hasselblad – Ming Thein

Announcing the Hasselblad X1D-50c: medium format mirrorless is here.

June 22, 2016 by Ming Thein

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The teaser said game changer; those fighting words have been used before and left something wanting. I think now that the dust has somewhat settled after the X1D announcement, clearer heads may prevail in the analysis. For those who missed it: Hasselblad have just announced a 50MP medium format (44x33mm) mirrorless camera with a 2.36MP EVF, new lenses and full back compatibility with existing H system lenses, at a price point that’s bringing the fight to Pentax and making 35mm DSLRs look physically bloated.

It’s now time for a little of my customary analysis, and in a few weeks, an extended shooting report.

Hasselblad announcement – 22 June livestream

June 18, 2016 by Ming Thein

Hasselblad HTML Teaser Image

I bring you a message from the mothership:

On June 22nd, 2016 at 14:00 (CET), Hasselblad will announce a game changer in the world of photography: Click here to join the livestream event

Editor’s commentary: let’s say I do have some knowledge about what this might be, and it’s at least twice as interesting as they promise 🙂 Feel free to speculate away in the comments; I shall neither confirm nor deny…

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Filed Under: hasselblad Tagged With: announcement, hasselblad, june 2016, ming, mingthein.com, thein

Photoessay: last of the Nilgiris landscapes

June 12, 2016 by Ming Thein

Last of the Indian landscapes shot in the Nilgiris mountains around Ooty and Coonoor for today. They are standalones and I think actually work as a single set to demonstrate the diversity of the region – everything from untouched virgin forest to a hybrid cultvation of tea bushes to a little entropy and human evidence in the margins. Enjoy! MT

Except for one image, this series was shot with a Hasselblad 501CM, CFV-50C and mostly the CF 4/150.

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Filed Under: hasselblad, On Photography Tagged With: hasselblad, india, landscape, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, nilgiris, ooty, photoessay, photography, thein

Photoessay: the monochrome Nilgiris

May 31, 2016 by Ming Thein

I was having a discussion about the presentation of landscape and color use the other day with one of my students – which in turn got me thinking about why we see so few modern landscapes that work in monochrome, typically unless the shooter is trying to imitate Ansel. My theory is that it’s much, much harder to make a compelling image of nature without color – there is the tendency for the scene to look dead, rather than vibrant and alive. You also lose all of the delicate color gradients in skies and the like – which further deadens the scene. But as with all monochrome, surely we could also use these properties to imply a sense of timelessness, surreality or detachment?

Photoessay: Paradise Lost, part III

May 27, 2016 by Ming Thein

Today’s images are I think a little darker and sadder than the previous two (part I, part II) – but not quite over the edge into full-blown depression. I see it as being analogous to one of those portraits where we want to enhance the lines on the subject’s face. I can see the final presentation of this series going in waves, with grouping and pacing a mirror image to the way we have different moods depending on the day – though I feel the impact of this particular set is lost in color, and mixing the two is somewhat odd unless the presentation medium is conducive (e.g. separate gallery areas, or sections in a book – but not as a continuous scroll or all at once. The ‘break’ is required to prevent a jarring visual discontinuity. What do you think? MT

This series was shot mostly with a Hasselblad 501CM, CFV-50C digital back, 4/50 C T* and 4/150 CF T* lenses. Postprocessing follows the Monochrome Masterclass workflow.

Photoessay: Forests of the Nilgiris

May 21, 2016 by Ming Thein

Today’s post is a little sampling of the forests in the Nilgiri mountains in India – with quite a range of altitude, you get a wide range of flora from tropical to almost alpine and trees clinging to sides of steep escarpments, in places transitioning into tea plantations – complete with tigers, elephants and other wildlife to match (which also rendered large areas off limits – both for reasons of wildlife and human-life preservation). We didn’t encounter any of those, but we did spend quite a bit of time traveling through the predominantly montane forest. I of course also continued the Forest project of gigapixel-plus stitches, which I’ll probably never show digitally – the effect is completely lost. Nevertheless, I’ve always found forests to be very relaxing and tranquil places – and I hope the effect carries through on screen, even though digital media isn’t the best way of reproducing a fractal subject. What should of course carry through is the tonal palette – I’m pleased because this is about the closest I’ve gotten so far to almost full transparency, thanks to the CFV-50C. Enjoy! MT

This series was shot with a Hasselblad 501CM, CFV-50C digital back and a variety of lenses, and post processed with PS Workflow II.

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Filed Under: hasselblad, On Photography Tagged With: cfv, coonoor, forest, hasselblad, india, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, nilgiris, ooty, photoessay, photography, thein

Photoessay: Layers of dusk to dawn

May 13, 2016 by Ming Thein

I have this habit of shooting against the sun at dawn and dusk – I think it must be a natural aversion to having the light source directly behind me, which it otherwise would have been had I been facing the other way. I didn’t consciously curate the images this way, but it turns out pretty much everything from the early morning and late night sessions in Ooty were shot contra-jour; there’s something about the light hitting the mist or dust or other particulates trapped between hills and creating nicely recursive (and slowly vanishing) layers into the distance. I could probably have used an EVF in some of these situations to avoid going temporarily blind… Enjoy! MT

This series was shot with a Hasselblad 501CM, CFV-50C and processed with Photoshop Workflow II.

Mid term assessment of Hasselblad H lenses (UPDATED 29/5)

April 29, 2016 by Ming Thein

Having used the H5D-50c and a good number of lenses for a while now, I wanted to round off the post from a couple of days ago (which was my mid term assessment of the camera) with some more detailed comments on the lenses – especially since practical reviews of these things are not common, and I’ve been receiving a lot of email of late. This is understandable, since medium format glass is both a serious and not so liquid – at least compared to 35mm – investment and therefore not the kind of thing you want to make a mistake buying. For those who don’t know, Hasselblad H lenses are built by Fujinon in Japan. The good news is that what I’ve used is pretty much excellent across the board – there are some exceptions, but few. I’ve also added some rough numerical scores, relative to other lenses available at the time of writing. I’ve also updated the Camerapedia, too.

I know this post is probably for a very small audience, but why not read on and live vicariously…

ShootSIN forum this weekend, 29-30 April!

April 27, 2016 by Ming Thein

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If you happen to be in Singapore this weekend (well Friday 29 and Saturday 30 specifically), ShootSIN is an event by Hasselblad and Broncolor with a number of sessions hosted by top pro photographers from the region and internationally including Karl Taylor, Sails Chong, Kevin Then and Jewel Ling. It will also be the official launch for the H6D, and I’m told there will be demo cameras. There will also be live shoot sessions with Hasselblad cameras and Broncolor lighting. My session will be on Saturday afternoon – please come along and say hi if you’re in town, and I’ll of course be happy to field any questions you might have on medium format, Hasselblad or photography in general. 🙂 MT

Location: *SCAPE, Singapore.
Date: 29-30 April 2016

Click here for more information.

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Masterclass Singapore (July 2016) and Prague (September 2016) are open for booking. Please click the links for details and to book.

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More info on Hasselblad cameras and lenses can be found here.

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Visit the Teaching Store to up your photographic game – including workshop and Photoshop Workflow videos and the customized Email School of Photography. You can also support the site by purchasing from B&H and Amazon – thanks!

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Filed Under: hasselblad Tagged With: 2016, event, forum, hasselblad, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, shootsin, thein

Mid term review: The Hasselblad H5D-50c and CFV-50c

April 25, 2016 by Ming Thein

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H5D-50c with HC 3.5/50 II; 501CM with 4/50 CF T* FLE, HC1 prism and custom grip. The design lineage between the V and H cameras is very clear in this configuration…

Today’s report is a twofer, for the simple reason that both cameras share the same electronics and imaging pipeline: the backs are effectively the same apart from a power button and battery holder, plus some communication points with the camera body in the case of the H mount version. For all intents and purposes, image quality and performance are identical. I’ve owned the CFV-50c since early December 2015, and have had a H5D-50c firstly as a loaner in January and then from February onwards as part of the Hasselblad Ambassador program. I’m going on six months and norhtof 12,000 frames with Hasselblad medium format as my primary system, which makes now a good time to pause and see if I made the right choice. This will be a calmer analysis in the same vein as my long term reports on the D700, D800E, D810, 645Z and 5DSR. Since switching, I can count the number of occasions I shot with my other cameras on the fingers of one hand; I have to make sure my batteries are still charged before taking them out – which is something that has never previously happened. I suppose this is a good sign…read on if you wish to put your wallet at risk.

In the interests of full disclosure, I am a Hasselblad Ambassador, so my objectivity may be in question. But I do have a significant amount of skin in the game, too – all of the V system (including CFV) was acquired prior to my appointment, and good chunk of the H system was purchased by me at retail.