Hasselblad XPan

A 35mm panoramic rangefinder system created by Hasselblad in cooperation with Fujifilm. Instead of masking the film to achieve a "panorama effect" the XPan expanded the image format and produced an image width equal to that of a 6x7 cm medium format camera. Thus, every exposure utilized the full area of the film and images, irrespective of format, provided the same superior quality.

THE CAMERAS:

• Hasselblad XPan - an advanced camera which incorporated a dual-format facility providing a full panorama 24x65 mm format as well as a conventional 24x36 mm format on the same film. The camera combined a solid aluminium and titanium construction partly clad with rubber with features such as TTL autoexposure metering and autowind. A bright viewfinder with automatic magnification switch over and automatic parallax adjustment, LCD displays and other top quality professional features were naturally included;
• Hasselblad XPan II - a minor upgrade of the original camera, with shutter speed indication in the viewfinder, multi-exposure feature, diopter lens with locking system, and other small improvements.

THE LENSES:

The outstanding image quality provided by the Hasselblad XPan dual format cameras was a result of the superb optical performance of its specially designed lenses:

• Hasselblad 30mm F/5.6 Aspherical - ultra-wide angle prime lens;
• Hasselblad 45mm F/4 - wide-angle prime lens;
• Hasselblad 90mm F/4 - standard prime lens.

To cover the 24x65mm XPan panorama format, the lenses featured image circles as large as medium format lenses, thus making medium format quality on 35mm film possible. All optical aberrations were well corrected, which means that colour fringing was virtually eliminated and distortion was very low, even on the 30mm Aspherical lens despite its extreme wide-angle coverage. All lens elements were multicoated to provide superb image contrast and colour rendition. All lenses featured automatic coupling of the focusing mechanism to the camera rangefinder, a rear bayonet fitting for camera attachment, and a front bayonet fitting for lens hood.

To meet the highest requirements for even corner-to-corner illumination, the 30/5.6 Aspherical and 45/4 lenses could be fitted with a dedicated center filter.

NOTE:

The cameras were also sold by Fujifilm in the Japanese market under the names Fujifilm TX-1 and TX-2, respectively, while the lenses were sold under the name Super-EBC Fujinon. The collaboration between Hasselblad and Fujifilm continued through the development and production of the H-series medium format SLR cameras and lenses.