Background

I have been a huge fan of theHasselblad XPancamera system since it first came out in late 1998. I purchased one of the first cameras to come into Canada in early 1999 and have used it with the 45mm and 90mm lenses for a great deal of landscape and travel photography. 

Because of the camera's small size, light weight and very high quality lenses to a large extent it has replaced theFuji 617for much of my panoramic work, and I'll frequently use it instead of aLeica M6for travel work if I think landscape shooting is going to be possible and fast aperture lenses aren't needed. I used the camera extensively on a shoot in southernUtahin January, 2000 and you can see a gallery ofXPanimages from that shoothere.

In October, 1999Hasselbladannounced what had been rumoured almost since the camera's introduction‚ a 30mm ultra-wide angle lens for theXPan. I ordered one right away fromRobert White, an excellent mail-order house in theU.K. Robert had placed an order for the ...