I have been a Canon SLR user for over 25 years, starting with a film camera called an AE1-Program, a fine robust camera. These were the days of manual winding and before auto-focus. I moved away from slide film to digital for our first expedition to Uganda and Rwanda back in 2005.
I have alway liked printing off my best shots. This started in the late 1970s with the Cibachrome printing process to today's very high quality inkjet printers. We have settled on an HP Z3100 for our large prints. This was reviewed on Luminous Landscape and received high praise. It is quite easy to use, and what we really like is trying out some of the really interesting matt papers.
For our recent expedition to DRC to photograph Bonobos, I took the [expensive] plunge and purchased a Hasselblad digital camera. My Canon digital cameras have 16.7 megapixels, the Hasselblad had 39. For me the key was giving more details AND more accurate colours.
So, after an expedition to the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was hot, humid and mucky, my initial thoughts:
Negative points:
1. The Hassey has only one autofocus sensor, while my Canon has 45 points
2. The Hassey's autofocus is much slower and less sure than that of the Canon
3. The Hassey has limited exposure options
4. The Hassey is not really built for our sort of outdoor expeditions. Opening the flap to insert a memory card reveals bare circuit board. Combine this with rain and I would expect to see some smoke! It does not have the same sort of seals that the Canon professional models have.
5. No really long lenses are made [as yet] for the Hassey. The longest is 300mm, which is roughly the same as a 240mm on a Canon.
6. You need lots of memory! I was using three 8Mb cards a day!
7. No image-stabilisation on the lenses.
8. Limited ISO range, a maximium speed of 400ASA.
The Positives:
1. A fantastic viewfinder which is really bright.
2. When I was able to take shots without camera shake the quality is absolutely outstanding and the detail recorded is extraordinary. I am able to produce prints 24" wide and 40" high with colours that have real impact and amazing detail. To me far, far better than my Canons.
So overall I am really pleased. We are off to Uganda and Rwanda in a few weeks which will really test the Hassey and me. I will be reporting back!
Adam
Thoughts on moving to Hasselblad - 26 January 2008
