Hasselblad H4D-50MS V1 DATASHEET

DIGITAL CAMERAS

Hasselblad has rened the concept of high-end full-frame DSLR

cameras by introducing the H4D -50MS. This model comple-

ments the top end models with multi-shot functionality: the

ultimate choice for still life studio photography. Moiré free

images that exhibit a level of sharpness, resolution and color

delity that you have to experience to believe are now attain-

able. This capability incorporated with the unparalleled abilities

of the H4D produce an unbeatable combination in the world

of digital medium format photography today. The H4D-50MS

also includes UltraFocus architecture and offers access to the

latest HCD 28mm lens, designed and optimized solely for digital

image capture. Phocus software puts the nal touches to les

by using Digital Auto Correction. This feature utilizes automatic

correction for chromatic aberration, distortion and vignetting

for breathtaking results. It is not surprising that internationally

renowned museums and art galleries around the world put their

trust in the H4D- 50MS for the faithful documentation of their

collections.

With its large and bright view nder image, wide range of quality

lenses and broad choice of accessories, the H4D-50MS also

serves as an ultra capable camera for more everyday demands.

Non-compromising details and colors

The multi-shot technology realizes the capture of still life subjects

with all details represented in true detail and color resolution. By cap-

turing a sequence of 4 shots, each offset by a one pixel increment,

every point on your set is rendered with its true red, green and blue

color components. In this way, true detail and true color are acquired

without interpolation of any kind. For stills photography it simply does

not get better.

When used outdoors or on location, the H4D-50MS can perform

normal single-shot mode photography too.

Ultra-Focus and Digital Auto Correction for image perfection

Using the Ultra-Focus engine of H4D-50MS the full HC/HCD lens

program is further enhanced, bringing a new level of sharpness

and resolution. The Digital Lens Correction (DAC) will automatically

remove any chromatic aberration, distortion and vignetting when

images are processed using Phocus.

The design of the HCD 28mm and 35-90mm lenses have been opti-

mized for the actual 36×48mm area of the sensor to make it more

compact and to work in conjunction with DAC.

The highly renowned HC/HCD lens line uses central lens shutters,

which adds exibility by allowing ash to be employed at shutter

speeds up to 1/800s. The central shutter also improves image

quality by reducing camera vibration. And thanks to the large format

of the H System cameras, there is a considerably shallower depth

of eld range, making it much easier to utilize selective focus to

creative effect.

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DIGITAL CAMERAS

View-camera work

The H4D-50MS has been designed to allow the digital capture unit

to be detached and used on a view camera by way of an H system

adapter. In this conguration the digital capture device can work with

electronic shutters from e.g. Rollei and Schneider, either stand-alone

using the ash sync signal from the shutter or tethered to a com-

puter with full control of the electronic shutter from the computer.

Medium format digital capture

In digital photography, the advantages of larger format cameras

have become even more obvious. The 6×4.5 cm window allows the

Hasselblad H4D-50MS to use one of the largest image sensors

currently available in digital photography – up to more than twice

the size of a 35mm camera sensor. Consequently the sensor holds

more and larger pixels, which deliver the highest possible image

quality in terms of moiré-free color rendering without gradation

break-ups in even the nest lit surfaces.

A choice of bright viewfinders

One of the important traditional advantages of the medium format

is the extra-large and bright viewnder image, enabling extremely

precise compositions and easy operation in dim lighting. An inter-

changeable waist-level viewnder, the HVM, is available for the

entire range of H system cameras.

Unique Hasselblad Colors

The new Hasselblad Natural Color Solution (HNCS) enables you to

produce outstanding and reliable out-of-the-box colors, with skin

tones, specic product colors and other difcult tones reproduced

easily and effectively.

GPS recording accessory

Hasselblad’s Global Image Locator (GIL) is an accessory for any

H-based Hasselblad digital capture product. Using the GIL device all

images captured outdoors are tagged with GPS coordinates, time and

altitude. This data is key to a number of future applications involving

image archiving and retrieval. One example is the direct mapping of

images within the coming Phocus software to Google Earth.

Modes of operation and storage

The Hasselblad H4D-50MS offers a choice of storage devices: CF

cards or a computer hard drive. With these two operating and stor-

age options, you are able to select a mode to suit the nature of the

work in hand, whether in the studio or on location.

Phocus for professional level workflow

Phocus provides an advanced software toolbox that has been

especially designed to achieve optimum workow and absolute

image perfection from Hasselblad raw image les.

With the H4D-50MS camera system Phocus provides:

• Uncompromising Image Quality

• Special extended camera controls with which to operate your

H4D-50MS camera. These features, such as live video for easier

shot set-up and workow, or the ability to control the lens drive

for focusing when the camera is in a remote position or when the

digital capture unit is mounted on a view camera, bring an entirely

new level of exibility to the way you shoot.

• Moiré Removal Technology automatically applied directly on the

raw data, leaving image quality intact and eliminating the need to

carry out special masking selections or other manual procedures,

saving hours of tedious post-production work.

• Flexible Workow. The Phocus GUI features easy-to-use options

that allow you to customize your set-up to suit a range of dif-

ferent workow situations, such as choice of import source,

browsing/comparison functions, le management, image export

in a number of le formats, pre-setting of options for upcoming

shoots, and much, much more.

• New Metadata (GPS, HTS 1.5 etc). The extended metadata

included in all Phocus images provides for accurate and detailed

cataloging and indexing, easy image management, and includes

added GPS data functionality in order to allow a range of new

functions. Phocus links GPS data directly to Google Earth, for

example, making geographic reference a snap and image stor-

age and retrieval much easier. With the HTS 1.5, all settings are

stored as metadata in the image le for full function with DAC

lens corrections.

• Perfect Viewing Quality. The Phocus Viewer delivers image view-

ing quality that matches every detail of what you will see later

in Photoshop. In addition, the Phocus Viewer allows you to

customize layout and composition to suit your current or desired

work ow, providing a wide range of options including full view,

compare, browse, horizontal, or vertical view, and so on. You

can have multiple folders open simultaneously for side-by-side

v iewing, comparison, and selection.

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Single Shot

The key to the single shot quality from a CCD sensor is due to the

use of a Bayer Mosaic lter. This is a specic layout that is used

in conjunction with software to interpret the colour data from the

sensor. A single-shot system delivers one colour per pixel, and the

remaining two channels must be estimated and calculated using a

bestguess strategy. This is done in Hasselblad cameras by using

algorithms that optimize colour rendition and sharpness without

disturbing the perception of the human eye by the artefacts always

present in raw single shot captures.

DIGITAL CAMERAS

Multi Shot

High precision piezo motors control movements of the sensor

in one pixel increments. By combining four shots, each offset by

one pixel, the true colours, Red, Green and Blue of each point are

obtained. The result is full colour information from the sensor with

no artefacts like moiré, common with single shot capture.

Shot no. 1. Sensor in normal
position

Bayer mosaic pattern

Shot no. 2. Sensor moved up
one pixel (6.8 μm)

Shot no. 3. Sensor moved one
pixel to the left

Shot no. 4. Sensor moved down
one pixel. The second green
image is used to determine
lighting and subject stability

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Actual image sample

The image of the armour was taken in both 1-shot and 4-shot mode

to illustrate the increase in quality that the 4-shot mode produces.

Due to the fact that no guess-work has to be carried out, ne details

in the subject are now rendered much better. The 4-shot image also

completely lacks the color moiré that can appear in very small

details.

DIGITAL CAMERAS

Detail in 1-shot mode Detail in 4-shot mode

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DIGITAL CAMERAS

True Focus and Absolute Position Lock

True Focus helps solve one of the most lingering challenges that

faces serious photographers today: true, accurate focusing through-

out the image eld. Without multi-point auto-focus a typical auto-

focus camera can only correctly measure focus on a subject that

is in the center of the image. When a photographer wants to focus

on a subject outside the center area, they have to lock focus on the

subject and then re-compose the image. In short distances espe-

cially, this re-composing causes focus error, as the plane of focus

sharpness follows the camera’s movement, perpendicular to the

axis of the lens.

The traditional solution for most DSLR

the camera with a multi-point AF sensor. These sensors allow the

photographer to x an off-center focus point on an off-center sub-

ject, which is then focused correctly. Such multi-point AF solutions

are often tedious and inexible to work with. Due to the physics of

an SLR-camera, the off-center focus points that are offered are all

clustered relatively close to the center of the image. To set focus

outside of this center area, the photographer is still forced to focus

rst, and then shift the camera to reframe, with the resulting loss

of focus as a result.

To overcome this problem, Hasselblad has used modern yaw rate

sensor technology to measure angular velocity in an innovative

way. The result is the new Absolute Position Lock (APL) processor,

which forms the foundation of Hasselblad’s True Focus feature.

cameras

has been to equip

The APL processor accurately logs camera movement during any

re-composing, then uses these exact measurements to calculate

the necessary focus adjustment, and issues the proper commands

to the lens’s focus motor so it can compensate. The APL processor

computes the advanced positional algorithms and carries out the

required focus corrections at such rapid speed that no shutter lag

occurs. The H4D’s rmware then further perfects the focus using

the precise data retrieval system found on all HC/HCD lenses.

The plane of focus changes when the camera is tilted for composition.

The middle image shows the result when not using True Focus. While this image looks relatively
sharp, the rightmost image where True Focus has been used, is razor sharp.

Photo: Marcel Pabst

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DIGITAL CAMERAS

Technical specication

DIGITAL FEATURES

Sensor size 50 Mpixels (6132×8176 pixels)

Sensor dimensions 36.7×49.0 mm

Image size RAW 3FR capture 65 MB on average. TIFF 8 bit: 150 MB

File format Lossless compressed Hasselblad RAW 3FR

Shooting mode Single shot / Multi shot (4×)

Color denition 16 bit

ISO speed range ISO 50, 100, 200, 400 and 800

Storage options CF card type U-DMA (e.g. SanDisk extreme IV) or tethered to Mac or PC

Color management Hasselblad Natural Color Solution

Storage capacity 4 GB CF card holds 60 images on average

Capture rate 1.1 seconds per capture. 33 captures per minute (single shot)

Color display Yes, 3 inch TFT type, 24 bit color, 230 400 pixels

Histogram feedback Yes

IR lter Mounted on CCD sensor

Acoustic feedback Ye s

Software Phocus for Mac and Windows

Platform support Macintosh: OSX. Windows: XP (32 and 64 bit), Vista (32 and 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit).

Host connection type FireWire 800 (IEEE1394b)

View camera compatibility Yes, Mechanical shutters controlled via ash sync. Electronic shutters can be controlled from Phocus.

Operating temperature 0 - 45 ˚C / 32 - 113 ˚F

Dimensions Complete camera w. HC80 mm lens: 153 × 131 × 207 mm [W × H × D]

Weight 2450 g (Complete camera w. HC80 mm lens, Li-Ion battery and CF card)

CAMERA FEATURES

Camera type Large sensor full format DSLR

Lenses Hasselblad HC lens line and HCD 28 with integral central lens shutter.

Shutter speed range 32 seconds to 1/800 second

Flash sync speed Flash can be used at all shutter speeds.

Viewnder options •HVD 90x: 90° eye-level viewnder w. diopter adjustment (-5 to +3.5D). Image magnication 3.1 times.

Integral ll-ash (G.No. 12 @ ISO100). Hot shoe for SCA3002-system ashes from Metz™.

•HV 90x: 90° eye-level viewnder w. diopter adjustment (-4 to +2.5D). Image magnication 2.7 times.
Integral ll-ash (G.No. 12 @ ISO100). Hot shoe for SCA3002-system ashes from Metz™.

•HVM: Waist-level viewnder

Focusing Autofocus metering with passive central cross-type sensor. Ultra focus digital feedback.

Instant manual focus override. Metering range EV 1 to 19 at ISO 100.

Flash control Automatic TTL centre weighted system. Uses built-in ash or ashes compatible with SCA3002 (Metz™).

Output can be adjusted from -3 to +3EV. For manual ashes a built-in metering system is available.

Exposure metering Metering options: Spot, Centre Weighted and CentreSpot. Metering range Spot: EV2 to 21,

Centre Weighted: EV1 to 21, CentreSpot: EV1 to 21

Power supply Rechargeable Li-ion battery (7.2 VDC / 1850 mAh).

Film compatibility No

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Connectivity diagram

DIGITAL CAMERAS

Optional viewnders

HV 90x
viewnder

Accessories

GIL GPS
receiver

SCA3902
TTL Flash
Adapter

HVM waist-level
viewnder

H4D Camera

Sensor unit
(included)

HVD90x view­nder (included)

Tilt/Shift

Camera body

Camera body

HTS 1.5.
For use with
HCD28, HC35,
HC50, HC80 and
HC100 (including
extension tubes)

Optional V system lenses

CF lens adapter

Lenses

All HC/HCD
lenses, including
extension tubes
and converter

View cameras – Flash sync shutters View cameras – Electronic shutters

Flash sync

input cable

Any view camera with

Hasselblad H adapter

Any view camera with

Hasselblad H adapter

Intelligent cable

Rollei

Schneider Shutter

Control ES

electronic

shutter

Host computer with

FireWire, running Phocus

Schneider Shutter

Control ES

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Rollei

electronic

shutter

H4D-50MS lens range

HCD 4/28mm HC 3.5/35mm HC 3.5/50mm

DIGITAL CAMERAS

HC 2.8/80mm HC 2.2/100mm HC Macro 4/120mm

HC 3.2/150mm HC 4/210mm HC 4.5/300mm

HC 3.5-4.5/50-110mm HCD 4-5.6/35-90mm Aspherical

All C-type lenses from the V system

with optional CF lens adapter

11.10 - UK v1 Specication subject to change without notice.

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