Comparing the Fuji GFX and the Hasselblad X1D

- I'm sitting here right now with the Fuji GFX 50S and the Hasselblad X1D. These are both medium format digital cameras. If you're wondering what medium format is, or if you've been wondering whether maybe medium format is something that you could use, I've got an entire course on medium format photography that will mostly answer all of those questions for you. What I'm going to do here today at The Practicing Photographer since I've got both of these cameras here, is kind of give you my opinion of these two cameras going head to head. This is going to be some exciting camera comparison action going on right here.

I don't want to talk about why you might want these, what advantages you get from medium format. Again, we got a whole course on that. I just want to talk about the differences as medium format cameras, between these two models. Both of these, let's get this out of the way right off the bat, both of these cameras produce spectacular images. They both use the same sensor. They produce different images, even though they're using the same sensor. Both companies have modified the sensor. Both of them process their raw files in different ways. Neither camera is so far off the other that one can't be adjusted to look like the other, and the level of detail that you get, these are 50 megapixel sensors.

The level of detail you get is astonishing. The dynamic range is spectacular, and both cameras have very, very good iSO response, comparable to what you'd find from a very good full frame camera. They both have very good lens selections. They both come in at under $10,000. The GFX is cheaper by several thousand dollars, but it's larger. The Hasselblad is smaller, easier to tote around. There are these obvious physical differences.

This camera has a focal-plane shutter, which is probably what you're used to using in the camera that you already have. This camera, the Hasselblad, has a leaf shutter, which means that you will be able to sync flashes with any shutter speed on this camera. If you do a lot of flash work, that's a great advantage. Both of these cameras have their strengths and weaknesses. I will say right now, I'll just cut to the chase, I prefer the Fuji. And I prefer the Fuji for a number of usability reasons. One of the most, and I'm going to start with the one that's kind of the most surprising to me.

I was working with the Hasselblad the other night and it crashed, it had to restart itself. I've been reviewing cameras for various magazines and whatnot since 1998. I have never had a camera crash before. It threw an error and said I got to restart. So there's just a lot about this camera that I feel like it's not done. I feel like I'm using a beta unit, and I've checked and I'm running the latest firmware. There are other things. Boot time on this camera is between five and 10 seconds, meaning from the time I press the power button, I can't shoot for another five or 10 seconds.

I'm used to cameras that pop on automatically. I walk around with the camera off. When I see something I want to shoot, as I'm raising the camera to my eye, I turn it on and it's ready to go when I get there. I can't work that way with this camera, which makes me feel less comfortable about managing battery life, and so on and so forth. I do not have any of those kinds of stability problems with the Fuji. So those two things right off the bat are pretty big things to me that make me worry about this camera. I do trust that Hasselblad will fix the crashes, and I know they already have improved the boot time from, it used to be worse than this is now.

They're being very diligent about firmware updates, which I think is really nice. They have added features to this camera since its release. Now, those were features that I felt like it should have come with, but they're being diligent about working on their software, and the updates that are coming out are clean and functional, so that's great. In fact, by the time you see this, the things that I've just mentioned may be totally taken care of. Fuji is also very good across their entire range of cameras with firmware updates. You will get a lot of software support from both of these vendors.

Again, both cameras produce excellent image quality. The Fuji can go two stops higher on its iSO rating. Now, those two stops, that's going from 25,000 to 50,000 to 100,000, those two stops are very, very noisy. They're still usable in a pinch, in certain situations, so if you do a whole lot of low light shooting, you may find that you want those extra two stops. I haven't actually used them except in camera testing. Obviously if size is a critical concern for you, this camera, the Hasselblad, is easier to tote around.

The lenses are smaller for the most part, the camera body is much smaller. The reason the lenses are smaller is because with the small body size they can get the lenses closer to the sensor. Everything about this camera is smaller. It's still roughly the size of a full frame digital SLR, but it is definitely smaller than the Fuji, which you may not have been able to tell. It's very deep, it's got this big, boxy thing on the back end of it. One of the things that boxy thing gets you is an articulated view screen, which I really, really like.

The Hasselblad does not have that. I am used to working with a camera like this on a tripod. I really like being able to pull that out. Both these cameras have touch screens, which is really nice. Both of them are mirrorless cameras, meaning they both have electronic viewfinders, and I will say outright that the Fuji EVF, the Fuji electronic viewfinder is much nicer than the Hasselblad one. The Hasselblad one looks a little washed out to me. Refresh rates are fine. The rear LCD screens are great on both cameras. They both deliver a very clear image.

The touch screen functionality is very, very nice. One of the most subjective things about evaluating a camera is interface and usability, and I don't mean interface of the menus. I mean interface of the entire unit. There are Canon people and there are Nikon people. I would argue that Canon people don't mind having functionality doubled up on a few buttons, while Nikon people prefer lots of buttons so that they can directly manipulate everything. Those are two different approaches. One is neither better nor worse, they're just different.

If you approach an interface in a particular way, you might prefer one of those to the other. I would argue the same thing here. Hasselblad is asking you to do most things through their touch screen interface. It's a very pretty touch screen interface and it's one that flows and is easy to find your way around. There are some nomenclature things that I think are a little odd, but once you learn them, you get them and you can learn them very quickly. Fuji has an iSO dial here, and a shutter speed dial here, and an aperture ring here, and I've got, the camera is littered with buttons, all of which are customizable.

I can put all sorts of functions. I've got a button up here. I've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight buttons back here, all of which are customizable. I can set up buttons to do just about anything I want to do on this camera. And it turns out I prefer working that way. I find I can move faster. I don't have to take the camera down from my eye to do lots of changes. This, I have to come down, look through menus. I'm not as comfortable with that. I can argue that this is a great way to work because I come down here, I do some things on my touch screen.

Once I know where they are they go very quickly. I can work just fine. That's just not how my mind works. I'm liking this better. You need to get your hands on both of these cameras before you make that kind of decision. You need to get your hands on both of these cameras because at this price point, you shouldn't buy these cameras unless you got a really good return policy without really feeling what they're like. They're big, they're heavy. They're not as big as other medium format cameras. They're not as big as some SLRs with larger lenses. You should also check out the lens selection for both of these cameras. Make sure that lenses that you're used to using, that there's an equivalent for them here.

You're not going to find super long telephoto lenses for these cameras. You're not going to find super fast glass for either of these cameras. Hasselblad, I think right now has an edge in the lens department, because you can buy a Hasselblad made adapter that allows you to use their excellent H series lenses with this camera. That broadens the field right away. Fuji has a good lineup so far, a roadmap for a better lineup. They're moving quickly and they're moving well. Both companies make exceptional lenses. And that's one of the big reasons that these cameras produce such great images, is when you're buying into this level of camera, you're buying into a lens selection that is expensive, but you get what you pay for with it.

You get really, really great optics. So whether medium format is right for you is another question. If you decide it is, and you're going to come down to one of these cameras, they both have their advantages. My predilection is for the Fuji. The Hasselblad is still a great camera. It just needs a little software work to really get it up to where it needs to be.