Hasselblad H4D-60

                                                             H4D-60

With the release of the new H4D-60 – the first H4D camera and

most recent addition to the Hasselblad H System – Hasselblad

marks the beginning of a new chapter in the history of medium

format DSLRs. The H4D-60 features True Focus with APL (

Absolute Position Lock) – patent pending, making auto-focus substantially

easier and more accurate for photography professionals.

H4D-60 is the top model of Hasselblad camera family. It sets a

new standard for camera handling, image detail and image resolution.

With a 60Mpix sensor covering the classic 645-format,

it provides the basis for optimal lens performance with the HC

The H4D-60 camera system has been especially designed to

meet demands for both flexibility and ultimate image quality. This

includes:

• highest image resolution from 60Mpixel sensor

• the freedom to choose between eye-level and waist-level viewfinders

• the choice of combining point-and-shoot and tilt/shift to solve

creative commercial challenges

• the ability to choose between working tethered or untethered to

get the most of your camera system both on location and in the

studio

• the option of processing your raw images in Hasselblad’s Phocus

imaging toolbox, or working with your raw images directly in Apple

or Adobe imaging environments.

lenses at lens factor 1.0, and the HCD lenses at lens factor

1.0 with a marginal crop. For developing your creative expression

the H4D-60 takes full advantage of the Hasselblad HTS

1.5 tilt/shift adapter. With its unique large and bright viewfinder

image, its wide range of quality lenses matching the

best of the icon lenses from Carl Zeiss, and its wide choice

of accessories, the H4D-60 is the ultimate camera choice for

the professional photographer.

Raising the bar from H3D

Expanding on the great feature set of the H3D camera-line, Hasselblad

introduces a new set of camera features with the H4D-60:

• new 3” double-res (460.320 pixels) TFT 24bit color display with

large viewing angle

• new camera electronics providing the basis for True Focus and

ultra fast Auto Focus

• new True Focus auto-focus system with Absolute Position Lock

and new camera controls

• new improved AF assist illumination for working in dark environments

• new 90 MB/sec read-write performance on Extreme Pro cards

from Sandisk

• new rear uni-body housing for improved local servicing

With the release of the new H4D-60 – the first H4D camera and

most recent addition to the Hasselblad H System – Hasselblad

marks the beginning of a new chapter in the history of medium

format DSLRs. The H4D-60 features True Focus with APL (Absolute Position Lock) – patent pending, making auto-focus substantially

easier and more accurate for photography professionals.

H4D-60 is the top model of Hasselblad camera family. It sets a

new standard for camera handling, image detail and image resolution.

With a 60Mpix sensor covering the classic 645-format,

it provides the basis for optimal lens performance with the HC

The H4D-60 camera system has been especially designed to

meet demands for both flexibility and ultimate image quality. This

includes:

• highest image resolution from 60Mpixel sensor

• the freedom to choose between eye-level and waist-level viewfinders

• the choice of combining point-and-shoot and tilt/shift to solve

creative commercial challenges

• the ability to choose between working tethered or untethered to

get the most of your camera system both on location and in the

studio

• the option of processing your raw images in Hasselblad’s Phocus

imaging toolbox, or working with your raw images directly in Apple

or Adobe imaging environments.

The H4D-60 features a CCD sensor measuring 40,2×53,7mm –

more than twice the physical size of the largest 35mm DSLR sensors.

Basic ISO rating is from ISO 100 to ISO 800. The H4D-60

makes use of a new high speed capture architecture capturing full

size, compressed 80Mbyte images at the rate of 1.1 seconds per

capture, working either mobile or tethered to a computer.

The combination of these features makes the H4D-60 the natural

choice for the professional commercial photographer wanting to

work with the highest image resolution within a camera system that

supports ultimate creative expression in order to deliver outstanding

image quality to satisfy the most demanding requirements.

Medium Format digital capture advantage

In digital photography, the advantages of large format cameras

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

H4D-60 to use the largest image sensors currently available in digital

photography. Consequently the sensor holds more pixels, which

deliver the highest possible image quality in terms of moiré-free

color rendering without gradation break-ups on even the finest lit

surfaces.

An impressive lens line outperforming the Carl Zeiss lenses

The highly renowned HC/HCD lens line includes 11 auto-focus

lenses, all with central lens shutters. Range is from 28mm to

300mm, 35-90 mm zoom, 50-110mm zoom, and 1.7X converter.

The HTS 1.5 tilt/shift adapter delivers an easy to use, portable tilt/

shift solution for 5 HC/HCD lenses ranging from 28mm to 100mm.

The central lens shutter, with flash sync speed up to 1/800s, also

improves image quality by reducing camera vibration.

The CF lens adapter allows use of the classic CF-lenses from the

Hasselblad V-camera, with full use of their central lens shutters,

allowing flash to be employed at shutter speeds up to 1/500s.

And thanks to the large format of the H System cameras, there is a

considerably shallower depth of field range, making it much easier

to utilize selective focus to creative effect.

A choice of bright viewfinders

One of the important traditional advantages of the medium format is

the extra-large and bright viewfinder image, enabling extremely precise

compositions and easy operation in dim lighting. The H4D-60

comes with the HV 90x-II viewfinder designed for full performance

over the large sensor. Hasselblad has added an interchangeable

waist-level viewfinder, the HVM, for the entire range of H system

cameras. The bright and large viewfinder image is ideal for creative

composing and the photographer is able to shoot in the fashion that

suits them most; maintaining eye contact with the model, or gaining

impact by shooting from a point lower than eye-level, for example.

True Focus and Absolute Position Lock

True Focus helps solve one of the most lingering challenges that

faces serious photographers today: true, accurate focusing throughout

the image field. Without multi-point auto-focus a typical autofocus

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 firstly aim the camera

at the subject to lock focus and then re-compose the image. At

close focusing distances especially, this re-composing causes a

focus error, as the plane of sharpness follows the movement of the

camera, perpendicular to the axis of the lens.

The traditional solution for most DSLRs has been to equip the

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

to fix an off-center focus point on an off-center subject, which

is then focused correctly. 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. This means that the photographer

still has to frame the subject more or less centrally, focus and then

reframe again. And perhaps more importantly, the problem is still

not completely resolved because the incorrect distance setting

remains after reframing, thereby causing focusing errors. In addition,

focusing points must firstly be manually selected and then

reselected if the camera is turned. This takes precious seconds, is

distracting to workflow and is prone to error.

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.

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 firmware then further perfects the focus using

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

Digital Lens Correction and Ultra-Focus for image perfection

The H4D-60 camera allows information from the lens and exact

capture conditions to be fed to the camera processor for ultrafine-

tuning of the auto-focus mechanism, taking into account the

design specifications of the lens and the optical specifications of

the sensor. In this way the full HC lens program is even further

enhanced, bringing a new level of sharpness and resolution. Digital

correction for color aberration and distortion is also added. Digital

Lens Correction (DAC), is an APO-chromatic correction of the images

based on a combination of the various parameters concerning each

specific lens for each specific shot, ensuring that each image represents

the best that your equipment can produce.

Phocus software driving down the learning curve

Phocus provides an advanced software toolbox that has been especially

designed to easily achieve optimum workflow and absolute

image perfection from Hasselblad raw image files.

With the H4D-60 camera system Phocus provides:

• Uncompromising image quality

• Special extended camera controls with which to operate your

H4D-60 camera. These features, such as live video for easier

shot set-up and workflow, 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 flexibility 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 Workflow. The Phocus GUI features easy-to-use options

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

workflow situations, such as choice of import source,

browsing/comparison functions, file management, image export

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

shoots, and much, much more.

• New Metadata (GPS, etc). The extended metadata included in

all Phocus images provides for accurate and detailed cataloguing

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 storage and

retrieval much easier.

• Perfect Viewing Quality. The Phocus Viewer delivers image viewing

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 workflow,

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 viewing, comparison,

and selection.

Hasselblad’s unique natural colors

Hasselblad’s Natural Color Solution (HNCS) enables you to produce

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

specific product colors and other difficult tones reproduced easily

and effectively. In order to incorporate our unique HNCS and DACfeatures

we have developed a custom Hasselblad raw file format

called 3F RAW (3FR). This file format includes lossless image

compression,which reduces the file size by 33%. The 3FR files can

be opened directly in Apple or Adobe imaging environments. In order

to utilize DAC and optimize the colors of the DNG file format, conversion

from 3FR must take place through Phocus.

Accessories including GPS Recording Flexibility

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

with any Hasselblad H-System digital capture product. With the GIL

device, all images captured outside are tagged with GPS coordinates,

time and altitude. This data provides the key to a number

of future applications involving image archiving and retrieval.

Instant Approval Architecture

Building on the success of its Audio Exposure Feedback technology,

Hasselblad has created Instant Approval Architecture (IAA),

an enhanced set of feedback tools, designed to enable the photographer

to focus on the shoot rather than the selection process.

IA triggers audible and visual signals for each image captured,

notifying the photographer immediately of its classification status.

The information is recorded both in the file and in the file name,

providing a quick and easy way to classify and select images, in

the field or back at the studio. IAA is a Hasselblad trademark and

Hasselblad

has a patent pending on the invention.

The extra large 3” display on the H4D-60 provides a realistic, high

quality and perfect contrast image view, even in bright sunlight.

Options for working with tilt/shift

Two basic options are available for tilt/shift work with H4D-60.

A simple, portable adapter solution and the classic view camera

solution.

The HTS tilt/shift adapter for H4D-60 allows for portable tilt/shift

with the HC/HCD lens range from 28mm to 100mm. Please refer to

the separate datasheet on this product for details.

To further increase usability, the H4D-60 has been designed to allow

the digital capture unit to be detached and used on a view camera

by way of an adapter. Please refer to page 7 for details.

Two modes of operation and storage

The H4D-60 offers a choice of storage devices: portable CF cards

or a computer hard drive. With these operating and storage options,

you are able to select a mode to suit the nature of the work in hand,

whether in the studio or on location.

Technical specification

Sensor size : 60.1 Mpixels (6708×8956 pixels)

Sensor dimensions : 40.2×53.7 mm

Pixel size : 6.0 μm

Image size : RAW 3FR capture compressed to 80 MB on average. TIFF 8 bit: 180 MB

RAW file format : Lossless compressed Hasselblad 3FR

Shooting mode : Single shot

Color definition : 16 bit

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

2 storage options : CF card type U-DMA (e.g. SanDisk Extreme Pro) or tethered to Mac or PC

Color management : Hasselblad Natural Color Solution

CF storage capacity : 4 GB CF card holds 50 images on average

Capture rate : 1.1 seconds per capture. 33 captures per minute

Color display : 3 inch, double-res (460.320 pixels), TFT, 24 bit color

Histogram feedback : Yes

IR filter : Mounted on CCD sensor

Acoustic feedback : Yes

Software, included : Phocus for Mac and Windows

Platform support Macintosh : OSX version 10.6. Windows: XP, Vista and Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit)

Host connection type : FireWire 800 (IEEE1394b)

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

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

Dimensions Complete camera without lens: 153 x 131 x 136 mm [W x H x D]

Weight : 1800 g (Camera body, HV 90x-II viewfinder, Li-Ion battery and CF card)

Source : Hasselblad.com