Digital Camera Review

Digital Camera Review

Mar 13, 2007 - By Patrick Singleton
The Hasselblad H3D 31 is a medium-format DSLR, with a 44.2 x 33.1 mm, 31-megapixel sensor. At $24,995, it's a general-purpose camera for high-end professional work. Hasselblad also sells a 39-megapixel H3D and a 22-megapixel iteration. The H3D 31 operates a little faster than the other models, and its sensor is physically a little smaller. Its ISO range runs from 100 to 800, a stop faster at both ends than the other H3Ds, so it may be more appropriate for work with moving subjects than the others.
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Model Design / Appearance
The H3D 31 looks impressive. The painted stainless steel exterior and fine finish reflect excellent craftsmanship. The H3D 31 is big and usually-shaped, with a front-to-back orientation rather than the horizontal look of consumer and small-format pro cameras. It looks different is a good way.
 
And then, there's the Hasselblad name. It turns heads. People feel clever to know enough to be impressed by it. In the film era, shooting weddings with Hasselblad was always easier, because the bride's fat, overbearing uncle, with odor redolent of stale tobacco and indifferent oral hygiene, would lean over into the photographer's personal space, expel a wordless, noxious breath, and nod to his oblivious wife murmuring, “that's pro stuff. The best.” It was always nice to use a Hasselblad for family snapshots in rich neighborhoods, because the guys wearing stainless steel Rolexes would let their faces fall, with a look that said, “it costs more than my watch, AND you have to know how to use it.”
 
 
Size / Portability
With an 80mm f/2.8 lens, the H3D 31 measures about 6x5.2x8.4 inches and tips the scales at 4.79 pounds. None of the other lenses are any lighter or smaller. Packing a 2 or 3 lens kit takes space comparable to a couple of Canon or Nikon pro bodies with a full complement of lenses and a couple flashes.
 
Though the H3D 31 shows impressive seals at the lens mount, between the body and the back, and at the jacks, there's something amiss. The back has 6 huge ventilation slots – perish the thought, but they're big enough for large ants to crawl into, let alone dust and moisture. The slots are not apparently a vector for dust getting on the sensor, but they lead to the back's cooling fan and the rest of its impressive guts. Many impressive landscape and nature photographers use Hasselblad digital cameras, but they must be very careful.
 
Another reflection on size: Let's just guess that a Leica M8 with a nice lens would run $6500 and weigh 25 ounces. That's $260 an ounce. At about $329 an ounce, the H3D 31 looks a little expensive.
 
Handling Ability
The H3D 31's grip is comfortable for the right hand, and it feels natural to cradle the lens and front of the body in the left. The H3D 31 balances well that way. The wide, rubberized focusing rings on H-series lenses offer a sure grip either for focus or support. The camera's weight will be a significant issue for anyone who uses it at length off a tripod. Cradling the H3D in the left hand is vital because the grip is far from the center of gravity and holding it with the right hand alone exerts plenty of torque on the user's wrist. Shooting verticals compounded the problem because the left hand grip became less comfortable.
 
Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
The H3D 31's control buttons are small. They feel durable enough, but they're smaller than the buttons on cell phones. The front buttons – mirror up and aperture preview – are so far around the grip that any user who can't palm a basketball easily will have to shift his grip significantly to get to them. The other side buttons – exposure, EV, AE lock and user – are much easier to reach. Given that all these buttons are reassignable, the wise course is for the user to put their priority functions close at hand. The two control dials fall easily under the right thumb and forefinger and turn with a comfortable level of resistance.
 
The H3D 31's shutter release is large and operates with a short movement. It takes more pressure than other shutter releases do, giving it a unusual, but completely satisfactory, feel.
 
Menu
Capture- and storage-related menus appear on the back LCD, and exposure and shooting menus appear on the handgrip LCD. The split reflects the somewhat independent development of the back and body.
 
On the back, the top-level menu shows 6 entries. They are ISO, White Balance, Media, Browse, Storage and Settings. ISO can be set to 100, 200, 400 or 800. White Balance can be set to Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Flash, Fluorescent, Tungsten or Manual.
 
Browse invokes the H3D 31's “Instant Approval Architecture,” which classifies images into Green, Yellow or Red approval levels. When the system is set to automatic, the H3D 31 gives a green rating to shots that have good-looking histograms and were shot when the camera achieved focus. It assigns yellow to shots that don't meet those standards. The camera won't assign a red rating to any shot – the user has to do that. “Red” shots can be erased automatically to free up space, if the media card gets full and the photographer keeps shooting. The Browse menu item allows the users to limit playback to just green-rated images, just green and yellow, just red, all images and so on.
 
The Storage and Settings menus offer a range of controls:

Storage (Back)
 
Delete
Delete single images, or use Green Yellow and Red ratings to select images for deletion. Delete groups of images by “batch” or image folder. Select images from various storage media for deletion.
Format
Format storage media, either Compact Flash cards, or the 100GB Image Bank Firewire 800 drive that can be tethered to the H3D 31.
Copy
Copy images from a Compact Flash card to external media
Batch
Create storage folders on media for image files. The H3D 31 prevents the user from creating duplicate batch names.
Default Approval Level
Set H3D 31 to rate all images one particular color, or allow it to set them automatically.

Settings (Back)
 
User interface
[a table below lists UI options]
Camera
Set to indicate what sort of camera the back is connected to. The choices are: H series, for the H3D;flash, for view cameras connected to studio flash equipment; and pinhole, for extended exposures that use the back's Capture Sequence the exposure length. Capture Sequence is like an interval mode, and its options are available in a submenu.
Miscellaneous
Set “Interface” entry to determine whether the H3D 31 will appear as a storage device when it is connect via Firewire to a computer, or will be set for remote control by the computer.
“About” entry shows camera serial number and firmware version.
Default
Return H3D 31 to factory settings.

User Interface (Back)
 
Language
Set display language
Power down
Interval of inactivity after which the H3D 31 will shut itself off
Mark overexposure
Show highlight warning
Sound
Set to have the H3D 31 beep whenever a button is pressed, or when an exposure seems incorrect.
Date and Time
 
Display
Set brightness, contrast and interval before it goes dim.

A different set of menus appear on the handgrip's LCD. Its major headings are: Self-timer, Bracketing, Interval, Settings and Digital. The Self-timer heading includes controls for the length of delay, whether the reflex mirror goes up before or after the delay, and whether the mirror automatically comes back down after the exposure. The Bracketing heading has controls for the number of images in the bracket, the EV interval between the images, and the order in which they're shot. Interval has controls to direct the camera to take a set number of images at a specific interval, which can be set from 1 second to 1 hour. Interval can be set to take up to 255 frames. Settings has 3 submenus: System Status, Image Info and Custom Options. System Status shows the version number of the camera components, and the number of frames each has captured. Image Info is a utility for imprinting copyright data on film, when the H3D 31 is used with a film back. It doesn't work with digital backs. Digital accesses ISO and White Balance.
 
The items in Custom Options are in the table below.

Custom Options
 
Standby timeout
Set interval for energy-saving mode
EV increment
Set to 1/3, ½ or 1 EV
User Button function
Set action caused by pressing the User button
AE-L Button function
Set action caused by pressing the AE-L button
Stop Down Button function
Set action caused by pressing the Stop Down button
M.Up Button function
Set action caused by pressing the M.Up button
Control wheel direction
Set whether up is clockwise or not
Flash Ready Exposure lock
Set to prevent exposure before TTL flash is ready
Magazine Exposure lock
Set to prevent exposure unless there is film in a film back
Out of Range Exposure lock
Set to prevent exposure when aperture or shutter speed are set beyond the camera's range
True Exposure
Set to have exposure time take into account the way leaf shutters open from a small hole to a large one, and how the time their motion takes can vary the shutter speed, depending on the aperture set.
Spot Mode
Set spot meter to act normally, or to measure its target to match a specific Zone System value.
Focus Aid in MF
Controls the behavior of focus confirmation icons when the camera is in manual focus mode.
AF assist light
Controls AF assist lights on the camera and dedicated flashes.
Rear wheel quick adjust
Set to use rear control wheel to change exposure compensation in auto modes
Control Lock
Lock controls
Film wind-on
Control H3D 31 behavior when film is loaded in a film back.
Beeper
Allows H3D 31 to make noise.
Show histogram
Shows histogram after exposure.
Interval and Self-timer
Set camera to revert to normal after interval or self-timer mode has been used.
AE-L / Quick adjust
Set to revert to normal, or retain AE-L or Quick adjust settings after exposure
Show EV
Show EV value on grip display
Show ISO
Show ISO on grip display
Bracket Param. In Manual
Set to vary shutter speed or aperture when bracketing in manual
Aperture Control in manual
Sets whether the aperture control is the front or rear control wheel.
Low Flash warning
Set to show if flash is not able to light the scene.
Interval timer initial delay
Set to delay start of interval shooting
Aperture Indication
Show normal apertures, or intermediate settings as improper numbers, i.e.; f/5.6  .5 instead of f/6.3

Ease of Use
The H3D 31's dials and buttons function intuitively, and the major ones are well-placed. It's an advantage that white balance and ISO are accessible from both the back and the grip displays. In some ways, our standard for ease of use with typical DSLRs is colored by our experience with them, and the standard has become, “can we use it without using the manual? That's not the right standard for us to use with the H3D 31 because medium format is different from small digital cameras, and we're beginners with it.
 
Here are features that made the H3D 31 easier for us, as beginners with the camera:
· The uncrowded displays – by displaying only the parameter being changed on the LCD, the H3D simplifies reading the displays, and shows larger text.
· The large, readable histograms, available on either display.
· The dial placement.
· The comfortable focusing rings.
· The fact that focus confirmation and flash icons in the viewfinder are big, and standard.
· Basic operations, such as changing the battery and the media card are easy to do and intuitive.
 
On the other hand, we're not ready for the leap of faith required by a color LCD that makes well-exposed images look noisy and flat. We know that we shouldn't evaluate image quality on a camera LCD, and that Hasselblad is justified in having us rely on the histogram. 
 
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