Hasselblad’s new flagship camera doesn’t shoot video. Here’s why

Hasselblad recently launched its latest 100MP flagship camera, the X2D 100c. The camera is the third medium-format mirrorless camera that the company has produced and follows the success of the 50MP X1D-50c and X1D II 50C. The X2D 100C houses a 100-megapixel back-side illuminated CMOS sensor, delivering up to 15 stops of dynamic range with a 16-bit colour depth.

However, one thing was a bit puzzling. Hasselblad has removed all the video features. In this video, Sonder Creative asks Chris Cooze from Hasselblad for the reason behind this move.

“Very simply, we decided to concentrate on the core still imaging capability,” says Chris. He explains that the company executed a survey across their users and discovered that video just wasn’t a key feature for the majority of them.

“So we decided to give the best quality stills performance that we can,” adds Chris.

It’s a bold move by a camera manufacturer, particularly with such successful hybrid cameras capable of shooting 8K video such as the Canon R5c. However, knowing Hasselblad’s target market, it does make some kind of sense.

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The key user of cameras such as Hasselblads with 100MP sensors are going to be high-end professional photographers, and probably (although not necessarily granted) they will be shooting in a studio. These are generally going to be high-profile commercial shoots. The photographers shooting with $8000 Hassies are not your next-door weekend warrior.

And with that small sector comes specialisation. These are also not your jacks of all trades in the photography world. They will have a well-carved-out niche. So it stands to reason then that they largely wouldn’t be needing a hybrid video and stills camera. If they need to be shooting video, they will probably be working more as the director of the shoot, with a team that includes camera operators and most likely the ilk of Red video cameras.

It sounds as though Hasselblad has listened to its user’s requirements and decided to focus (pun intended) on what they do best. Sometimes specialisation does pay off.