is a supervising video producer who also reviews gadgets and photography gear. He has over a decade of experience as a reporter and photojournalist, previously at Recode.
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.
LiDAR is a big new features with the X2D 100C II, but you won’t notice a big change in autofocus performance in everyday use.
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.
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