More on the Xpan

[FULLBROOK Kim <Kim.Fullbrook@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Some interesting points about the Hasselblad Xpan from British magazines.

A recent "Amateur Photographer" said that while the Xpan was soon to go on
sale in the UK at a price around UKP 1300 (USD 2000), the Fuji equivalent
was about to go on sale in Japan badged the TX-1 at the equivalent of around
UKP 620 (USD 1000).  Wow, with that price difference instead of buying the
'blad you could have a "free" holiday in Japan and buy a Fuji while there !

Another issue of the mag tested the camera and reckoned the lens quality to
be excellent, but it did show significant falloff in the corners which was
blamed on the summer lighting when the photographer took the pictures.

The latest "Professional Photographer" did a side-by-side comparison of the
Xpan with 45mm against a Pentax 67 with its own 45mm and just cropping a
section from the 55x70 image.  It concluded that the pictures with the
Pentax were significantly better because although the 'blad pictures were
very sharp, it suffered from significant falloff in the corners.   Also the
Pentax effectively had a small amount of "shift" because of the ability to
choose where you place the panorama within the 55mm image height. 

My own experience with a Fuji lens - the 90mm f3.5 on a GW690III is that it
is a brilliantly sharp and contrasty lens but does suffered from a small but
noticeable amount of falloff in the corners at f5.6 and wider.  On the other
hand if the 6x9 image was cropped to 6x7 the falloff would virtually
disappear.  None of the lenses on my Pentax 67, the widest being a 55mm,
suffer from any falloff.