Why The New Hasselblad 75mm f/3.4 P Lens Is Essential

When Hasselblad announces new lenses these days, many second guess the focal length decisions. The newly announced 75mm f/3.4 P lens could be a candidate for this reaction. This is yet another P lens, there are now three, the 28 P, 45 P, and 75 P. They share average size max apertures, but exceedingly small and compact overall physical sizes, with relatively affordable pricing. Optically, they’re very competitive to their more expensive and larger brethren from the XCD, V, and E series. Yes, with so many lettered designations now, Hasselblad could benefit from some clarity in their product nomenclature. The 75 P is an exciting lens to me – it rounds out and identifies the P series as an almost independent subset of lenses that initiate choices to consider. 

What is the Whole Idea Behind the P Series Lenses? 

The Leica Angle

Do you see any similarities between Leica and Hasselblad cameras? I do. These cameras don’t look like other cameras. They have a different design ethos. There is more attention paid to the uniqueness of and the quality of the details. The materials appear a distinctive cut above other cameras. Some have said Hasselblad is copying the Leica playbook. Play up the luxury, play up the limited editions. I have no problem with this.

But I do tend to look at this through more of a use case angle, which is that the typical Leica or Hasselblad customer is someone who is not tied down to a studio shooting still life. These users certainly exist. But more often, the photographer who is using a Hasselblad is mobile. They’re grabbing their camera and they are going somewhere. They love the idea of using their camera; they have a deeper bond with their camera than just a device to deliver a photograph. It is not a Toyota Camry that will comfortably and reliably get them from point A to point B. It is much more than that. There is genuine affection for their camera. It’s not necessarily a pragmatic relationship. It’s in part, a relationship based on desire. More so than with most cameras. 

This is not to diminish the very positive performance aspects of the X2D camera system, and those are there in abundance. The uniquely phenomenal color results you see in the files. The modern, feels like it was designed today, intuitive and easy to use user interface. The exceedingly small size and weight for a camera that sports a sensor significantly larger than 35mm full frame. Ah, size and weight …. and now we circle back to what in the world they are doing with their lens lineup.

The X2D Plus 3 Hasselblad P Lenses is an ecosystem in itself

Now we have three Hasselblad P lenses. 28mm, 45mm, 75mm. This is a great layout of focal length relationships. But what is the relevance, what is the point? They have a 25mm and a 30mm lens, they have a 55mm lens, they have an 80mm and a 90mm lens. Numerous focal lengths all very close to the P lenses. These P lenses feel like they are … perhaps redundant?

But look around. What have we seen in recent years from Leica to address that market of mobile photographers who value size and weight and elegant simplicity? The Leica Q series – Q1-28, Q2-28, Q3-28. The Q3 even introduced this year a Q3-43. A Leica lens purchase can easily run $4k – $6k. Why not just have a completely separate dedicated camera for just a bit more? No fiddling with changing lenses in the elements. One of my clients recently bought a 2nd X2D for exactly that reason. And it’s not just Leica, but Ricoh, Sigma, even Phase One have introduced dedicated, compact cameras with a single, dedicated lens in recent years. Size and simplicity seems to matter – to some. Certainly to mobile photographers.

Hasselblad has not created a non-interchangeable lens camera ….yet. But maybe they won’t. Instead, they have created a great lineup of extremely small and light … and sharp … and affordable – compact lenses. The 75 P is the latest, and so here it is.

Will the 75 P be a Good lens To Own?

Are any lenses in the current Hasselblad lens lineup not good to own? No, they’re all good. I think some may gripe about the small-ish max f/3.4 aperture for a 75mm lens. But if you want a large aperture, there’s the 90mm/2.5 or the 80mm/1.9 (and see how the size and weight grows). I expect the 75mm/3.4 P might be a really fantastic optic as a result. It’s a comfortable max aperture to produce for a lens in that focal length. That means you’re not pushing the envelope to let more light in and can concentrate the design more on the precision and quality of the light you’ve allowed. I love the idea of grabbing an X2D with a set of 28 P , 45 P, and 75 P lenses in a small bag and heading out.

Now there also will be gripes about the overall lens lineup. There’s more to this. Hasselblad is relatively bunched up on the short to long-ish normal end of things, with very little on the short to long tele end. And no macro lens. That’s a relatively limited lens lineup and it will count out some who have those needs. There are some workarounds – along with the 75 P, a 9mm Extension Tube was introduced today. While not a replacement for a dedicated 1:1 macro lens, it helps perhaps buy some time for them to produce that.

If you compare the Hasselblad lens lineup to the Fuji GFX lens lineup, it looks quite different. If you compare it to the Leica M or SL lineup, you see similarities. Other than the 3rd party association with Sigma via the shared L mount consortium, you don’t see a dedicated macro lens nor do you see any long telephoto lenses for the Leica system. While the lack of longer lens options for the X2D is concerning, consider that we’re only talking about 2-3 lenses. A macro lens, and perhaps a few longer telephotos in the native 200mm – 400mm range. As long as they at some point provide these, today it can be positively said that Hasselblad offers a wealth of prime lens choices in the sub-100mm range, more than either Fujifilm or Leica.

What to make of this. It has to be noted that lens selection makes a difference to some. Certainly there will be longer lenses coming from Hasselblad, but it also must be taken into account that they have had some manufacturing source changes, and with that, the new V series lenses with distance scales, customizable control rings (for most) and a manual focus clutch have been introduced, ostensibly over time taking the place of the previous XCD lenses (which remain optically excellent).

The CI Take

Many have wondered what the strategy is behind Hasselblad’s ongoing lens introductions. But the introduction of the 75 P crystalizes that to some degree. We can now see a very intentional sub lens lineup of smaller, lighter, compact and affordable P lenses to contrast with the larger and more expensive V and E lenses. And there seem to be few, if any significant optical compromises to the P series lenses compared to the V lenses. One could opt to go all in on P lenses only. Or mix and match. The V series lenses are certainly faster, and they have a larger size and weight as a result. While the Hasselblad lens lineup does not yet stretch out to the degree many want to see, it at least has gained some sense of intent with the introduction of te 75mm f/3.4 P lens. We look forward to testing it!

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steve@captureintegration.com – 404.543.8475