It’s not often that you get your hands on a Hasselblad, so when we received the $5,750 Hasselblad X1D II 50C in the office, to say we were excited would be an understatement. According to Hasselblad, the medium format camera is described as compact, powerful, and enhanced, and we can attest to it.
Regarding the camera’s specifications, it features a Hasselblad X mount, a 50 MP medium format sensor, dual slots for SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-II) cards, USB-C input/output, and a fixed touchscreen LCD.
Normally, we start with removing the baseplate of the camera. However, this camera did not have a baseplate in this case—the entire frame was one piece. Instead, we peeled off the rubber right-hand palm grip.
Afterward, we removed the eyecup.
Two Philips screws were found and removed from the battery slot.
Four screws surrounded the EVF and were extracted.
There were three screws under the dust caps.
Returning to where the rubber right palm grip was peeled, we took out two screws.
The plastic eye cap trim easily came off.
Removing the eye cap trim revealed a diopter adjustment knob. It was held down with a single screw.
With the camera face down, we lifted the LCD screen away from the body and disconnected its ribbon cable. The LCD screen was removed.
Two screws were below the AE-L button. Approximately half an inch below was another screw.
Four ribbon cables were connected to the circuit board.
One screw was removed just under the top panel speaker.
About half an inch lower, another screw was unfastened.
We almost forgot to take out this ribbon cable just under the EVF.
Next, we removed three screws from the circuit board.
This screw was previously unfastened but was still difficult to unseat from its threads.
With a bit of force, we were able to pull the port terminal cover trim away from the body. We didn’t need to worry about damaging anything—L-shaped locking clips hold it in place, which makes it easy to remove.
Two screws next to the CF express slot were removed.
Finally, we were able to unseat the top panel from the body.
The sensor assembly could come off now. Three ribbon cables were attached to the sensor circuit board. Interestingly, the cables were fed underneath and through a gap to reach behind the circuit board. We needed to make sure we didn’t damage the sensor.
We found that Hasselblad uses springs for focus adjustment. Three T6 torx screws were removed.
With the sensor removed, we could continue with a full spectrum conversion!
We give the Hasselblad X1D II 50C teardown a 6/10 difficulty rating. There are many hidden screws, and each screw has Lock-Tite, so we had to be careful in the removal, or else we would strip the Philips head screws. During the separation of the sensor, we needed to be mindful of its ribbon cables that fed through the camera and the rubber gasket that acts as a spacer between the sensor and camera.
About the author: Phillip Andrew Iglesias is a photographer and media coordinator at Kolari Vision, which offers pro-level filter optics and digital camera modifications. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. This article was also published here.