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Rangefinder Magazine
June 2004

First Exposure: Hasselblad H1 by Stan Sholik

The H1 is perfectly balanced and stylishly beautiful.

For more than 50 years, the name Hasselblad has been synonymous with professional photography. The company’s cameras have set the standard for medium-format equipment. Hasselblad cameras are the cameras of choice for many fashion, commercial, portrait and wedding photographers. While effective marketing has certainly helped the company achieve its preeminent position, the quality of the Zeiss lenses and the extensive line of accessories have kept it there. Even now, it is the leading supplier of 6x6cm format bodies.

With the 6x4.5cm format becoming increasingly popular with professional photographers, Hasselblad is looking to become a force in that market as well. While Hasselblad has had 6x4.5cm film backs available for its cameras since the mid-1950s, it has resisted following other firms in incorporating auto-exposure modes and autofocus into the camera bodies. Firms that have been heavily involved in the 6x4.5cm format for some years, such as Mamiya, Pentax and especially Contax, have done so. Because of that, those firms have built up a loyal following among photographers looking for these features, particularly those moving up to medium format from 35mm.

When shooting with a digital back, the handlegrip LCD displays a histogram of the latest capture.

Hasselblad changed course somewhat in 2002 with the introduction of the H1 body, lenses and accessories, at Photokina that year. Hasselblad now has a complete 6 x 4.5 cm system available that’s equal to, and in some ways superior, to its competition.

The H1 is modular, like its square-format siblings, with interchangeable lenses, magazines, and viewfinders (although only one viewfinder is currently available). Also, like the lenses for its 500-series models, H1 lenses incorporate a central shutter in the lenses, allowing flash synchronization at all shutter speeds. This feature alone, which many professionals require, sets the H1 system apart from its competition.

While there are some basic similarities to previous Hasselblad systems, the differences far outweigh the similarities. No longer is Hasselblad totally producing the bodies and no longer is Zeiss producing the lenses. Hasselblad has partnered with Fujifilm on the H1, as it did with the XPan. Hasselblad designed the system, and builds the bodies and the electronically-controlled leaf shutter system in Sweden. Fuji provides the lenses, the finder and film magazines.

	The built-in pop-up flash is handy for adding a little catchlight in the eyes when shooting quick portraits on location.

The camera body incorporates a light-weight, diecast aluminum core surrounded by a one-piece stainless-steel shell. Covering the shell is a two-tone gray plastic finish that, depending upon your viewpoint, might be consider “stylish” by some photographers, or maybe a little too “trendy” for traditionalists who prefer basic black. The body, without lens, magazine, viewfinder or battery is about the same weight as a 500CM, but it incorporates a comfortable handgrip that makes the H1 easy to hold and operate.

Incorporated into the handgrip is the battery system that powers the camera. The standard grip holds three CR-123 batteries. An optional battery grip with a 9.6-volt rechargeable battery is also available.

The only viewfinder available at this time is an eye-level finder, HV90. It contains a built-in flash with a guide number of 38 (ISO 100, in feet). This pop-up flash unit performs quite well in putting a catchlight in eyes or providing a bit of fill to lower contrast. It’s possible to set flash exposure compensation ±3EV to control the fill balance. A standard hot-shoe is also incorporated into the viewfinder and TTL flash control is possible with a wide variety of flash units compatible with the Metz 3002 system using an accessory Hasselblad adapter. The body also contains a PC outlet for connecting studio strobes and the camera’s built-in flash metering system can be used to meter exposure from them.

There is no dark slide to misplace on this Hasselblad model; it is built in, opened and closed by a control on the side of the magazine. For film shooters, a Polaroid back is available.

For photographers shooting digitally, the H1 marries seamlessly with the digital backs of several manufacturers, including Imacon, Leaf and Phase One. No external wires or links between the camera and the back are needed.

Phase One even makes several digital backs that carry over the design and color scheme of the H1. The integration with digital backs is so complete that the camera will display a histogram of the last captured image and other digital data on the handgrip LCD panel. The newest 22-megapixel digital backs cover nearly the entire 6x4.5cm area.

Love or hate the 6x6 bodies, with Hasselblad users, it’s always been about the Zeiss lenses. They’ve been standard on the cameras since the 1950s. The Fuji lenses supplied with the test camera, an HC 80mm f/2.8, an HC 150mm f/3.2 and an hefty HC 50–110mm 5/3.5–f/4.5 zoom are of excellent quality.

Somehow, though, they lack that final bit of crispness that the Hasselblad/Zeiss combination is known for.
There are four other lenses available: 35mm f/3.5, 50mm f/3.5, 120mm f/4 Macro focusing to 1:1, and 210mm f/4. There’s also a 1.7x tele-converter available. An adapter so that 6x6 V-system lenses will work on the H1 is promised.

Where the scene presents a full range of values, the H1 metering system delivers perfect exposures.

Each lens contains an electronically-controlled leaf shutter with speeds ranging from 18 hours (!) to 1/800 second, plus Bulb and Time settings. To compensate for the tendency of leaf shutters to overexpose at large apertures and short shutter speeds, the H1 incorporates an automatic True Exposure compensation system in the Custom Options menu.

Camera controls and the 21 Custom Options are accessed through buttons on the camera and menus displayed on the handgrip LCD. The camera is packed with a feature set rivaling a high-end digital SLR. Although the layout is straightforward and intuitive, it takes some time to master all the options. In total, on the body, finder and film back, there are more than 20 buttons (many of which control multiple functions), three dials and two LCDs. But after a couple of sessions with the manual, the logic behind the layout and operation becomes clear.

There are a few things that I wish had been designed differently. One relatively minor complaint I have with the system is that the viewfinder makes it difficult to read the LCD on the camera back and to input the ISO information. Another is the lack of a manual film crank on the magazine to wind off a partially completed roll. On the H1, you must remount the magazine on the camera and press the tiny “rewind” button or fire off blank frames.

Also, there is no interlock on the magazine to prevent the photographer from opening it with a partially exposed roll inside. The number of exposed frames is indicated on the magazine LCD, but other medium format cameras have a guard. The 6x6 magazines, for example, have with the red/white circle indicator that guard against haste or an inexperienced assistant.

I have more of a problem with two of the main subsystems of the camera: the metering and the autofocus systems. I confess to holding a camera like the H1, which is an expensive piece of equipment specifically designed for professionals, to a higher standard than other cameras. While professionals will likely be using an accessory handheld meter and often manually focusing the H1, if auto-metering and auto-focus are included, they should be first rate. For “point-and-shoot” applications, these subsystems fall just short.

	With this contrasty scene I used the “average” exposure metering setting that reads 70 percent of the frame and this was the middle exposure of a 3-frame bracket. I would have preferred the autobracketing exposure that was +1⁄3EV higher as the middle frame.

Exposure accuracy in each of the camera’s three modes, average, center-weighted and spot, is less than professional 35mm camera users are accustomed to. The metering modes only measure varying percentages of the central area of the frame, from 70 percent in average mode, to 20 percent in center-weighted, to 2 percent in spot mode. Relying on the built-in meter resulted in under- or over-exposed frames in some situations but excellent exposures in others. Fortunately, to ensure properly exposed frames, the camera features an autobracketing function that can give two, three or five exposures in 1⁄3-, 1⁄2-, or 1-EV increments.

The H1 provides five exposure modes: Manual, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Program (which struck me as a little strange on a professional camera of this level) and Program variable (which takes the focal length of the lens into account, making it easier to avoid long exposures with long lenses. That option struck me as even stranger.) Exposure compensation of ±5EV is possible in 1/3-EV steps. In a bow to V-system users, the AE lock button also acts an EV lock, making it possible for the user to select the most appropriate combination of shutter speed and aperture for a desired effect while maintaining correct exposure.

The autofocusing system also fell short of my expectations. With only a single large detector in the middle of the screen, I found the camera did considerable hunting before settling on a focus point with some subjects. In one case, it was unable to achieve consistent autofocus. In portraiture, there is no way to know if the area in focus will be the eye, nose, hair, etc. To ensure accurate focusing in the autofocus mode, focusing can be adjusted manually by rotating the focusing ring without having to switch to the manual focus mode, and will hold focus as long as the shutter release is held partway down. Photographers moving up from professional 35mm autofocus cameras may be disappointed with the autofocus performance.

There is no question that in the hands of a professional photographer familiar with the camera, the Hasselblad H1 is capable of delivering high-quality images. The ability to smoothly move from a film to a digital back, to customize the camera operation to various situations and save them in memory for instant recall, and the excellent feel and handling characteristics of the H1 will appeal to many professionals. For others, the availability of an extensive line of excellent-quality lenses with built-in shutters will be the deciding factor between the H1 and other systems. With a street price of $5700 for camera, viewfinder, film back and 80mm lens, only time will tell if the H1 will become the dominant 6x4.5-format camera.

Stan Sholik is a contributing writer for NewsWatch Feature Service. He is also a commercial photographer with over 30 years of large format studio and lon-location experience. He can be reached at: stan@stansholik.com/.