Mathphotographer is the proper name for the most amazingly technically competent, observant, instructive, interesting, and easily understood camera and lens interpreter. And on top of all of that, an excellent photographer.
Your channel is THE best one in the business! Your attention to detail, the amazing way you explain the subject at hand and how you show it are second to none. Very well done! Cheers.
Excellent as always ! I'm deeply impressed with your punctuality and with the way your explanations and demonstrations make every complicated issue so simple to understand. Thank you very much for your efforts ❤
Hello and thank you for your comprehensive tutorial @11:00 XCD lenses don't have a hard stop exactly at infinity That's why for landscapes you have to start the sequence from infinity toward near, and focus at infinity before starting. Not proceeding like this can let the exact infinity sharpness fall between two frames. That's what I experimented
Thanks Derrick! Focus stacking in Phocus Software would be great, maybe a future feature. If you shoot Phase One and use Capture One for remote shooting, focus stacking works! Hasselblad should incorporate this too.
Thanks for another information packed tutorial video presentation...Without a doubt whenever I've got an issue or just seeking a deeper dive into a subject area with the X2D 100C I search your video(s) first for the answers...Thanks again!
Your videos are so good - I watched the whole video and I dont even own this camera! Hoping this focus bracketing functionality can be brought to the Leica Q3 in a future update
This has been the best video that I have seen on focus bracketing. I really thank you because this area really interests me. I do alot of macro work and this is the tool you need. Still life , jewelry and the like. Very informative , thanks again!
Nice. Good informative and clear explanation. But I feel the Phase One execution of bracketing is still superior, as you choose the near point, choose the far point. And the camera calculates the step size and number of frames depending on focus distance, lens and aperture chosen. With the capability of manual override. Also, I normally use the frame delay for strobe to refresh.
Agree - Phase One focus stacking is more convenient but I can work well with the X2D focus stacking menu, no issue. You just need to trial and error a bit and with more experience with the focus stacking settings it gets quicker and quicker :)
I haven't used the focus stacking option in my X2D yet (and may not) as I tend to do it on my 907X. And I've never used anything like 800 frames; I normally use between 15 and 50 frames. As with your shots I do my stacking with the XCD 120 macro lens normally at F8. I notice in your video at time 27:48 that you have artifacts in your image from Helicon Focus. I too get these artifacts especially when there are overlapping focus points. Usually these can be tidied up later but they are still annoying. It would be good if they could be eliminated altogether but I guess Helicon Focus, although excellent, isn't perfect. Incidentally when focus stacking I usually (unless I forget sometimes!) set the camera mode to Mq. Anyway thank you for the interesting video.
Thanks Roger, Helicon Focus unfortunately is not artefacts-free, spot on observed. That's why I prefer the 170 frames stacked image: there you don't have these artefacts but the foreground flower is perfectly sharp and rendered.
Thank you! Very helpful. Question: how often do you use focus stacking for landscape images, if at all? Also, why wouldn't one want to use "Symmetric" to make 100% sure the main subject is in focus vs just Towards Infinity? Finally, on a slightly different topic, would love to see a video on using Phocus just to do very basic edits and then export to Lightroom or C1 - I avoid Phocus due to the difficulty of use and slowness. Thanks!
Thanks Peter. On landscape I typically go for wide angle lenses and then on the X2D stopping down to f/8 or f/11 will already get you a sharp image if your scene is a wide open area in front of the camera. But if there are some subjects in the foreground, say, a bush or tree in 10m distance and you want the tree and the horizon both sharp, focus stacking is the way to go, even in landscape photography.
Hi ! thanks for this nice video. I've a X2D and XCD 28. I want to do focus bracketing on large areas landscapes (desert...). Would you rather use manual mode or autofocus mode for focus bracketing ? Thank you
A lot of valuable information here, thank you. I have a quick question: Instead of using the leaf shutter in an XCD lens, why not use the ES in the X2D camera? Can that be done to have any wait time for shutter vibrations to die down? Would that not make the whole focus-stacking shoot much faster, and also, save wear and tear on a leaf-shutter lens? Perhaps also reduce heating of the sensor and hot pixels? Kind regards, Roy
Your videos are great. I have recently bought the hassleblad X2D and I’m very impressed. Your settings guide is excellent and I’ve made some fantastic very sharp photographs. My question iswhich in your opinion is the best printer to print off reasonably high-quality prints which showed the sharpness of the photos.
Excellent presentation, very helpful. One thing I wonder, why did you not use electronic shutter since the image is stable, I believe this will save on the wear and tear of the blade shutter, and it also uses less power and consequently less heat!
Spot-on, I could have uses e-Shutter since the scene is completely still and there are no moving subjects. Having said that, the Hasselblad-X system is a leaf shutter system and the leaf shutters are very robust and not so much vulnerable of being waisted over time as you would have it with a focal plane shutter in the camera body.
Excellent explanation Math, chapeau ! What a beautiful simple menu on the X2D Flower shots look amazing. Bit strange that C1 does not read Hasselblad files. Any reason why, besides the fact that they are competitors with the Phase One. You should ask Dave from C1 or send them a message in the forum, they usually come with a legit answer in not to much time I had some recommendation for C1 in the past and they all applied them not long after my suggestions. Thanks for the effort and sharing, very very interesting. From a hot Amsterdam, all the best and a beautiful weekend.
Thanks RS, its indeed strange that CO23 does not support Hasselblad RAW images ... would be great to work on these RAW files in CO. Reaching out the them likely is a good idea. Have a nice weekend, all the best!
Excellent video thank you. That would be nice to see what is the best focus stacking setting for a landscape shot. I imagine that extra large would be enough ?
Even when hardly pixel peeping I could never find a difference on my landscapes between extra small and small steppings with the X1D. As the automatic stepping is pixel size related it should be the same with the X2D ?
Hi, another question. Stacking software? You are using Helicon. I have discovered that there is another software foundry, Zerene. Why did you choose Helicon over Zerene? I am about to take the macro plunge and would like to make as few mistakes as possible. Danke.
Thanks for the great guidance, but the way the Hasselblad has deployed this feature is not the best for me. I would like to calculate (so not just guess) how many shots I need to allow when shooting between a near and far focus point -- just give it a try is not satisfactory for me. The CoC explanation from H is entirely unhelpful. Here is a real example XCD 120mm macro on a X2D set at f/8 - near focus distance 500mm, far focus distance 700mm - what do I have to do to be able to calculate how many steps are needed for each step interval size? Is there a site or formula I can use? The answer is to use the thin lens equation to get an approximation. 1/Do+1/Di =1/f. Do = object distance, which is a distance of an object (so the NEAR and FAR focus distances) to the center of a lens -- which is where (or what measurement) relative to a camera's sensor and a complex lens like the XCD 120mm -- if one uses the distance from the sensor to the object as an approximation f = focal length of the lens = 120mm Do [near] 430mm Do [far] is 530mm Di = image distance = 1/(1/Do - 1/f) Di [near] = 1/(1/430 - 1/120) = -166.45 Di [far] = 1/(1/530 - 1/120) = -155.12 Di Delta = 11.33 mm The image plane step size using the smallest setting and F/8 = 1 x CoC (3.76 µm micrometers) x 8 (f/8) = 30.08 µm (0.03008mm) No of steps = (Di [far] - Di [near] ) / image plane step size (0.030076mm) No of steps = (-155.12 - - 166.45 / 0.03008 = 11.33/ 0.03008 = 377 I for one would like Hasselblad to modify this feature to allow the user to set the near and far focus distance and select step size then allow the camera to work out the number of shots. Otherwise all we are doing is wasting time and wasting storage on the camera/cards until we can look in detail at the images.
Vielen Dank, Herr Professor! Another excellent video seminar. While the focus bracketing is interesting I would be more using the exposure bracketing. I can build out from what you have described. Your seminars are always useful. Thanks for that. ;o)
Many thanks for the compliments, Zoltan :) Exposure Bracketing works totally different. I am working on a tutorial for Firmware 2.0.0 and will include a short chapter on the topic.
Excellent video. Very informative indeed. It looks like one can't focus at the very bottom or top of the image on back LCD? This could prevent the very close point being fully in focus unless one used f16 or smaller which would then run into diffraction issues and longer shutter speeds.....could be a problem for landscape images? Could you please do a similar video for some landscape images where focus needs to go from a few inches to infinity? Many thanks for this truly excellent video. As an aside, I have heard that the Sony A7RV has a problem in the current focus stacking software which prevent it from focussing at infinity....seems to stop short every time. Have you come across this issue? Thanks again for your great work.
Many thanks for your kind feedback. Your comment is spot-on, you can not fully reach the boundaries of the live view with the focus field. On landscape focus stacking, I will certainly look into it too besides macro photography. Interesting that you mention the Sony A7RV, I did not come across this issue yet but also did not use yet the A7RV for focus stacking up to infinity.
@@mathphotographer Many thanks for feedback. Hopefully Hasselblad will correct this in the next update!! Keep up the great work as it's very helpful for sure.
Hi Math, I own the HC120II macro, and it does work with the X2D for focus stacking. It's not an AF lens, but it does have capabilities for this feature. This lens BTW, is the sharpest, cleanest lens I have ever come across. Very heavy, but it is also a real 1:1 macro lens, not like the 2:1 XCD macro lens. I don't know how much that really matters, but having a 1:1 reproduction ratio is incredible. Great video, so much great info you provide! EDIT: the firmware on the HC120II needs to be 19.1.0.
Many thanks for sharing this with us, Dennis. The Hasselblad manual says "not working" but if you got it to work that's great!!! I will try this out myself, many thanks also for the firmware hint, very helpful.
Are you sure that focus bracketing doesn't work with HC/HCD lenses ? It works with my X1D/ 907X - HCD28 orange dot combo. (on H6 bodies it works in Phocus when tethered, not in camera) Of course, unless hardware upgraded, non orange dot H lenses are not compatible with AF and focus bracketing on X system.
Can you set camera so focus does not go back to the original position? I like to leave focus at the last focus position in case I didn’t focus out far enough and need to add more frames to the bracketing
Good point, Steve. I have not found yet a setting which would achieve what you are asking for although it would make perfectly sense to have such a setting.
@@mathphotographer If you get a chance, can you try going to "Focus" in the settings and select "Never Reset" and see if that does it. This is a real make or break for me in upgrading from my X1Dii to the X2d. Thank you for all you do!!!
Around the yellow flower (and other places) there is blur, are there any way to fix that? Every time I’ve tried focus stacking I’ve gotten this effect and I hate how it looks.
Good observation, Eirik. Helicon Focus has sometimes some artefacts and only trial and error will help to fix this. What I prefer is the 170 frames stacked image where the whole foreground flower is pin point sharp and the background keeps some blurriness.
I cant get Phocus to work on my M1mac. When i try to open the 3Fr file it tuns blown out light overall and None of the adjustment sliders affect the image. I have reinstalled multiple times. Have you ever seen this?
No - it works perfectly fine for me with Phocus Mobile 2. I need to look into Phocus on my Mac - which is a different setup of course. My preference is rather Phocus Mobile 2 where I just a few weeks back posted a tutorial.
If I prefer iOS but like natural looking photo, should I get iPhone 14 Yellow because I loge yellow color or Sony Xperia 1 V or wait for iPhone 15? By the way, is it true that Sony, Leica and Hasselblad all are accurate to real life color but Sony has a hint of cool, Leica has a hint of warm and Hasseblad is the most neutral and real life look camera? Should I get an iPhone as a tool and just get a Sony A7C / C ii with 20 - 70mm or Leica Q3 or Hasselblad X2D with 38mm for photography instead of Sony Xperia 1 V or get iPhone and Xperia 1 V because they will still be easier to carry and use more than the desicated camera?
Hi - thanks for your comment. On colors, I believe Hasselblad is best, Leica comes close and Nikon is also great. For Sony its best to only work with RAW files and give them the color touch you like :) On smartphones: they are not yet a match for pro cameras but they caught up a lot in the last years.
Thanks for the work you've done! The camera is aesthetically very beautiful! But she must work and earn her price! No joystick, no tracking focus! focusing with a wet finger and on a wet screen is problematic! The company needs to work on eliminating these problems! The closest competitor is Fujifilm, it has all this, plus video shooting! If Hass had also uploaded video to this camera, the price would have become astronomical!
There are better and cheaper cameras for video that give you better results (than GFX 100 II), so I think it's a right decision that HB focuses on photo capabilities. Tracking would be great, but again if you need continuous tracking it's better to go for full frame. Mid format is decade(s) away from modern full frame AF systems (look at A9III continuous AF in 120fps burst mode). I look at X2D as a perfect camera for Leica M type of photographers (which is manual focus only) - superior colors and image quality and some convenience features like basic autofocus. As for wet fingers you can move focus point with front and back wheels, so no need to use touch screen. Although it might be less convenient than joystick, I personally prefer less buttons and again much more superior menu UI compared to any other camera manufacturer.
@@mathphotographer I would also love to know the shooting speed as I don’t see it quoted anywhere. I think a subject backlit with clouds is really the main point of checking for this. Also file size differences would be super interesting.
@@davidcr487 Yes and I will mention in a video with tips & tricks for the X2D coming Saturday: Hasselblad says in the manual that the file size of 14bit vs 16bit is the same so in most situations I recommend to shoot with 16bit. The only reason to go for 14bit is when you take a lot of shots consecutively and then 14bit allows for a faster image capture experience and decreased blackout time between shots.
The other thing I can think of is for non XCD lenses. If it effects the sensor readout time you probably only want to use 14 bit with non-Hasselblad lenses.
Good point! Of course you could use a tilt lens but this restricts you to a few lenses and their corresponding focal length. Focus Stacking can be exercised with ANY LENS and that's why people use it :)
@@amaitra Correct - if I would have taken a tilt lens, adjusted the tilt for maximum DoF and did it in one shot, the scene can include moving subjects and does not need to be a still scene. The point you mention is the main caveat of focus stacking, namely, if the scene has changing subjects like wind moving the flowers, the frames can no longer be stacked. Then a tilt lens is the much better approach.
@@mathphotographer I wonder why "pro"s do the stacking. If it is a studio, they know the focal length they need. Few adjustments and it is done. We have the TS macros too. I use medium format lens with TS adapters on FF - I am not selling stuff - it is for fun. Any specific reason a pro wants to stack 800 images, then combine blah blah ... if time is money it is not very optimal?
Yes, that's right, still no face or eye detection. I really hoped they implement this for Firmware 2.0.0 but seems they prioritised other functions to catch up with the X1DII functionality.
They prioritized on the many X2D missing functions that already existed on all other previous X-system cameras. AF tuning will certainly be done in a future FW release.
4th reason to collect contact information: send an update to your tribe if/when you update your template to take advantage of the march of new Tana features, and as you improve your template design and architecture!
Mathphotographer is the proper name for the most amazingly technically competent, observant, instructive, interesting, and easily understood camera and lens interpreter. And on top of all of that, an excellent photographer.
Thanks Stuart - you kind comment makes my day :)
Your channel is THE best one in the business! Your attention to detail, the amazing way you explain the subject at hand and how you show it are second to none. Very well done! Cheers.
Many thanks for that kind feedback, much appreciated!
Excellent as always !
I'm deeply impressed with your punctuality and with the way your explanations and demonstrations make every complicated issue so simple to understand.
Thank you very much for your efforts ❤
Very nice feedback, many thanks!
Pedagogicly done, thorough with good illustrations! The editing must have taken a long time. I appreciate all your hard work, thanks a lot!
Thanks! Editing takes a while indeed :)
Hello and thank you for your comprehensive tutorial
@11:00
XCD lenses don't have a hard stop exactly at infinity
That's why for landscapes you have to start the sequence from infinity toward near, and focus at infinity before starting.
Not proceeding like this can let the exact infinity sharpness fall between two frames.
That's what I experimented
math, camera manufacturers should be paying you for these videos! Outstanding. Hasselblad should add the Focus stacking in their Phocus software.
Thanks Derrick! Focus stacking in Phocus Software would be great, maybe a future feature. If you shoot Phase One and use Capture One for remote shooting, focus stacking works! Hasselblad should incorporate this too.
Thank you for this demonstration - This 602 stacked image is from another universe ...
(or the moon, Hasselblad excellently knows)
great video. Exposure Delay is good to give time for a flash unit to recycle
Exactly, spot-on.
Thanks for another information packed tutorial video presentation...Without a doubt whenever I've got an issue or just seeking a deeper dive into a subject area with the X2D 100C I search your video(s) first for the answers...Thanks again!
Amazing what can be done these days! Well explained Math! Hasselblad is my dream camera :) Thank you so much!
You are welcome :)
Amazingly insightful! Thank you for the educational tool! 🙏🏻
You are the best. Thank you for sharing all your knowledge.
Thank you for another excellent video! Best wishes for 2024. Ken.
Excellent video !!
Outstanding. Prof. Math: you are the best!🖖
Haha, many thanks for the flowers, making my day :)
Like always a great video! Perfectly explained, thanx a lot!!
Many thanks!
Your videos are so good - I watched the whole video and I dont even own this camera! Hoping this focus bracketing functionality can be brought to the Leica Q3 in a future update
Many thanks, Ali. This would be a great feature for my Leica Q3, fully agree.
Hello, Great explanation..
Thanks John.
excellent demo and very clear. thank you!
Thanks Patrick!
Excellent videos good sir. Thanks
Thanks a lot.
Excellent explanation, thank you.
Welcome :)
This has been the best video that I have seen on focus bracketing. I really thank you because this area really interests me. I do alot of macro work and this is the tool you need. Still life , jewelry and the like. Very informative , thanks again!
Glad it was helpful!
Nice. Good informative and clear explanation.
But I feel the Phase One execution of bracketing is still superior, as you choose the near point, choose the far point. And the camera calculates the step size and number of frames depending on focus distance, lens and aperture chosen. With the capability of manual override.
Also, I normally use the frame delay for strobe to refresh.
Also you can hack the Hasselblad file with a simple edit, and C1 will work with the file.
Agree - Phase One focus stacking is more convenient but I can work well with the X2D focus stacking menu, no issue. You just need to trial and error a bit and with more experience with the focus stacking settings it gets quicker and quicker :)
I haven't used the focus stacking option in my X2D yet (and may not) as I tend to do it on my 907X. And I've never used anything like 800 frames; I normally use between 15 and 50 frames. As with your shots I do my stacking with the XCD 120 macro lens normally at F8. I notice in your video at time 27:48 that you have artifacts in your image from Helicon Focus. I too get these artifacts especially when there are overlapping focus points. Usually these can be tidied up later but they are still annoying. It would be good if they could be eliminated altogether but I guess Helicon Focus, although excellent, isn't perfect. Incidentally when focus stacking I usually (unless I forget sometimes!) set the camera mode to Mq. Anyway thank you for the interesting video.
Thanks Roger, Helicon Focus unfortunately is not artefacts-free, spot on observed. That's why I prefer the 170 frames stacked image: there you don't have these artefacts but the foreground flower is perfectly sharp and rendered.
Thanks for the video. What are you using to stack together all the frames?
Thank you! Very helpful. Question: how often do you use focus stacking for landscape images, if at all? Also, why wouldn't one want to use "Symmetric" to make 100% sure the main subject is in focus vs just Towards Infinity? Finally, on a slightly different topic, would love to see a video on using Phocus just to do very basic edits and then export to Lightroom or C1 - I avoid Phocus due to the difficulty of use and slowness. Thanks!
Thanks Peter. On landscape I typically go for wide angle lenses and then on the X2D stopping down to f/8 or f/11 will already get you a sharp image if your scene is a wide open area in front of the camera. But if there are some subjects in the foreground, say, a bush or tree in 10m distance and you want the tree and the horizon both sharp, focus stacking is the way to go, even in landscape photography.
Hi ! thanks for this nice video. I've a X2D and XCD 28. I want to do focus bracketing on large areas landscapes (desert...). Would you rather use manual mode or autofocus mode for focus bracketing ? Thank you
A lot of valuable information here, thank you. I have a quick question: Instead of using the leaf shutter in an XCD lens, why not use the ES in the X2D camera? Can that be done to have any wait time for shutter vibrations to die down? Would that not make the whole focus-stacking shoot much faster, and also, save wear and tear on a leaf-shutter lens? Perhaps also reduce heating of the sensor and hot pixels?
Kind regards,
Roy
Your videos are great. I have recently bought the hassleblad X2D and I’m very impressed. Your settings guide is excellent and I’ve made some fantastic very sharp photographs. My question iswhich in your opinion is the best printer to print off reasonably high-quality prints which showed the sharpness of the photos.
Excellent presentation, very helpful.
One thing I wonder, why did you not use electronic shutter since the image is stable, I believe this will save on the wear and tear of the blade shutter, and it also uses less power and consequently less heat!
Spot-on, I could have uses e-Shutter since the scene is completely still and there are no moving subjects. Having said that, the Hasselblad-X system is a leaf shutter system and the leaf shutters are very robust and not so much vulnerable of being waisted over time as you would have it with a focal plane shutter in the camera body.
Excellent explanation Math, chapeau !
What a beautiful simple menu on the X2D
Flower shots look amazing.
Bit strange that C1 does not read Hasselblad files.
Any reason why, besides the fact that they are competitors with the Phase One.
You should ask Dave from C1 or send them a message in the forum, they usually come with a legit answer in not to much time
I had some recommendation for C1 in the past and they all applied them not long after my suggestions.
Thanks for the effort and sharing, very very interesting.
From a hot Amsterdam, all the best and a beautiful weekend.
Thanks RS, its indeed strange that CO23 does not support Hasselblad RAW images ... would be great to work on these RAW files in CO. Reaching out the them likely is a good idea. Have a nice weekend, all the best!
Excellent video thank you. That would be nice to see what is the best focus stacking setting for a landscape shot. I imagine that extra large would be enough ?
On landscape I guess yes, you do not need small step size on landscape, spot-on.
Next hopefully - dual exposure plus & frame averaging
Your one focus stacking example was with JPG's. What conclusion should I be drawing?
Many thanks for your excellent informative videos👍
Im presuming focus stack will only work with auto focus lenses?
Yes indeed, well observed. You need autofocus to enable the camera to automatically do the focus shifting.
Even when hardly pixel peeping I could never find a difference on my landscapes between extra small and small steppings with the X1D.
As the automatic stepping is pixel size related it should be the same with the X2D ?
You are brilliant indeed! Would you consider offering a Hasselblad X2d workshop in person? Maybe In San Francisco ?
Many thanks, I do not offer in person workshops at this point in time but that might change in the future :)
Very interesting. How good does your computer handle this amount of heavy X2D files at once for the stacking?
No issue at all, works very fluent. I use the newest Macbook Pro with Apple M2 chip and max specs.
Please do comparison M11 35mm APO vs Hassel X2D 38mm XCD 2.5
Interesting!
Thanks.
Hi, another question. Stacking software? You are using Helicon. I have discovered that there is another software foundry, Zerene. Why did you choose Helicon over Zerene? I am about to take the macro plunge and would like to make as few mistakes as possible. Danke.
Thanks for the great guidance, but the way the Hasselblad has deployed this feature is not the best for me.
I would like to calculate (so not just guess) how many shots I need to allow when shooting between a near and far focus point -- just give it a try is not satisfactory for me. The CoC explanation from H is entirely unhelpful. Here is a real example XCD 120mm macro on a X2D set at f/8 - near focus distance 500mm, far focus distance 700mm - what do I have to do to be able to calculate how many steps are needed for each step interval size? Is there a site or formula I can use?
The answer is to use the thin lens equation to get an approximation.
1/Do+1/Di =1/f.
Do = object distance, which is a distance of an object (so the NEAR and FAR focus distances) to the center of a lens -- which is where (or what measurement) relative to a camera's sensor and a complex lens like the XCD 120mm -- if one uses the distance from the sensor to the object as an approximation
f = focal length of the lens = 120mm
Do [near] 430mm
Do [far] is 530mm
Di = image distance = 1/(1/Do - 1/f)
Di [near] = 1/(1/430 - 1/120) = -166.45
Di [far] = 1/(1/530 - 1/120) = -155.12
Di Delta = 11.33 mm
The image plane step size using the smallest setting and F/8 = 1 x CoC (3.76 µm micrometers) x 8 (f/8) = 30.08 µm (0.03008mm)
No of steps = (Di [far] - Di [near] ) / image plane step size (0.030076mm)
No of steps = (-155.12 - - 166.45 / 0.03008 = 11.33/ 0.03008 = 377
I for one would like Hasselblad to modify this feature to allow the user to set the near and far focus distance and select step size then allow the camera to work out the number of shots. Otherwise all we are doing is wasting time and wasting storage on the camera/cards until we can look in detail at the images.
Vielen Dank, Herr Professor! Another excellent video seminar. While the focus bracketing is interesting I would be more using the exposure bracketing. I can build out from what you have described. Your seminars are always useful. Thanks for that. ;o)
Many thanks for the compliments, Zoltan :) Exposure Bracketing works totally different. I am working on a tutorial for Firmware 2.0.0 and will include a short chapter on the topic.
Excellent video. Very informative indeed. It looks like one can't focus at the very bottom or top of the image on back LCD? This could prevent the very close point being fully in focus unless one used f16 or smaller which would then run into diffraction issues and longer shutter speeds.....could be a problem for landscape images? Could you please do a similar video for some landscape images where focus needs to go from a few inches to infinity? Many thanks for this truly excellent video. As an aside, I have heard that the Sony A7RV has a problem in the current focus stacking software which prevent it from focussing at infinity....seems to stop short every time. Have you come across this issue? Thanks again for your great work.
Many thanks for your kind feedback. Your comment is spot-on, you can not fully reach the boundaries of the live view with the focus field. On landscape focus stacking, I will certainly look into it too besides macro photography. Interesting that you mention the Sony A7RV, I did not come across this issue yet but also did not use yet the A7RV for focus stacking up to infinity.
@@mathphotographer Many thanks for feedback. Hopefully Hasselblad will correct this in the next update!! Keep up the great work as it's very helpful for sure.
Hi Math, I own the HC120II macro, and it does work with the X2D for focus stacking. It's not an AF lens, but it does have capabilities for this feature. This lens BTW, is the sharpest, cleanest lens I have ever come across. Very heavy, but it is also a real 1:1 macro lens, not like the 2:1 XCD macro lens. I don't know how much that really matters, but having a 1:1 reproduction ratio is incredible.
Great video, so much great info you provide! EDIT: the firmware on the HC120II needs to be 19.1.0.
Many thanks for sharing this with us, Dennis. The Hasselblad manual says "not working" but if you got it to work that's great!!! I will try this out myself, many thanks also for the firmware hint, very helpful.
So if you set 100 frames for bracketing one image, then shutter count goes up by 100 ?
Are you sure that focus bracketing doesn't work with HC/HCD lenses ?
It works with my X1D/ 907X - HCD28 orange dot combo. (on H6 bodies it works in Phocus when tethered, not in camera)
Of course, unless hardware upgraded, non orange dot H lenses are not compatible with AF and focus bracketing on X system.
Can you set camera so focus does not go back to the original position? I like to leave focus at the last focus position in case I didn’t focus out far enough and need to add more frames to the bracketing
Good point, Steve. I have not found yet a setting which would achieve what you are asking for although it would make perfectly sense to have such a setting.
@@mathphotographer If you get a chance, can you try going to "Focus" in the settings and select "Never Reset" and see if that does it. This is a real make or break for me in upgrading from my X1Dii to the X2d. Thank you for all you do!!!
Around the yellow flower (and other places) there is blur, are there any way to fix that? Every time I’ve tried focus stacking I’ve gotten this effect and I hate how it looks.
Good observation, Eirik. Helicon Focus has sometimes some artefacts and only trial and error will help to fix this. What I prefer is the 170 frames stacked image where the whole foreground flower is pin point sharp and the background keeps some blurriness.
This firmware works with old Hasselblad cameras? H4 or H5?
No, not at all. Its dedicated firmware for the X2D 100c only, never use it please for any other Hasselblad camera.
Hi, does the new firmware has live view option?
The new firmware finally includes histogram in live view which is a feature many people have waited for.
I cant get Phocus to work on my M1mac. When i try to open the 3Fr file it tuns blown out light overall and None of the adjustment sliders affect the image. I have reinstalled multiple times. Have you ever seen this?
No - it works perfectly fine for me with Phocus Mobile 2. I need to look into Phocus on my Mac - which is a different setup of course. My preference is rather Phocus Mobile 2 where I just a few weeks back posted a tutorial.
@@mathphotographer ok thanks. Frustrating.
If I prefer iOS but like natural looking photo, should I get iPhone 14 Yellow because I loge yellow color or Sony Xperia 1 V or wait for iPhone 15?
By the way, is it true that Sony, Leica and Hasselblad all are accurate to real life color but Sony has a hint of cool, Leica has a hint of warm and Hasseblad is the most neutral and real life look camera?
Should I get an iPhone as a tool and just get a Sony A7C / C ii with 20 - 70mm or Leica Q3 or Hasselblad X2D with 38mm for photography instead of Sony Xperia 1 V or get iPhone and Xperia 1 V because they will still be easier to carry and use more than the desicated camera?
Hi - thanks for your comment. On colors, I believe Hasselblad is best, Leica comes close and Nikon is also great. For Sony its best to only work with RAW files and give them the color touch you like :) On smartphones: they are not yet a match for pro cameras but they caught up a lot in the last years.
@@mathphotographer I see, which smartphone do you use and do you phone or camera in beach or some other similar situation?
Hallo, ich möchte Sie gerne wegen einer Frage kontaktieren, wie kann ich das tun?
Thanks for the work you've done! The camera is aesthetically very beautiful! But she must work and earn her price! No joystick, no tracking focus! focusing with a wet finger and on a wet screen is problematic! The company needs to work on eliminating these problems! The closest competitor is Fujifilm, it has all this, plus video shooting! If Hass had also uploaded video to this camera, the price would have become astronomical!
There are better and cheaper cameras for video that give you better results (than GFX 100 II), so I think it's a right decision that HB focuses on photo capabilities. Tracking would be great, but again if you need continuous tracking it's better to go for full frame. Mid format is decade(s) away from modern full frame AF systems (look at A9III continuous AF in 120fps burst mode). I look at X2D as a perfect camera for Leica M type of photographers (which is manual focus only) - superior colors and image quality and some convenience features like basic autofocus. As for wet fingers you can move focus point with front and back wheels, so no need to use touch screen. Although it might be less convenient than joystick, I personally prefer less buttons and again much more superior menu UI compared to any other camera manufacturer.
Can you do a video where you compare 14 vs 16 bit on this camera and see how much it differs in the highlights and the color representation?
Will consider, David, but will not differ a lot in a normal shooting.
@@mathphotographer I would also love to know the shooting speed as I don’t see it quoted anywhere.
I think a subject backlit with clouds is really the main point of checking for this.
Also file size differences would be super interesting.
The fundamental question is: should I just keep it on 16 bit all the time or fiddle with it?
@@davidcr487 Yes and I will mention in a video with tips & tricks for the X2D coming Saturday: Hasselblad says in the manual that the file size of 14bit vs 16bit is the same so in most situations I recommend to shoot with 16bit. The only reason to go for 14bit is when you take a lot of shots consecutively and then 14bit allows for a faster image capture experience and decreased blackout time between shots.
The other thing I can think of is for non XCD lenses. If it effects the sensor readout time you probably only want to use 14 bit with non-Hasselblad lenses.
Great video - but why not use a tilt lens and do it all inn 1 image!
Good point! Of course you could use a tilt lens but this restricts you to a few lenses and their corresponding focal length. Focus Stacking can be exercised with ANY LENS and that's why people use it :)
Thanks for your positive feedback!
@@mathphotographer you don't need "800" frames - must have taken you "hours" to shoot! And you don't need your subject to be static!
@@amaitra Correct - if I would have taken a tilt lens, adjusted the tilt for maximum DoF and did it in one shot, the scene can include moving subjects and does not need to be a still scene. The point you mention is the main caveat of focus stacking, namely, if the scene has changing subjects like wind moving the flowers, the frames can no longer be stacked. Then a tilt lens is the much better approach.
@@mathphotographer I wonder why "pro"s do the stacking. If it is a studio, they know the focal length they need. Few adjustments and it is done. We have the TS macros too.
I use medium format lens with TS adapters on FF - I am not selling stuff - it is for fun.
Any specific reason a pro wants to stack 800 images, then combine blah blah ... if time is money it is not very optimal?
We are in 2023 and still no face detect autofocus. I really can not rely on this camera brand even i love their design and iq
Yes, that's right, still no face or eye detection. I really hoped they implement this for Firmware 2.0.0 but seems they prioritised other functions to catch up with the X1DII functionality.
They prioritized on the many X2D missing functions that already existed on all other previous X-system cameras.
AF tuning will certainly be done in a future FW release.
4th reason to collect contact information: send an update to your tribe if/when you update your template to take advantage of the march of new Tana features, and as you improve your template design and architecture!
602 frames????!!?