In this blog I will share with you my Hasselblad X2Dii photography setup, and cover accessories, lenses, and anything else I use. For context, most of my photography revolves around street and travel, therefore the gear choices I made are tailored specifically to that use case.

Hasselblad XCD 38mm f/2.5

This is my go to lens and the one that spends the most time on the camera. In full frame terms you get a 30mm focal length when using the entire sensor. I never use it like this though, instead I utilise the 3:2 crop mode that gives me an effective 35mm field of view while retaining the cropped areas in the RAW file in case I need to recompose later.

This is my everyday lens that I use for street, travel, portraits, and documenting my life. It’s incredibly versatile and with the resolution of the X2D, I can comfortably crop to a 50mm equivalent focal length yet still retain more resolution than many full frame or APS-C cameras. If I only had to pick one lens for the X2D, it would be this one.

Hasselblad XCD 90mm f/2.5

This is my telephoto lens that comes with me on trips or when I want an abstract street photography focus instead of travel or documentary work. In full frame terms it’s around 70mm, and with cropping you can easily pull 135mm equivalent frames without losing detail.

This is perfect for nature, travel, details, or abstract street photography. It’s a wonderful lens for capturing all the details in the scene.

Why this lens combo?

Between these two lenses and the resolution of the X2D, I am covered for almost any focal length I might encounter in my typical shooting scenarios. Both lenses use the same 72mm filter, and both have a wide f/2.5 aperture, making them great for low light photography and creating beautiful out of focus elements. Lastly, both are very compact, thus suitable for my type of work.

Urth 72mm UV Filter

I’ve never been big into UV filters, however given how expensive these lenses are, and that they have no official weather sealing rating, I’d rather be safe than sorry. I also tend to put my camera in harm’s way to get the shot, and I’d rather crack a UV filter than face an expensive repair bill. I’ve always used Urth filters, so I can’t recommend anything else.

Sony CFexpress card

Even though the X2Dii has a spacious 1TB SSD, I actually shoot to a 512GB CFexpress card, and create a backup to the SSD. At the end of each day, I format the CFexpress card after transferring the files, but leave the SSD untouched. The SSD acts as my running backup in case I accidentally delete something. It usually fills up within a couple of months, and by that point I know I don’t need anything from it, so I format it and start again.

Peak Design straps

I use Peak Design anchors instead of the default strap that was provided. This is personal preference and I like the versatility of swapping out straps. I also purchased a few extra Hasselblad lugs in case I happen to lose one.

Anker Thunderbolt 4 cable

These are big files, and you need a solid data cable to avoid wasting hours on transfers. I would also avoid external card readers for that matter. A good Thunderbolt 4 cable can offload the files from the camera via USB-C in no time without the need to constantly antagonise the card by removing it.