a standard 35mm rangefinder, a quasi Leica of sorts. Hopefully Fujiblad will continue to work out some weaknesses designed into the camera so it can be more useful for PJ situations, not only landscape shots from a tripod (is this why the shutter speed is displayed on the rear door?). Personally, I have not figured out how to use the panorama format effectively yet. Most of my shots still look better cropped to 1:1.5 proportion. I am not into landscapes so I am trying to use this format for enviromental/social/portrait photograpy. I am still learning.

Customer Service

Only used for MF cameras. Excellent.

Similar Products Used:

Horizon 212 (swing lens but the same 65mm format) Leica M6ttl.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Jul 04, 2002]
ukyo
Intermediate

Strength:

Small size (my Nikon F4s is HUGE) and the lens, panoramic format.

Weakness:

Yep slow lens speeds, the red LED's disappearing in bright sunshine. Asked Hasselblad about that, they said that is how it is, design flaw.Price of 30mm lens

I love the X-pan, I find that the lenses are as sharp as anything else I have tried (have Nikon + Olympus lenses also used to work in a camera shop and I think they are as sharp as Leica lenses). I like the panoramic format, which makes me look at things in a different way, and have used it for loads of things except sports (lenses to slow). Some complain about the lack of view finder info, what is the problem? no other rangefinder has apeturespeed combos in the viewfinder. If your worried about slow shutter speeds then use a tripod. I do and have no problem.

Customer Service

Very good, and prompt service here in the UK.

Similar Products Used:

Leica, Canon, Nikon, Olympus.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 06, 2002]
Busselle
Professional

Strength:

Build quality Lens quality Switchable format Creativity

Weakness:

Could do with a fast lens in the range Vanishing exposure LED''s in bright conditions Lack of viewfinder info Meter cuts out at 1/30th second 3200 ISO - low light needs a seperate meter

I borrowed an XPan and found it tricky to use being used to medium format slr''s, this was down to trying to use a polariser at speed on a beach in heavy swell! Initially I thought I would stick with the medium format SLR - but then I got the film back - the best shots I had ever taken. I went and bought the body and the 45 and 90mm lenses and have never looked back. I mainly shoot monochrome and process myself, I have also because of my job handled most cameras at one time or another but the XPan is my preferred choice. Handling I find is easy with precise focusing, lack of viewfinder info is a pain in the backside but you learn to work around this. I personally have no problem with the format switch or paintwork. The exposure LED''s almost vanish in bright conditions which is a huge oversight. I''ve read other reveiws that question the sharpness of the lenses - I am a profesional black and white printer as well and the results I get from the lenses are as good as most I have come across, light conditions, film stock and dev etc, etc are more likely to cause lack of image sharpness than the quality of these lenses. The best thing about this camera is how it makes me work and feel about my photography - I''m more daring and inventive now. The Xpan will certainly bring the panoramic format to subjects that wouldn''t have been possible with others, it''s also a good 35mm rangefinder to boot. I do a more extensive reveiw with pictures in a magazine called Black and White Photography available 17th January 2002 if anyone is interested.

Customer Service

Not used

Similar Products Used:

Canon EOS 3 and L lenses Nikon AF and MF SLR''s Mamiya 645 Fuji 645 Mamiya RZ 67 Contax G1 ETC. ETC.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
Showing 1-10 of 33  

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