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Logos · Joined: 05 Feb 2005 Posts: 447 Location: Århus, Denmark

Beginning Jan 2008 I will start to produce exclusively with the brand new Hasselblad H3D-II-39 at 39 Mega Pixel. This is probably way overkill for microstock, but I have a vision that one day microstock will be ready for this kind of material.
I have included a few crops for you guys and I think they speak for themselves.

Having worked with this camera for a few months now I am getting a little spoiled with what to expect from a digital camera. The resolution that the Hasselblad produce is simply mindblowing and since I started using it I have not had one single file rejected for looking too overfiltred. Not one! The files from the H3D are simply much cleaner and natural looking and are in a class of their own – completely! I haven’t been able to find noise anywhere on any files, which was a little hard to believe the first few weeks of shooting. Being used to shadow noise even at ISO 100 on my old Mark II, I simply could not understand how it was possible.

The downside is that handling files at 39mp is impossible in windows XP because of the maximum memory allocating in Photoshop under XP is less then what is required for opening just one 39mp Tiff file without having to write to hard drive cache. Another thing is that the lenses are HUGE… not just a little bigger.. no… HUGE! About 2 kilos a piece for the ones I use. Another thing is that the RAW files are 120mb per picture and the camera shoots only one picture per second.
Even with all the extra effort it takes to handle this camera I have only one thing to say…. I will never shoot with anything else again!

helix7 · Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 1790 Location: New Jersey

That is insane!

triceratops · Joined: 15 Nov 2006 Posts: 7875 Location: The other Nevada

Fantastic. I can even see your reflection in the eye 100% crop. With XP out of the equation, what OS did you switch to in order to handle the large file size?

luisfico · Joined: 02 Jan 2007 Posts: 460

The right way to go when you are able to, congrats and may you succeed on this new way of making pictures!

Tell us, is there a steep learning curve with this kind of monster cameras, or is it just the same, only jumbo?

kind regards.

FICO

hhltdave5 · Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 10:08 pm

Congrats on using that piece of equipment Yuri. I am sure it will add another dimension to your already spot on work. All I can say is at least I can dream! LOL

Paul_Lewis · Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:14 pm

W.O.W.

That. Is. Impressive.

rinder99 · Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:30 pm

ATTA Boy. I've been a hassy man for 30+ years. Used the H3 on product shoot's . You will Love it.

andy777 · Joined: 09 Sep 2006 Posts: 311 Location: California

All I can say is "WOW"

pharm · Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 9406 Location: Never quite sure

Magnificent.

camdoc3 · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 6:48 am

Having used and custom printed with the old (Film) Hassleblads for many years the quality does not surprise me ! Unfortunatly the price puts it out of my ballpark!

riffmax · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 3102 Location: Florida, USA

Wow. That's all I can say is wow.

And all I want for Christmas is D80!

***sigh***

Well, maybe someday. In the meantime, Yuri, I hope you don't mind if I use your port and your story for inspiration and motivation! You are quite the success story!

varius · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:35 am

Holy cow...

Now THAT is a camera that would allow the good old CSI tricks of super-enlarging stuff to make out a licence number plate in the reflection of a drop of sweat on the villain's forehead. ;-)

Let me guess, the price point (including new glass and other neccessary hardware) is somewhere between an average European year's income and a holyday trip to the ISS? ;-)

mlopes · Joined: 31 Dec 2005 Posts: 362 Location: Lisbon

Man ... your are really playing hard ball here. Wish you tons of luck with your new weapon (that's not a toy anymore).

Logos · Joined: 05 Feb 2005 Posts: 447 Location: Århus, Denmark

Taking a break from shooting now to write this.
The price for the full line-up (five lenses, all the extras and the camera) is about 80000 USD. I don't pay that because of my sponsorship agreement with Hasselblad, but that's what It would cost.

The learning curve is not high at all, and managing white balance and getting the skin tones right is actually much easier. The camera is much more intuitive to handle and way more thought through.

luisfico · Joined: 02 Jan 2007 Posts: 460