Hasselblad’s flagship medium format camera is cheaper than you’d think.

We’ve spent most of the year talking about gadgets getting more expensive. Thanks to US tariffs, prices are rising every few months, and even small upgrades have come with big price hikes. So I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the new Hasselblad X2D 100C II will actually be cheaper than its predecessor, coming in at “just” $7,400 for the body.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s far from cheap. But Hasselblad is trying to get this camera in the hands of a wider audience. I’ve been looking at my account balance ever since I started this review, trying to figure out if I can justify buying one for myself. I probably can’t — but not because I don’t want to.

Here’s what you need to know about digital medium format cameras like the X2D. They’re bigger and slower than full-frame or crop-sensor cameras. They take longer to process images and usually have slower autofocus. And yes, they cost a lot more money. But you get nearly perfect photos with incredible detail and sharpness unlike what you can get with any other camera. And the photos I got from the X2D II are some of the best photos I have ever taken. The question is whether they’re worth sacrificing speed, size, and money.

It’s been three years since the last X2D, and the new version comes with some exciting updates: it’s using LiDAR to assist with autofocus, it’s the first medium format camera capable of taking HDR photos, and it has 10-stop in-body stabilization. It also has one new button and a joystick! That might sound minor, but it has made handling this camera a lot faster and let me rely less on touchscreen commands, which I was never fond of. Medium format cameras are lethargic, so any bit helps!

But in many other ways, the new one similar to its predecessor. The body has the same handheld shape, it still takes 100 megapixel photos, and it offers similar dynamic range (15.3 versus 15 stops). Want to shoot video? In 2025, you might expect that option from a medium format camera, like you would in Fujifilm’s GFX line or the five-year-old Leica S3. But we’ll have to wait a few more years for that. This is strictly a photographers’ camera — fortunately, it’s a very good one.

Last year, DJI released a product called DJI Focus Pro LiDAR, which combines a LiDAR sensor with a mechanism that attaches to your camera and lets you use autofocus with your manual-focus lenses. I haven’t used one, but it’s popular with some content creators. LiDAR has made its way to cameras as part of the standard autofocus system, and it’s also the first real sign of DJI’s influence over Hasselblad since the acquisition in 2017.

The LiDAR module on this camera is much smaller than the one on the Focus Pro module, and it works in tandem with the existing phase detection and contrast detection autofocus.

So, is it good? It is good. Is it impressive? It’s not bad. Is it flawless? Not quite. In my few weeks with the X2D II, I found the LiDAR system to bereliable, pin-point accurate, and just fast enough where it almost feels like a modern mirrorless camera. Think more like a Fuji than a Sony: a bit slower but still good.

But sometimes it also felt like the LiDAR was questioning itself. It would often focus behind a subject and then work its way forward, especially when using continuous autofocus. The same goes for subject detection and eye autofocus: if the subject wasn’t looking directly at the camera, then the system would often decide to focus on the subject as a whole, not the eye. This happened more with animals than people (sorry, most of my friends are four-legged) and would sometimes make me miss out on potential photos. On the other hand, it was also able to capture subjects from far away; it worked well in the dark and low light.

Autofocus performed marginally better with the lens that Hasselblad is releasing alongside this camera — the XCD 35-100 mm, which will cost $4,599. In its press release, Hasselblad called this lens “compact,” but it isn’t even close. It is a very large lens. In fact, it is so large that Hasselblad had to release special UV and ND filters for the 86mm diameter lens. At least it’s not too heavy for its size, at 1.97 lbs.

The Hasselblad X2D II comes with a built-in 1TB SSD, which makes processing those 100MP images fairly fast (I’m grading on a curve here). There’s still some delay before you can review your photo on the screen, especially in burst mode — about four seconds per exposure. But it’s fast enough that it didn’t slow me down too much. You can still keep shooting without a problem. I’m not a spray-and-pray photographer; I tend to be more intentional with my shots, so it’s fast enough for me, but it could feel sluggish for some. And yes, there’s still a CFexpress type B slot for extra storage, and I haven’t noticed any improvements or hindrances when using those.

Photos from the X2D II look crisp and gorgeous. The details are sharp, the edges look razor-thin, the bokeh from the 25mm prime lens that I mostly used is silky with that signature Hasselblad 8-point starburst effect. (For full-size samples, be sure to download images from this folder.)

The camera is rated for 15.3 stops of dynamic range, which made the 16-bit photos extremely lifelike. Pair that with incredibly accurate colors, and I was constantly amazed with the results. I truly couldn’t wait to review each and every photo across as many screens as possible — especially the HDR ones, since this is the first medium format camera capable of capturing true HDR photos.

In general, I am not a fan of the HDR look that you usually get out of smartphone or action cameras, but it looks more natural here. In some extreme and high contrast scenes, you’ll see lots of processing, particularly in the shadows, which are heavily lifted, and you’ll also see noise creeping in. In more even exposures, the HDR processing and the noise looks much better and well sustained. I encourage you to take a look at these on an HDR monitor and pay attention to the highlights, which retain lots of information and look great. If you’re into that punchy look with rich highlights, then you’ll enjoy what you get out of the X2D II.

When you connect this camera to the new Phocus 2 app, you can control how much HDR processing you want to apply. This is definitely the best way to go about processing HDR photos with this camera, and it’s made me use HDR a whole lot more. Also, shout out to Hasselblad for making a minimalistic and simple companion app that looks great and works well. I’ve had minor connectivity issues with it, but far less than with other apps I’ve used in the past. (For HDR samples, download images from this folder.)

Noise in both HDR and non-HDR photos looks well maintained, and only at about ISO 6400 does it slowly start to jeopardize the image. The lowest ISO on this camera is 50, down from 65 on the X2D. If you’re worried about noise in this camera, you shouldn’t be. But if you are, the 10-stop stabilization will help you open up that shutter a bit longer.

Hasselblad says that you can get clean handheld exposures up to “several” seconds. It’s hard to tell what several seconds actually means, but I was able to get some long exposure of waterfalls by handholding a camera up to three seconds on a bright and sunny day, albeit while leaning against the railing. For other photos, I was comfortable with handholding for up to a second.

We live in an age where camera specs are slowly fading away. Every digital camera shoots great photos, they all have great autofocus, and they all get similar colors. It really comes down to how a camera makes you feel when you use it: Can it become an extension of one’s self? Can it help you express yourself as a photographer?

This Hasselblad is gorgeous and bold. The dark gray body and matte finish look like a luxury supercar. The grip on the side has a new, extremely comfortable, and good-looking texture. It feels so good in your hand: robust, and every corner well-made. You feel like you’re in the driver’s seat, buckled up and ready for a smooth ride.
The three-level tilting screen, buttons, joystick, dials, and everything else is very Hasselblad — made with care and precision. But it’s also a heavy camera that will tire you out after a long day of filming. And for me, the novelty of carrying a Hasselblad started to wear off toward the end of my review period — that is, until I looked back at the photos that I took and the memories that I was able to create. And gosh, I am so glad that I made those memories with one of the greatest cameras I have ever used.

Photography by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge