Revolutionary Specifications

At Capture Integration, we make it a point to not exaggerate or over-hype new products. With that said, the Hasselblad 907x/CFV 100c features a ground breaking digital back with an amazing feature set at an astounding price. This statement is not an exaggeration.

• 100 Megapixel, 16 Bit, 44mm x 33mm CMOS Sensor
• Backside Illuminated Sensor (a first for Hasselblad in a digital back)
• 15 Stop Dynamic Range
• 3.2″, 2.36 Million Dot Tilting LCD
• Best In Class Modern GUI
• $8,199 Price (5x lower than the only other BSI Digital Back)

Prior to this announcement, the only other BSI-based digital back solution was the Phase One IQ4 150, priced at a nifty $45,990. Now, there’s finally a competitor – but at 1/5^th the price. That is revolutionary.

Why is the Hasselblad CFV 100c So Ground Breaking?

We love the Hasselblad X2D digital medium format camera, but we view digital backs as an essential photographic tool because they are the ultimate solution to pair with a technical shift camera or view camera. In our view, any capture technology that facilitates shift cameras is essential to some of the very best photography possible.

Enter now the Hasselblad 907x/CFV 100c. Removed from the 907x, the CFV 100c becomes a different beast, and to some degree, harkens back to the original ethos of digital backs from back in the day. The onboard interface for the CFV 100c is a match for a Hasselblad V series camera, so it can mount directly to any of those Hasselblad V Series bodies. But it can also then be mounted to any number of technical shift or view camera bodies, via an equivalent Hasselblad V interface adapter.

BSI (Backside Illuminated) Sensor

Digital backs have been made to fit technical shift cameras and view cameras for decades. But every digital back would produce a magenta cast when shifting, due to the frontside architecture of the electronics that the incoming light had to pass through. This could be corrected with duplicate captures run through a software tool like Capture One’s LCC  or the Scene Calibration tool in Phocus. But with light changing, who wants to adjust exposure and then have to capture 3 more images to use for correction of the original 3 captures for your 3 shot stitch? And then have to spend the time correcting that in post?

The Hasselblad CFV 100c comes with a BSI (backside illuminated) sensor, which places more of the electronics below the receiving photo wells. Now magenta casts are much less severe, or virtually non-existent. And the extra steps for removing them, depending on the lens (Rodenstock or Schneider, short lens or long lens) may not even be necessary. Of course an LCC can also correct for vignetting, so there can still be benefits to utilizing an LCC capture.

15 Stops Dynamic Range, 16 Bit, 100mp Capture

Versions of this sensor have already proven themselves in the image quality department (for example, in the Hasselblad X2D). But now this BSI sensor is available for the first time ever in a 100mp digital back. There is a ton of recoverable dynamic range (15 stops), the 16 bit sensor is ensuring you maximize the quality that the sensor is capable of, and you have 100 megapixels to capture amazing detail and scale for large prints.

Icing – Tilt Screen and Modern GUI

There is only one digital back that has ever come to market with a tilt screen LCD, and that is the CFV 50c II. Now there is the CFV 100c. How many times have you viewed a gorgeous landscape photograph with a low to the ground perspective that flows into the distance? Doesn’t a tilt screen make this an easier process to capture? (answer is Yes). Add in Hasselblad’s modern approach to user interfaces, a graphical approach with an icon-based menu system that shows Hasselblad knows the nomenclature photographers use and where a photographer would logically look to find something in a menu system. And with the CFV 100c, that is where the menu item is, placed exactly where you expect it to be. The CFV 100c excels at not making the process more difficult than it should be, and by doing so, allows your focus to be in the scene in front of you, not buried in a cryptic menu structure that was designed in 1998.

The Price for the CFV 100c with the 100 Megapixel BSI Sensor is $8,199

The above attributes are fantastic reasons that a Hasselblad CFV 100c is a great match for a technical shift or view camera, but what truly pushes it into revolutionary territory is the price. There is only one other existing BSI sensor digital back, and it is the Phase One IQ4 150, available at many times the price of the $8,199 907x/CFV 100c. Over the years, pricing for the very best lenses made for shifting, namely Rodenstock HR glass, has gone higher and higher. Pairing with an IQ4 150 has become a great solution, but limited to only those with very very deep pockets. The price for the 907x/CFV 100c greatly offsets the starting point for a BSI digital back with technical camera and an assortment of elite view camera lenses.

Hasselblad 907x/CFV 100c Compatibility Chart for Tech/View Camera

So what do you need to make this reality? You need a Hasselblad CFV 100c. You need a technical shift camera or a view camera (like, an Alpa or Cambo, for example). You need an interface adapter for those cameras made for Hasselblad V. You need a view camera lens (Like a Rodenstock HR or Schneider APO Digitar).

So What Are You Waiting For?

I feel like one of the challenging elements of shooting with a premium digital tech camera or view camera is the price tag. But now there is a response, a brand new 100 megapixel digital back with a BSI sensor at a very reasonable price that makes it easier to afford a premium tech camera or view camera setup, and shoot with Rodenstock or Schneider glass that much more effectively handles the magenta color cast issues.

The CI Take

While the 907x/CFV 100c is a solution that offers multiple options for camera configurations – mate the CFV 100c to your Hasselblad V series camera, use the 907x/CFV 100c and pair with Hasselblad’s excellent XCD lenses, there may be nothing more groundbreaking than adopting the Hasselblad CFV 100c to a technical shift or view camera. If you’re already using a CFV 50c II on a technical/view camera, then you should check out the CFV 100c and the specific advances, 100 megapixel, 16 bit files in a BSI sensor that eliminates magenta cast on shift cameras.