Hands-On Review: Hasselblad XCD 75mm f/3.4 P Lens

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Hands-On Review: Hasselblad XCD 75mm f/3.4 P Lens

Hasselblad has been adding to and revamping their XCD lens lineup over the past few years, creating new series and offering more variety for different types of photographers to find their niche. Their newest lens, the XCD 75mm f/3.4 P, is part of the P series, which stands for Portable. It's among the smallest and lightest lenses for the system considering its long-normal focal length, relatively bright design, and impressive optical quality.

Focal Length

I had a chance to use this new 75mm f/3.4 lens for a week; before shooting, I knew I was going to be drawn to this unique focal length. I like the versatility of the slightly narrow field of view—it's equivalent to a 59mm lens on full-frame, making it a bit longer than a typical normal-length lens but decidedly shorter than a true short-telephoto portrait lens. This sweet spot is where a lot of interesting things can happen.

Versatile focal length suits portraits, close-ups, and landscapes

Despite being a fixed field of view, it can be used equally well for close-up subjects, distant subjects, portraits, and landscapes—it has less of a baked-in look than an ultra-wide or a true telephoto. Its narrower-than-normal look gives more selectiveness than a true normal or wide-angle lens without the overtly descriptive compression of a true telephoto or long lens look. It offers some subject separation without total isolation; it feels natural but with intent.

Design

Beyond the focal length itself, the big draw to this lens is its size and weight. It's a3"-long, 3"-diameter straight barrel that weighs 14 oz. It would be a chunky lens in the full-frame world but on medium format, it sits nicely on an X2Dbody; it's very well balanced. It's not a pancake-style lens like the XCD 28mmf/4 P but it is about 25% shorter than and 45% lighter than the XCD 65mm f/2.8while only yielding about a half a stop.

Compact design makes this an ideal lens for everyday shooting
Compact design makes this an ideal lens for everyday shooting

In practical terms, this feels like a lens that doesn't drag you down and can effectively disappear on a camera like the X2D or 907X & CFV 100C. The X2D with 75mmf/3.4 attached fit in my smallest camera bag and accompanied me on a week of travel—it's sized to be an everyday walkaround system, which is impressive considering it is medium format. Having this camera on me at all times meant I was more prone to use it for everyday casual photography—it's not a system reserved for formal shooting.

Hasselblad XCD 75mm f/3.4 P Lens

Aside from the portable form factor, the lens is further characterized by a very minimal design—it's a simple, non-tapered barrel with a single ring that comes configured to manually adjust focus. This differs from Hasselblad's other recent series of lenses, the V series, that have a more mechanically integrated focusing ring that can be shifted to reveal a depth of field scale and hard focus stops. The more traditional focus-by-wire design of this 75mm f/3.4 is easier to design and much simpler for autofocus users but does leave something to be desired if you're an avid manual focuser.

Punchy colors and high sharpness
Punchy colors and high sharpness

Optics

It's difficult to be critical of a lens that performs like this. In use, sharpness, clarity, and color rendering are all strong. There is no visible distortion; everything looks natural. I appreciate that the lens renders both close-up and distant subjects equally well, from the 1.8' minimum focusing distance to infinity. Also, when shooting wide open, sharpness doesn't seem to take a major hit; depth of field, on the other hand, is very shallow with this format and I tended to want to close down a few stops for general use. I appreciate the f/3.4 speed for shooting in lower lighting conditions, but in midday sun I liked to stick around f/5.6 to f/6.3 unless the selective focus is needed for creative effect.

Focus

If you remember autofocusing performance from the H-series camera days, you'll be amazed and excited by the focusing speed of the X system and this XCD 75mm f/3.4P lens. If you're coming from a current full-frame system, you'll be disappointed. The simple fact is that medium format still hasn't caught up to the rapidness in AF compared to smaller format systems.

Selective focus at f/4 still isolates the flower against a busy background
Selective focus at f/4 still isolates the flower against a busy background

The focusing performance isn't unusable, though, and it is very, very accurate. It suits the format and anticipated pace of shooting; it keeps up with photographers who focus then recompose and those who like to analyze a scene and then compose. It suits the methodical-ness of medium format, not the speediness of the quickest mirrorless cameras around.

To cover some of the tech, the 75mm uses a linear stepping motor to move a single internal group for adjusting focus. This keeps the overall length of the lens constant from minimum focus to infinity and is more responsive that older XCD lenses, like the XCD 65mm f/2.8, for example.

Close-up performance at around minimum focusing distance
Close-up performance at around minimum focusing distance

Leaf Shutter

One other important asset to cover with this lens is its leaf shutter. It's something that's unique at the moment and a key differentiator for Hasselblad compared toother medium format systems. By integrating the shutter into the lens, flash sync is possible at any shutter speed up to 1/2000 sec. This isn't something I made use of in my day-to-day testing as it's reserved for strobes shooters, and specifically benefits those using fill-flash in bright lighting conditions.

Final Impressions

It's difficult to be critical of a lens like this, especially because the focal length clicks with my eye. That's going to be the main question for anyone deciding on this lens compared to another XCD lens—how does the 75mm focal length feel compared to the XCD 55mm or the XCD 90mm? If it's a field of view you like, this is the lens for you. In my experience, the versatility of this field of view is a huge asset. It feels like a lens that can make the most of the relatively compact size of the Hasselblad cameras and be a realistic single lens option for day-to-day shoots. It's a lens I would feel comfortable using at a portrait shoot and a lens I'd feel comfortable with on a hike while photographing landscapes.

Medium format makes it easy to separate subjects, but the focal length offers more intentionality and a narrower field of view compared to a wide-angle lens
Medium format makes it easy to separate subjects, but the focal length offers more intentionality and a narrower field of view compared to a wide-angle lens
100% crop of above image showing bokeh quality in front of and behind plane of focus
100% crop of above image showing bokeh quality in front of and behind plane of focus

Besides the focal length, the only other main deciding factor for this lens is the P series versus the V series—are you comfortable with the sleeker, more pared-down styling of the lens barrel compared to the V-series lenses that include both aperture and focusing rings? I think the savings in weight and dimensions are worthwhile, especially since right now there isn't a true focal length for focal length competitor in the V series. And if you're comparing to the older XCD 65mm f/2.8, this new lens is 0.7" shorter and 11.6 oz lighter—that's a massive size and weight difference, which feels very worthwhile compared to the extra half stop of brightness.

The Hasselblad XCD 75mm f/3.4 P is a solid addition to the XCD lens lineup. It fills a gap within the newer V and P series releases and is a worthy upgrade to an older lens for the system. If you're an X2D or 907Xshooter looking for a versatile prime at this focal length, it's currently the best option and leaves very little to be desired.

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