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Viewfinder
The H3D 31's viewfinder is large because it provides a view of the H3D's 49x36.7mm focusing screen. Photographers accustomed to an APS-format DSLR or even a full-frame DSLR like the Canon 1Ds or 5D, will be shocked at how much more they see in the larger viewfinder. Hasselblad's focusing screen is very bright and focus snaps in nicely.
 The H3D 31's viewfinder shows a good bit more than the final image because its 44x33mm sensor is smaller than the 49x36.7mm format for which the camera is designed. Rather than simply mask away the unused area, Hasselblad chose to paint a black frame line on the focusing screen. The result is that the user can see what's just outside the frame while looking through the viewfinder. That can be a convenience, assuming the user doesn't get confused and ignore the frameline.
The viewfinder LCD is a narrow yellow strip across the bottom of the view. It is a dot-matrix screen, meaning that the characters and icons are build up from a matrix of squares. The effect is a bit like a 1980s video game, but it allows the screen to be fully modal – as the user changes from shooting mode to various adjustment modes, the whole screen is devoted to whatever adjustment is current. In shooting mode, the display shows the exposure mode (M, A, S, P or Pv), a linear exposure scale, aperture, shutter speed, shot counter and the current meter pattern. The focus confirmation display is to the right of the LCD, and the flash and caution icons are to the left of it. When the flash adjustments are active, the LCD shows flash EV compensation, and normal or second-curtain sync, along with a big label that says “Flash.” AF mode is the same, showing only the text “Manual,” “Single” or “Continuous,” as the user chooses a mode. Exposure compensation and Exposure mode follow the same pattern.
Small-format DSLRs tend to show all that information at once, which is useful. Hasselblad shows it one item at a time and makes it easily readible.
LCD Screen
After looking at the Canon EOS-1D Mark III's 3-inch LCD or even the 2.5-inch LCDs on most DSLRs, the 2.2-inch screen (photo above) on the  back of the H3D 31 looks puny. The menus are bright and readable, with a nifty color scheme, and the view from a sharp angle remains good, but “2.2 inches” and “$24,995” don't go together all that well.
The most logical explanation is that there isn't a truly magnificent potential for image review on the back, given the structure of the its image storage. It isn't in the cards for the back to render the 31-megapixel 3FR file onto an LCD anyway, given the processing power that would take. It shows a thumbnail image, which is much lower quality than the images users see on regular DSLRs. There are rasterization artifacts, the color isn't great – essentially the thumbnails couldn't keep up with a better LCD. Despite this, the thumbnails do show sharpness well.
The monochrome LCD (right) is a bit different from the ones typical on small-format DSLRs. It is a dot-matrix display, so all the text and icons it shows are built up from dot rasters, and they look jagged. The letterforms and icons on Canon or Nikon monochrome displays are much smoother because their shapes are etched into the LCD. The H3D 31 display is less attractive, but more flexible – it can be set to show a histogram that fills the entire screen. Because it's monochrome, it's the best place to show the histogram when shooting outdoors since it stays visible in bright light.
Flash
 The H3D 31 has a pop-up flash, the irony of which is not lost on Hasselblad sales and marketing staff. It's about an inch across – here in Las Vegas, at the Photo Marketing Association trade show, the simplest comparison is with a Sacajawea dollar coin, which just about covers the narrow rectangle. Still, with a guide number of 12, it can function as a fill-flash outdoors, especially because the H3D 31 offers flash sync up to 1/800 of a second. The sync can be set to front or rear curtain mode, and the flash exposure compensation setting run 3 EV above and below the metered reading, in 1/3-EV increments. The H3D 31 can also be used as a flash meter for manual strobes.
The H3D 31 is compatible with the SCA 3002 standard for TTL flash, through a dedicated hot shoe on top of the viewfinder. The H3D 31 manual shows a range of Metz-brand flashes that function with the system.
Lenses
Back in the days of film, Hasselblad contracted with Zeiss to produce lenses for its cameras. That relationship has ended, and the H3D 31 uses lenses designed and branded Hasselblad, which are manufactured by Fujifilm. Though the Zeiss name retains an enviable cachet, there's no reason to think that Hasselblad has taken a step down. Fujifilm lenses for large format and industrial/technical use are superb. Sample Hasselblad images indicate that the lenses are very capable. The current range of lenses runs from 28mm to 300mm, with a single slightly-wide to slightly-tele 50-110mm zoom. The fastest lens in the bunch is the f/2.2 100mm.
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