Hello,

I just received an offer for a Hasselblad H1D with 22 Mp used, but in great condition. The price is low, but I'm wondering why. Asking doesn't help in this case.

Till now I never considered a Imacon back and don't know much about it. I was going for Phase One or Leaf, but was tending toward an used P25 or maybe a P30.

As I dont own any digital compatible 645 system, so I would have to get one as well, actually like the Mamiya or Contax better....

So there are my questions to H1D owners out there:

1. Is the camera prone to hick ups?
2. How does the back perform color wise?
3. Workflow with Flexcolor? I want to shoot feature stuff and portraits with it. Rather Highgloss stuff.
4. What would be a resonable price for the body and back.
5. Is the upgrade to the H2 worth it???
6. What are your experiences with the combo? Like it? Hate it?

Thanks in advance
Heinrich

Hello,

If you prefer the Mamiya I would go with a P30 and a Mamiya 645. It gives you the ability to use it on an RZ with no cables. The used H1D may be a good price but the support from Hasselblad is horrible especially with three year old technology. The used lenses if you have any probems will cost you a fortune to repair and this has nothing to do with wear and tear. This is just the luck of the draw with technology. if the body goes down then you are really screwed. Unless the kit is $10,000 or less i would not go for it.

You can get a P25/P30 and a 645AFDII with a few lenses for a song compared to what other digitals are going for. With the full support of Mamiya and Phase One backed equipment.

Good Luck

The kit is about 7000,00 € - with the body, back and 80 mm lens.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Hi Henrich,

Thats a really good deal!! I would go for it as it is then worth a lot more as an upgrade to an H3D with the newer technology.

I think the support being called 'horrible' depends a lot on what country you are in and individual experiences. It is the opposite in my case.

Colour-wise it is spot on especially with portraits as you mention. Nice neutral skin tones with no piggy blushed effects and even-shadows with no noise!

FlexColor is an underated package but try and get some local knowledge to show you the ropes.

For the money you are paying I would say the upgrade will present a good saving to you. At least try yourself on the H1D for a few months and see if you like it. If not you could easily sell it on for similar money so I don't think you have much to lose.

The LCD wasn't great on the H1D but the image quality is fantastic. See if you can try it out for a day.

Jo S.x

Thanks so far and I will try that. What about the ISO, what is usable? 400?

Regrds
Heinrich

I believe that a side-by-side test with that system (or its newer replacement) and the one you were originally after, will give you all the information you need in terms of image quality, handling and workflow.

You'll then be left with the financial decision. Bare in mind that most manufacturers and dealers will ofer you a fair trade-in price for that system if you decide not to keep it.

Contact the delars in your region and ask them for a demo and for trade-in prices. For any assistance Leaf wise, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Good luck

Yair

that is a pretty good price.....the back is ok, at minimum iso very useable, the weak point would be color/skintones....i tested that kit when it came out and it still had some "imacon" problems....but since this is 3? years old, there should have been several firmwares/software updates, that might have taken care of that? something to look into.....

as someone here mentioned: if you like mamiya, i think the P30/mamiya is the better way to go....a bit more expensive, but the P30 is a much better back, color and file quality might be a personal opinion, but it is definitely faster and has much better (and higher) iso.....

the good thing about the kit (if you can live with slower, lower iso shooting) is the upgrade path within hasselblad (if oyu want to stay with that complete system)......but from the latest prices quoted here by dealers, this might not be so great afterall......if the H2D39 to H3D39 is 13000$, i don't even want to know what the upgrade would be for you...or in other words, no wonder you can get the H1D for a seemingly very low price.....

This is definitely old news and there are no issues with any colour performance of the Hasselblad / Imacon equipment. Ask any user

Not sure about ISO performance on the H1D as it is a little different to the H3D so best just run a test.

Jo S.x

The new pricing shows upgrade from H1D to H3D-31 is $11,700 - not bad. That puts him into an H3D-31 for $18,700 after trading in his H1D.

Paul, please go find someone shooting with an Imacon/Hasselblad product with recent software, so you can stop with the 3 year old news about weak color/skin tones.

Thank you,
Steve Hendrix
Professional Photo Resources

thanks to all for the advice so far

Actually I want a 22MP back which works, just like that, and for 7000 € it seemed fair priced. So I will test the camera and the back, get some Raws, play with it...will see?!

Even if it is a little funny, but I was tempted to by a Kodak pro back last week, new for 2000€ in H1 mount, the 400 ISO looked okay, the 100 great. But I would have to get the H1 first.

as i said: i am assuming that that has been resolved.....he was asking about this camera and i pointed out some issues the kit had at shipping date....

i have seen files form the H3D31 and the color/skin issues are totally resolved.....i still like the P30 better but that is a different story.....

the 11700 is really not bad at all....especially since the chip (the 22mpix) in the back is very capable and i am not sure the 31 is really THAT much better (talking about file quality...of course the 31 is faster and cleaner at higher iso...)

i would stay away from the kodak back....that is a step in the wrong direction....no matter how inexpensive it might be the H1D will be a lot better.....