Hasselblad 907X & CFV 100C
100 Mpx, Medium format
A love letter to an unattainable beauty
20.2.2024
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
She’s truly special. A beauty who must be stuck in the wrong century. After a few hours with her, I realised this unusual camera required an unusual test report.
My dearest Ophelia,
I can’t help but replace thy name Hasselblad 907X & CFV 100C with one that seems more fitting. Your baptismal name sounds too harsh and loveless to me, no matter how much it testifies to your gentle origins. I fervently hope you will not take this as disrespect. There is nothing I wish to do less than insult thee.
Thou art so different from everyone else, so very different, and that’s exactly what enthralled me. O how I failed to understand your mannerisms in the beginneth and, I must admit, felt foolish in my dealings with thee. The shutter release, the dial, the power button – everything is in an unusual place. Your opening for the USB-C port is bashfully hidden under a flap and only accessible to those who know the way.
If your view seemed too dark, I didn’t know how to intervene. Pressing thy silver side button and turning thy wheel at the same time was the key. Likewise, I was first unable to help you sharpen your gaze without mine help, but this was quickly remedied by pulling out the focus ring. I was weak when I tried shooting from my hip. Thy screen hugs the body so seamlessly, I failed to realise it folds out.
I had much to learn from you, dear Ophelia, as I once did as a youngster when I held a camera in my hands for the first time – but I was richly rewarded. This became clear to me after our first walk together by the lake. O, I have never seen the sky look more beautiful than through you.
Source: David Lee
Source: David Lee
Graceful in shape, thou radiate a classic elegance that is unrivalled. I dare to call your appearance, which is free of all fashions, perfectly simple – knowing full well that it conceals a rich inner life. Forgive me for changing another designation in addition to your nameth: medium format. How unfitting. What, I ask, is «medium» about thee? Your inner values are large! A 44×33 millimetre sensor, 100 megapixels – thou shouldst be called large!
Source: David Lee
What a large memory you have too. Where others need to rely on cards, you can easily store 1 terabyte of images on thy internal SSD. The glass you use to see is precious and flawlessly cut like no other. It reproduces the resolution of your large format in full sharpness.
Source: David Lee
You react sensitively to light, and yet endure a lot of it. Be it in the bright sun or by moonlight and candlelight, you never fail to enchant us with your pictures. What a shame thou art internally unstable and often need support come the dark.
Source: David Lee
Tis unwise to try your hand at things you are not made for. Filming is not for you, so you refrain from it altogether. Rightly so! The same applies to anything hectic you dislike. You carry out your work at a leisurely pace, true to the motto: all good things are worth waiting for. You tire a little more easily than others and, if I may be so bold as to say so, you sometimes get more heated than necessary. But neither of these things detracts from mine affection for you.
O, how I wish you were all mine; yet I must realise I am not worthy of you. Too noble and precious you are for my lowly origins. I have just learned you are leaving for other company and I must painfully renounce you. Parting is such sweet sorrow
Farewell! Yours eternally
David
In a nutshell
A highly unusual collector's item
The Hasselblad X2D 100c is a camera for irrational people, my colleague Samuel wrote in his test. This applies even more to the Hasselblad 907X & CFV 100C.
Both cameras are obscenely expensive and don't even have a video function. But at least, the X2D can be operated like a «regular» camera. It features an electronic viewfinder and the usual controls, as well as an image stabiliser. With the 907X, the viewfinder's only available as an accessory and is nothing more than a simple peephole. An optional handgrip gives you the necessary controls – including a joystick, unlike the X2D – but this means that the camera loses its compactness. The same applies to the fact that the lack of an image stabiliser means there's no way of getting around using a tripod in dim light.
But it's precisely this uncompromising design that makes this device so fascinating. Anyone who enjoys the process of slow and deliberate photography will be rewarded with relaxation and total satisfaction. The results are overwhelming. The lenses are so sharp you can fully utilise the 100 megapixels of the sensor. The Hasselblad 907X & CFV 100C caters for an extremely specialised niche, but does that really well.
Pro
- outstanding image quality, particularly the sharpness
- retro design
- 1 TB memory built in
Contra
- very expensive (also lenses)
- no image stabiliser
- no video
- no proper viewfinder
Header image: David Lee
David Lee
Senior Editor
David.Lee@digitecgalaxus.chMy interest in IT and writing landed me in tech journalism early on (2000). I want to know how we can use technology without being used. Outside of the office, I’m a keen musician who makes up for lacking talent with excessive enthusiasm.