Hasselblad launches new XCD 28mm f/4 street/travel lens we can actually afford!

If you thought that Hasselblad's medium format cameras were hardly well suited to street photography, you might have to think again. The XCD 4/28P is a super-slim, super-light lens measuring just 43.5mm in length and with a weight of just 245g, despite its metal construction. It's the smallest and lightest lens in the Hasselblad XCD range.

Not only that, while the original contrast-AF X1D was a little leisurely in its focusing (uh, to say the least), the X2D with its phase-detect AF is a very different beast. And, to be fair, Hasselblad probably has more in mind than 'grabbed' street shots and is including architecture, nature (min focus distance 0.22m), travel and landscapes amongst this lens's strengths.

It's part of the company's 'P' range – a set of lenses designed to be ultra-thin, light and portable for everyday photographic use. Hasselblad could also have mentioned 'affordable', because although this lens is not cheap at $1,679 (around £1,320 / AU$2,595), it's practically a budget lens by Hasselblad standards and bang in the middle of the price range even for premium full-frame lenses, never mind medium format.

It's enough to make us want to buy one. Hasselblad's XCD medium format cameras remain a little more expensive than Fujfilm's GFX series – and we can credit Fujifilm for bringing medium format cameras to the masses – but Hasselblad's XCD cameras are, for all their quirks (and there are plenty) simply beautiful to look at and to hold and, if you care about the feel of fine engineering, to shoot with too.

Hasselblad XCD lenses also include their own leaf shutters, too (remember those?), so the XCD 4/28P offers flash sync right up to 1/4000sec.

This looks like a terrific and refreshingly affordable lens for one of the best medium format cameras you can buy.

Read about the best Hasselblad lenses, and the best Hasselblad cameras