Son of XPan
Another walk on the wide side
And on the third day…
the postman delivered a large box, which contained a much smaller dark blue box, which contained lots of other boxes of different sizes, which when opened and their contents put together, looked something like this:
An absolutely pristine, practically unused Hasselblad XPan II! And what’s more, acquired at a scarcely believable price from Mifsuds in Devon, England. These cameras go for insane prices on EBay, way more than could ever be justified, but I got it for less than the original RRP.
I’m currently running a quick test roll through it (not that there’s anything quick about film these days), so fingers crossed.
One slightly weird thing: when the power is off, the exposure counter LCD stays on. It didn’t do that on the XPan I. Still, I don’t suppose an LCD drains much power…
2 comments
Robert Boyer January 27, 2011 - 3:14As you know by now, I have referred a friend of mine to you (Les Picker). Another person that has obviously suffered the same kind of brain trauma that causes him and others like you to actually enjoy the cold.
I hope you don't mind and find the contact mutually valuable.
I also was wondering how the new XPAN is working for you - haven't heard anything or better yet seen anything lately. I do very very much enjoy your film images - fantastic stuff. Actually motivates me for about an hour to someday learn how to do nature in some competent way.
Hope you are doing well and 2011 is treating you well.
RB
2 comments
david mantripp January 31, 2011 - 11:02The XPan II works as well for me as the XPan I, but it has some drawbacks. The biggest issue I had with the XPan I was the lack of an exposure compensation warning in the viewfinder - and I found it all too easy to forget that I'd dialed something in. All it has is a "red dot" under / ok / over exposure display. The XPan II does better, as it has Aperture / Exposure in the viewfinder, and an exposure compensation warning. BUT... to pay for this luxury, it loses the exposure compensation manual dial and makes you push a Mode button twice than arrow up / down buttons. This is a major pain. I'm not sure why they had to do this, but arguably the XPan II actually has worse handling than the I, despite the fact that the later version is far more sought after (and expensive).
Of course, what comes out on the film is as wonderful as ever.