Hasselblad XCD 21mm f/4 in-depth review

[Vieri]

Ladies and gentlemen, I just published my Hasselblad XCD 21mm f/4 in-depth review, the first of a series of reviews that will examine all Hasselblad XCD lenses I own.

Read on to find out what I thought of the Hasselblad XCD 21mm, the widest native medium format lens available on the market!

https://www.vieribottazzini.com/2019/07/hasselblad-xcd-21mm-f-4-in-depth-review.html

Looking forward to your thoughts and comments. Best regards,

Vieri

 

[Kyle Jones]

Thanks for the write-up - the lack of any truly wide lenses has been one of the main factors keeping me away from medium format.

 

[Vieri]

Thanks for the write-up - the lack of any truly wide lenses has been one of the main factors keeping me away from medium format.

Hello Kyle,

glad you enjoyed the article. Same here, until this lens with its 16.5mm FOV equivalent MF was not ideal (or not an option, even) for me as well

Best regards,

Vieri

 

[MonikaC]

Thanks, Vieri, for a well thought-out article.Your heart must have skipped a beat when your tripod got knocked down!

I'd been "brought up" to believe that f/2.8 or faster was most desirable for night/northern lights, but with mirrorless cameras out, I've been seeing quite nice shots taken around f/4. I guess either I was misinformed or lens quality has come a long ways!

 

[Vieri]

Thanks, Vieri, for a well thought-out article.Your heart must have skipped a beat when your tripod got knocked down!

I'd been "brought up" to believe that f/2.8 or faster was most desirable for night/northern lights, but with mirrorless cameras out, I've been seeing quite nice shots taken around f/4. I guess either I was misinformed or lens quality has come a long ways!

You are very welcome Monika, I am glad you enjoyed the article

Skipped a beat is putting is very mildly - I was very proud of myself for not inflicting any bodily harm on the "gentleman" as he run away from me without even offering his excuses, let alone his address and contact!

About night photography, to me the point is shutter speed - if you want to prevent stars from looking like blobs or lines, and keep them looking as dots instead, you have to stay under 20 seconds (or less). F/2.8 definitely helps you get there, as does very clean high ISO - with modern cameras, I guess ISO 800-1600 (or even tiger) and f/4 are clean enough for most situations, which helps widening the lens choice quite a bit. The Norther Lights photo I posted here has been taken with the 21mm f/4 at f/4 and ISO 800, and the results seemed pretty good to me, under a file cleanness technical point of view: https://www.focalworld.com/index.php?threads/northern-lights-over-kirkjufells-iceland.9133/

Hope this makes sense Best regards,

Vieri

 

[JimFox]

Very cool review Vieri! I enjoyed reading it a lot, it was well written and very educational.

 

[Vieri]

Very cool review Vieri! I enjoyed reading it a lot, it was well written and very educational.

Thank you very much indeed Jim, I am glad you found it interesting! Best regards,

Vieri