Bought mine over 10 years ago when the prices were still reasonable with the 45 mm and 90 mm lenses, totally love the camera and the experience. Glad I still have it and in perfect working conditions. Interesting channel, I've just found it. New sub! At the moment I have less time to put into youtube but I'll definitely come back! ;-)
Best advice I could give someone is, if you already shoot with a medium format camera, just buy a lens that covers the same FOV as the 45mm X-Pan for your camera. For me that was a 35mm f3.5 for my Hasselblad H1. The benefits are that when I crop to the aspect ratio I get an exact frame as the X-Pan, I don't need a center nd-filter, I have a digital back so I can also shoot digital frames alongside film, I don't need to worry about scanning two frames and stitching and if I don't feel the image would look better as a panorama I can keep the full frame and have more real estate in the final image .The cons are I don't have the same experience of shooting an X-Pan and I don't use a rangefinder. I don't really care for rangefinder's so I'm not missing out. Interestingly both my Hasselblad H1 and the X-Pan were made and designed by Hasselblad/Fujifilm so certain textures are the same.
that seems like a very practical approach. I think a lot of the appeal of the x-pan is the form factor / barely-bigger-than-a-leica ness of it, which shooting MF doesn't quite achieve. and it's 20 shots per roll, which makes it pretty nice to shoot casually, which never really worked for me with MF (slower, more expensive). and of course there's the hype - that's a big reason people buy x-pans. so it's probably not a super rational purchase, but it can be a fun one
Bought mine back in 2001 and shot around 2-3000 images, then retired from photography. Had to get a real job! But it’s just a beautiful camera to have! Fast forward to present and now my son is into film photography and is using it, and it’s still runs perfectly. I didn’t sell mine, thank god!
nicely done. one of those situations where you can forget about the camera and not lose money, which is hard to say for many cameras from the digital era.
I have never used the Hasselblad Xpan to obtain a 24x65 aspect ratio on 35mm film. I have, however, used my Mamiya RB67 medium format SLR to obtain a 24x68 aspect ratio on 35mm film. I usually use a 50mm wide-angle lens or a 90mm normal lens on my RB67 to capture panoramic images. After I develop the film, I have the option of including or excluding the sprocket holes from the image. One thing I like about my setup is that my RB67 does not rely on battery power or electronics like the Hasselblad and Fuji panoramic cameras.
yeah the reliance on electronics is one of the biggest downsides/risks here. I ultimately sold mine because I didn't love it enough to risk losing a bunch if it broke.
Yeah that's fair. It's something like 70mm on the long edge so the x-pan is nearly a medium format rangefinder. Personally, I tend to shoot in daytime, outdoor settings and don't care for tons of bokeh so not a big downside but would be for some.
I’d say since I bought my Leica M-A, the temptation to buy more film bodies hasn’t occurred. My focus is just to get a great lens to match the camera. Though the X Pan is something that sjouke be accessible to anyone who shoots film but ageing electronics coming to 15 years now makes getting one a gamble. Repair and parts are possible unavailable. Already gambled on a Contax G2 which each time I use I keep thinking it’s gonna brick up or fail. Thank you for making this video. And you make great music too.
thanks for the kind comment! I have mostly gotten rid of my camera gear lust - for film, I mostly shoot my MP and mamiya 7 and really don't crave anything else. (I still have my t3 and hasselblad as well but they see not much use. and a rollei 35se that I bought because it's absolutely beautiful but rarely shoot.) i have the same worries about electronic cameras, which is part of why I only have the t3 left. when that dies, I won't buy another electronic film camera.
They were still expensive when I first though of one in 2007 or so, I mostly moved on from getting one. All that being said, if i happened to find one at a decent price I may just buy it lol.
I only have the 45. The 90 will just be in the center of the frame / would imagine it's not so small as to be an issue (with an extreme telephoto, the frame would be so small as to make the experience of shooting it un-fun). The 45 has enough room to see the surrounding bits easily and also see what's in the frame. (Think 35mm lens on a modern leica if that helps.)
@@atomikpi from what I’ve seen it will actually change the viewfinder magnification a la contax G1/G2 so if shooting the 90mm the frameline size should be similar to the 45mm.
@@hellatightdude what?! that's super cool, never heard of that. when I had my xpan only had the 45 so didn't get to experience it. I did love shooting portraits on it, sure the 90mm would be great for that.
@@atomikpi yeah! From the like thirty Xpan review videos I’ve seen there’s only one video demonstrating it lol, but it’s very cool. I literally almost snagged a Xpan the other day for a good price, but someone grabbed it before I could get it! So I decided to get a mamiya 7 instead, I figure if I want to shoot panoramic I’ll just nab the panoramic adaptor and use that instead. There’s still something about that Xpan though…
