Hasselblad expands the X1D mirrorless family with its widest lens yet

The lens options for the Hasselblad mirrorless camera system just got a little wider — in two senses of the word. On Monday, May 7, Hasselblad announced the availability of the XCD 21mm f/4, the company’s widest lens yet designed for the X1D mirrorless body. The launch brings the company’s available lenses for the X1D medium-format mirrorless to five, with the line expected to continue to grow to nine before the end of 2018.

The lens, Hasselblad says, is compact both in size and viewing angle. The lens captures a 17mm equivalent on a full-frame camera with a 105-degree angle of view. The lens build is designed to mesh with the size of the X1D body, the company says, with the lens weighing in at about 21 ounces (600 grams).

Tailored for genres with an appreciation of wide views including landscapes and architecture, the lens can also shoot as close as 32 cm from the subject, which creates a 1:10 scale. Created in Sweeden, the lens is designed with 13 elements in nine groups, which includes two aspherical elements.

Like other XCD lenses, the new 21mm uses a shutter that allows for speeds between 60 minutes and 1/2000 of a second, with flash synchronization to the top of that range. The aperture range reaches from f/4 to f/32.

Hasselblad says that the company’s software allows the lens to work with the extreme wide angle without angle distortion. “The automatic Lens Correction Tool in Phocus will generate images from the XCD 21mm f/4 that are completely free from any distortion, rendering all lines perfectly straight,” Ove Bengtson, Hasselblad product manager, said in a statement.

The lens was among the roadmap Hasselblad shared last year to give photographers insight into upcoming lens options for the company’s medium format mirrorless. Once the lenses in that roadmap are available, the camera system will have nine options from the Hasselblad brand; the current lens lineup includes five lenses for the XCD family. The lenses now stretch from 21mm to 120mm.

The Hasselblad XCD 4/21mm is available for orders now from the manufacturer’s website, with shipping expected for midway through this month. The lens lists for $3,750.