Hasselblad X2DII Road Trip

Today, I'd like to talk about my favorite [music] camera if you're on a budget. The Hasselblad XD has already

budget. The Hasselblad XD has already been out for a couple months now, and we've already had half a million unboxings because of it. [music] So,

let's not do that. Instead, let's put it to the test out in the field, shooting in real world environments that I would actually photograph in, not some color charts in someone's mom's basement. I

[music] mean, YouTube studio. So, Caleb

and I, we hit the ground running. Well,

actually driving [music] out east towards Nevada, the Lone Star State, cuz we were heading all the way to Area 51 to hopefully find some aliens and convince [music] them to, you know, abduct us for an intense space

drugfueled weekend of intergalactic partying.

go for a ride in the porn ambulance. And what better camera

porn ambulance. And what better camera to have by my side than a camera made [music] by the company that sent cameras to the moon. So like the Firmeny paradox, if the bangers [music] are out there, then where are they? It was time

to find out. But first, in-n-out because I'm a fat.

Here's a location. I suppose got to start somewhere. [music]

start somewhere. [music] Oh my god. Is that a Is that a Hasselblad backpack? Why yes, it is.

Hasselblad backpack? Why yes, it is.

>> You look cute. Inside that backpack was a bunch of stuff. Some of it vibrating and some of [music] it not. And of

course, my beautiful Hasblad X2-D2 in polished aluminum alloy. [music] These

cameras are absolutely a work of art.

Each one built by hand. And I'm not talking about like Etsy handcrafted.

[music] I'm talking Swedish handcrafted with the lettering on it, even blacked out like a Phantom edition or something.

[music] >> [music] >> This shot isn't a bad start. I suppose

the crushed blue skies thanks to a giant 86 mm polarizer I've attached to the front of the lens as it's become a staple of my photographic [music] look whenever I shoot ectochrome.

Anyway, looking like the Amazon Essentials Walker Texas Ranger, I entered the building and found more interesting comps inside. you know,

inside where you don't need a polarizer.

So, that was shortlived.

[music] Truly, I found the most difficult part of shooting this camera was putting together a post look that echoed the look of warmed up ectochrome [music] and would allow the digital work to sit in with the film work. So much so

that, you know, if viewed as a collection, the viewer wouldn't be [music] able to discern a notable difference. We all know at this point

difference. We all know at this point Hasselblad color science is quite good, perhaps the best in the industry at the moment. I didn't want to lose too many

moment. I didn't want to lose too many of those characteristics either. So, I

think I found a healthy [music] balance between the two that will kind of allow me to live in both worlds. [music]

Is that a shingle right there in front of me? I don't want to go over a [music]

of me? I don't want to go over a [music] single shingle.

>> Okay, that's You know what? That was not not bad. Not bad for the first find, you

not bad. Not bad for the first find, you know.

>> While Caleb was talking to himself, I guess. I don't know. I was in a hypnotic

guess. I don't know. I was in a hypnotic trance, fondling the X2-D2 and Lens until we came across another interesting scene. A giant trailer purposefully

scene. A giant trailer purposefully placed here to block the road perhaps by aliens. Worse, actually desert

aliens. Worse, actually desert crackheads. It told a story for sure.

crackheads. It told a story for sure.

You know why block the road? What is

down that way? I don't have the answers and I'm not [music] going to find out.

I'm just here to take a photo.

Up next, a building that we had shot before but [music] in the pouring rain.

Of course, the highlight at the time was simply the double toilet bowel movement racing station. So, that's where I

racing station. So, that's where I sprung out [music] of the car and headed first. Well, what can you do? I think

first. Well, what can you do? I think

the bathroom's gone. Bummer.

There's a guitar here.

Regardless, it was a good chance to crank the P a little bit. The polarizer

I'll go if you go. [sighs]

>> Not really anything.

>> There was more abandoned crap down the road. Nothing was really striking

road. Nothing was really striking [music] a chord, though, which actually might be a good thing. 100 megapixels is quite massive. I think the sheer volume

quite massive. I think the sheer volume of data was somehow preventing me from shooting doubles or even waste frames.

in a weird roundabout way. It was making me calculated again about my color work.

>> Use any lane to take exit 234A.

>> Next thing, this is all just blown out.

Sorry.

>> Little little juicy.

>> Anyway, eventually we spotted another interesting location from the highway.

And I screamed the only thing that would get Caleb to slam on the brakes in time.

Diarrhea.

>> [music] >> These shots look good. Vibrant,

contrasty colors, polarized sky, everything was just working well. This

might even be a portfolio shot. A rare

digital photo in a sea of film like prison. I can't imagine first day in the

prison. I can't imagine first day in the portfolio will be an easy one.

We followed some dirt trails for a bit in the Mojave National Preserve that eventually led us to a decommissioned demine, which we found out afterwards was home to some improperly contained cyanide. Would have been super nice to

cyanide. Would have been super nice to know that ahead of time, but whatever.

What am I even paying my doctor for if I'm not super unhealthy every time I walk in there?

The light was just incredible for all of 2 seconds before it was gone. Well, uh,

unfortunately I think we just barely missed the light. [music] There's still some light. I should probably start

some light. I should probably start shooting instead of talking to you.

Regardless, we explored the property like many of the fine artists before us.

A lot of wiener graffiti and uh, [laughter] some bushes, beans. Classic.

The site was decommissioned because it's technically incredibly dangerous. On the

verge of total structural collapse any minute. Just kidding, Mom. It was

minute. Just kidding, Mom. It was

decommissioned in 1998 [music] when someone somewhere classified this region as a the Mojave National Preserve.

>> Oh, that's kind of a nice shot.

Unfortunately, that means I got to move [music] you. Probably also don't need

[music] you. Probably also don't need the polarizer.

It used to be a gold mining mill.

Perhaps not a very lucrative one, though, but one of the most advanced ones in the area, actually. built

sometime in the early 1980s in this region called the New York Mountains, which look nothing like New York. Now,

it lays a waste in the desert, decaying slowly. Perfect for photography. Uh,

slowly. Perfect for photography. Uh,

looks like this [snorts] goes into the side of the mountain.

So, I don't know if I'll be going in there. It is a little dark over there

there. It is a little dark over there and I don't have my phone. So, I'm not going to do it cuz that's pretty cowboy. [music] I

firmly believe that convenience is kind of the death of creativity. So, I kind of have to hold myself to [music] some limitations when, you know, I'm using a camera that can literally do it all.

Since 100 ISO uh [music] wasn't cutting it anymore, I switched recipes. I shoot

a lot of Sinest 800T, a high-speed film stock that renders [music] a very tungsten blue image. To keep myself under limitation, I flipped the ISO on the X2-D2 to 800 [music] and the white balance to tungsten to

match a traditional 800T look. The work

wasn't quite done there because my main interest is being able to not only gently [music] place but power slam these digital photos in with the film work. I had to run some post effects to

work. I had to run some post effects to complete the 800T look. Mainly, [music]

yeah, just a splash of halation around the highlights. An artifact only present

the highlights. An artifact only present because of the physical properties of film. [music] Unattainable on a digital

film. [music] Unattainable on a digital sensor without post intervention. I even

went so far as to match the radius of the glow to something you'd see on 645 format Sinestell 800T as the medium format sensor in the X2D2 is, you know, slightly smaller but kind of close to

that size.

Anyway, standing above a cyanide tank once used for extracting gold like prospectors, I took the time to express my glance. Sorry, I mean express my

my glance. Sorry, I mean express my feelings. There's a lot of graffiti here

feelings. There's a lot of graffiti here and that's fine. Uh, just makes shooting a little tough. I've said it a thousand times, but I find graffiti to be pretty distracting. I probably shouldn't be

distracting. I probably shouldn't be standing on this. There's no floor.

Because I just watched Barbarian, I was a little on edge for any pervert incess monsters in these tunnels, but luckily my 800T emulation was [music] keeping my

brain distracted for the time being.

The Hasslad R2-D2, I mean the X2D2, produces 16- bit RAW images. That's why

when you look at a picture like this, you don't really get any banding or artifacting and that subtle gradient sky backdrop. Just sharpness and a very low

backdrop. Just sharpness and a very low tone of noise that almost looks kind of good for, you [music] know, digital signal interference. Anyway, yeah, we

signal interference. Anyway, yeah, we obviously climbed that rickety ass tower. And at the top we found the

tower. And at the top we found the meaning of life.

[music] [music] [music] That was a wrap. It was getting super dark out there and you know tunnel incest babies or whatever.

>> Hey yo, what the [ __ ] >> [music] >> Don't worry, I'd never forget about you.

We continued on through the night at 4:30 [music] p.m. cuz daylight savings.

>> Welcome to Nevada.

>> We booked a hotel in Vegas [music] that evening. An easy one stay over at the

evening. An easy one stay over at the reasonably priced Flamingo. Vegas, baby.

The city of money and dirty. Oh, dude.

Ziplining. That would be hella fun.

>> Used to be a roller coaster until someone died. [laughter]

someone died. [laughter] the [ __ ] man.

>> So, it kind of sound smells like ass in there and it >> after you were in there. [laughter]

>> Not my fault.

[music] >> We actually went out that night in our cute little cowboy outfits and got ice cream drunk. We weren't going to go out

cream drunk. We weren't going to go out and get trash, but it happened anyway cuz we were just missing Harambe like a [ __ ] that night. Anyway, after

our 50th Brokeback Mountain [music] comment from passerby, we just went back to the room and fell asleep.

Next morning, I was super enthusiastic about life like usual. So, we checked out and hit the road further into Nevada after running a train on some breakfast.

>> [music] >> We are back on the trail. Let's get it. With my

camera's ISO back at 100 and white balance back to daylight to simulate Kodak Ectochrome. I actually did not

Kodak Ectochrome. I actually did not take any photos here. There wasn't any color except like eggshell, I guess.

While I firmly believe that the X2-D2 can make just about anything look good, it just really didn't click for me. Some

might say, well, it's digital. You might

as well just fire off the shot anyway since you're there. But I don't think that's the right philosophy. Like I said before, I do think sometimes convenience is the death of creativity. Perhaps it's

something about coming from the world of film where every shot costs money. Or

perhaps it's something to do with the size and just the feel of the camera that makes me kind of hesitant to waste frames on it. It makes every photo I take feel like I put a substantial amount of consideration into it.

Whatever. We were back on the road.

Actually, the extraterrestrial highway now officially. This highway is kind of

now officially. This highway is kind of world famous because it does a loop all around Groom Lake where Area 51 is located.

>> There's a UFO in the sky. Oh, wait. No,

it's just windshield dirt. Oh, [ __ ] Okay. Well,

Okay. Well, [music] >> what the >> Eventually, we came across our first legitimate proof of extraterrestrial existence that I guess the science

community is just completely ignoring.

Roadside alien jerky stands.

Anyway, there's a whole lot of [ __ ] dog nothing between towns out there.

Like how outer space is [music] 99.9% empty, so is the state of Nevada, I guess. We eventually passed through a

guess. We eventually passed through a town that had some cool buildings and stopped for a break.

I actually quite like this shot. A

dilapidated burger joint and nondescript buildings around it for middle of the day, harsh light, and no clouds in the sky. It actually kind of surprisingly

sky. It actually kind of surprisingly works.

The follow-up shot is also a banger.

Just a street corner with lots of interesting detail and beautiful colors that are unrivaled. This feels like what I want photography to be. It feels old and nostalgic like it was shot on Kodakchrome back in the day. Maybe the

camera is born with great color science.

Or maybe it's just Hasselblad. I don't

know.

This was quite an interesting homestead.

Tucked away into the side of a mountain.

It [music] now lies completely derelictked. And best of all, no schlong

derelictked. And best of all, no schlong graffiti and also no one trying to shoot us. Rocking the newly released 35 to 100

us. Rocking the newly released 35 to 100 2.8. We went to go check it out

2.8. We went to go check it out cuz the space was pretty tight in there.

I went full 35 mm focal length on its ass, equivalent to like a 28 mil on full frame. It was able to capture the

frame. It was able to capture the interiors quite effectively. So

effectively that when zooming in in post, the fate of the people who once lived in this abandoned house becomes [music] a bit more um I guess filled in.

In fact, this frame was taken at a 1 second shutter time handheld because it was dim as hell in there. How the is that even possible? Is Jason a human tripod completely devoid of any humanity whatsoever anymore? Possibly,

whatsoever anymore? Possibly, probably. [music] But this camera

probably. [music] But this camera actually has something called 10 stop sensor stabilization, which means it shifts the sensor to counteract handheld movement and then, you know, deliver upon to you a sharp image even at slow

drag shutter speeds in incredibly low light like this. Now, if you're shaking the damn thing like Darla from Finding Nemo, then you're for sure. But if you can keep it together for a short time,

this feature is wildly impressive for such a massive sensor.

Anyway, yeah, old abandoned is cool and all, but I've taken quite an interest in landscape photography as well. So, here

are some weirdass rocks that look like an alien planet. The subject's perfectly pulled forward from the background by the polarizer.

Notwithstanding, this lens is just incredibly sharp as well. I mean, it pretty much has to be right. 100

megapixels is no damn joke.

If you yourself are an ass enthusiast, the X2D2 even features the biggest rear screen in the business as well. You can

practically stream 4K sports on that thing. It even has a thumb wheel if you

thing. It even has a thumb wheel if you want to simulate the experience of advancing film after every photo. Of

course, you'll up your camera settings every time, too. But it's for the love of the game.

It seems our good fortune for the day was just about dried up. We had some incredible locations, but the next few would be milk duds for various reasons, and milk duds suck ass. The gem theater

was under construction and partially blocked. This mine that we were trying

blocked. This mine that we were trying to get to had some warning signs about, I don't know, explosives blowing off your genitals, which, you know, we took pretty seriously. And this other mine

pretty seriously. And this other mine also was fenced off as we finally understood that the only constant in this uncaring universe is the damn no trespassing sign. Another mine that we

trespassing sign. Another mine that we can't get into.

Go for two.

Good photographers certainly make it work with whatever life throws at them, though. But when did I say I was a good

though. But when did I say I was a good photographer? Oh well, at least I have a

photographer? Oh well, at least I have a 100 millimeter on the long [music] range in this lens. Equivalent to like an 80 mil on full frame.

We should really be sponsored by gas stations at this point. That was true.

That evening, broken [music] down, defeated, and shells of the men we once were, we returned to that small burger town and took it easy [music] in the least sketchy motel that we could find.

[music] >> [music] >> That night, I actually put an ultra fast lens on my video camera and pointed up to the sky in the direction of Area 51, hoping to see some crazy [ __ ] [music]

I'm not going to pretend like I don't believe in aliens. They're probably out there, right? The universe is absolutely

there, right? The universe is absolutely massive. [music] uncomprehendingly. So,

massive. [music] uncomprehendingly. So,

I mean, I guess I probably don't think they're coming to Earth, you know, abducting truckers and shoving things up their asses necessarily. [music] And if they are, hell, sign me up for a class B CDL.

But like, I don't know. It's just such a cool concept that, you know, maybe somewhere out there some beings can wander the cosmos and see the things that we humans only ever dream up in science fiction.

I think it's probably more likely there's just a bunch of microbial life out there just getting jiggy in some chemical swamps or whatever. You know,

free of bills, taxes, and I don't know, jury duty, I guess. Anyway, I didn't see anything that night. Just a bunch of [music] Starlink satellites, I believe.

But maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to see something unexplainable. [music]

>> Okay, booze time.

Do we have [music] to tonight?

>> That looks great. Yeah. Yeah. You've

been a bad boy. You've [music] been digital.

[music] >> Next morning it was cold as and I was starting to think we wouldn't get touched by any aliens. I mean see any aliens.

>> You'll be worth it. Just remember that.

>> I hope so, man.

>> But whatever. Eventually, I got my narcoleptic ass up and stepped out in my finest imported threads. Anyway,

after drinking whatever they put in fighter jets to get them going, we too were going deeper on the extraterrestrial highway.

That's us in [music] the car. And that's

the highway. [singing]

[music] >> Yeah. I don't think anyone's home.

>> Yeah. I don't think anyone's home.

Safety first. X2D.

Okay.

Oh, yeah. That looks good. F11,

100 ISO.

Cool. Yeah, it looks pretty good for not a lot of color. The subject, this house, is perfectly sized in the frame to show a little bit of environmental context as well.

I mean, I guess I got to go in.

I don't really know if I trust this floor, though, to be honest. Oh, the

lighting is really nice in there, though. Okay, one shot won't hurt.

though. Okay, one shot won't hurt.

Anyway, my spidey senses were tingling, which usually only means one thing in a place like this. There's a toilet photo here somewhere. And eventually I found

here somewhere. And eventually I found the damn thing.

Quite an interesting photo, actually.

Tons of detail, of course. But I love the remnants of stuff left in the medicine cabinet above the sink. It

almost makes the bathroom seem like it was like recently used.

The interiors were no joke here. Quite

wonderful wherever we could grab them.

There's a fantastic shot in here. Of

course, there was no light, so at 100 ISO and f2.8, I had the shutter down to like 1/10enth of a second. It was worth it, though. This is perhaps [music] one

it, though. This is perhaps [music] one of my favorite shots. The lighting is dramatic. Everything, you know, covered

dramatic. Everything, you know, covered [music] in dust. This whole room felt like it was a set built for like cruden or something. [music]

or something. [music] Another stop along the way, Rachel, Nevada, where the nearest evidence of human life is literally Area 51. Like a remote outpost in [music] deep space, it was

pretty bare bones. Only about 100 people live here nowadays. Uh yeah, that's not not creepy. Rachel really began as a

not creepy. Rachel really began as a farming settlement in 1973. It was named after the first [music] baby born in the area, Rachel Jones. The town brought workers from all over to mine tungsten from a local mill that yeah, we tried to

get into, but was heavily fenced off with even more signs that unexloded ammunition might blow your junk off.

Though now we're like 0 for four on mines in Nevada.

[music] We hit the open range further down the loop looking for anything we can find.

But it was once again just [music] large swats of open space for just about forever.

[music] There were more signs [music] of life as we moved closer to to NOA though. even

though the clouds were doing this like will they won't they kind of thing in regards to parting.

Another nice interior shot with some super soft light. [music] I think this kind of work does best when the space is recognizable as something we're used to seeing but is almost completely transformed. There were several other

transformed. There were several other interiors here too hard to ignore with uh tons of details in them like these paint chips falling off the walls [music] which tasted really good by the

way.

>> [music] [music] >> toilet.

[music] Anyway, we stopped to get some lunch in Topa. And it would just about be the last sunlight we saw for about a day or two. So, I decided to whip out a little cheat code I had up my sleeve.

Panorama to make everything look cinematic. This X2-D2 even has a setting

cinematic. This X2-D2 even has a setting inbuilt for it as an homage to the Xpan.

I pretty much have left my pano days behind me, but I was willing to come out of retirement for one last job because this time it was personal. We continued

on through this freaky little town where nothing was open whatsoever. And

apparently the crime was so high they needed to bring in Batman.

>> It's where we're staying tonight, right, buddy?

>> Oh, yes. The Clown Motel, or just the motel whenever you show up. The cherry

on top of this weirdass little town that we couldn't wait to get the hell out of.

The world famous Clown Motel opened in 1985 when I guess some people didn't know what to do with their father's clown collection. I don't know, maybe

clown collection. I don't know, maybe burn it and move far, far away. Anyway,

the place has a permanent vacancy sign to no one's surprise. Definitely the

stuff of nightmares. We must check it out.

And I think the uh gift shop owner saw our fancy Hasselblads holstered [music] on us. And you know, instead of clown

on us. And you know, instead of clown robbing us, he gave us the keys to check out two of their rooms. Our Hasselblads literally unlocking doors. It definitely

made us feel cool as hell, like Charlie Sheen for a moment. Not the prostitutes and crack stuff, but like the smooth ass cigarette commercial kind of stuff.

Either way, we were going to get some interesting photos in there or accessories to murder.

Wa [laughter] that's a vibe. These photos aren't bad, actually. At least not as bad as the

actually. At least not as bad as the interior decorating.

At least they smell good.

Oh wow. I had to take the X2-D2 out of pan mode to get the full sensor shots just to make sure I didn't miss any details like this bullet hole above the bed. What the

bed. What the This place is weird. Supposedly,

obviously, this place is haunted.

Obviously, we didn't stay there that night because we wanted to keep our kidneys inside us and we hate ice baths.

But upon departing, we thank the manager and I switched the camera back to pano mode, which is truthfully just a crop mode.

The photos import into Lightroom with that framing, but you can still undo the crop and use the full sensor readout if you'd like. Though, I found that

you'd like. Though, I found that workflow to not be the best personally, as I was thinking in pano. So, when you try to backtrack and work the comp a little differently, the balance

sometimes doesn't always translate.

Anyway, Caleb and I sat in the car in total silence for the next few hours just trying to make sense of whatever the hell that was. But after that, I was relying pretty hard on pano mode to make

the most of these shots.

The light just wasn't there for most of it. Despite a wealth of interesting

it. Despite a wealth of interesting locations, >> looks like aliens. It's aliens.

>> Like a beacon in the night. There's our

home.

>> Fake pano ectochrome is cool and all, but how about fake pano 800t? Now we're

talking. These look fantastic.

[music] >> [music] >> You know how on Reddit they do one-s sentence horror stories?

>> Okay.

>> Okay. I thought of the [music] perfect one. I looked down and there's no toilet

one. I looked down and there's no toilet paper.

>> Yeah.

>> In a rare move for us, we agreed to wake up early for a sunrise. [music] Not that it mattered whatsoever. We could have just slept in. Let that be a lesson to everyone out there. Just give up and stop trying. You know what? I take that

stop trying. You know what? I take that back actually about sleeping. These

shots are actually quite a I guess a Bladeunner vibe for early morning in this like desolate town.

[music] [music] I switched out of XPAN mode.

Just thought you should know. Pano looks

cool. Not for me. [music]

[music] You want to repeat that for the camera?

>> You know how sometimes that [laughter] we we look likeing jugos?

>> This town is about as far north as we go on this [music] one. And it was time to double back. We had many more pins to

double back. We had many more pins to check out in the route south as we completed the extraterrestrial highway loop. Starting with this old refinery.

loop. Starting with this old refinery.

All right, we're switching over to uh to daylight for this. Remember earlier how I said this camera can make anything look good? Well, it's time to really put

look good? Well, it's time to really put it to the test as we'd be seeing the ass end of some clouds [music] just about all day.

You all know that I love some good brown [music] tones. Not like the audio

[music] tones. Not like the audio frequency that makes you [ __ ] your pants, but like brown midtones [music] in photography. It's just the color of

in photography. It's just the color of decay, rust, and passing time. So, I'm

[music] here for it. And these interiors had plenty of it to capture on 100 megapixels.

Devoid of life and color, these shots continue my creative descent into dusty ass still life photography.

There were more buildings down the road and we definitely made good work of them. Though we were at odds with mother

them. Though we were at odds with mother nature today, at least I was happy to see some positivity in the graffiti for once instead of, you know, the street's [music] finest portrait of someone's shaft.

[music] Cool inside a lot of garbage. [music]

>> [music] >> We continued down the road into no man's land kind of literally. There was

absolutely all out there except [music] these like helicopters overhead that must have been on the same trajectory as our car because they followed us or we followed them for [music] quite a while

reminding us that we were inching, you know, ever closer to Area 51.

Or perhaps there was a sense of tension in the air. A few days before we showed up, the news reported a crashed vehicle on public land that took off from Area 51. Obviously, we don't know what it

51. Obviously, we don't know what it was, but obviously it was some freaky ass aliens, right? People are flying jets over us.

Can hear them. Can't see them, though.

Eventually, we were surprised to find a small town out here, a couple hours from gas in just about any direction, much less any other amenities. The only gas station in

other amenities. The only gas station in town seems to have been long dead, so that's perfect for the camera. This town

has gone through several waves of abandonment. Silver Peak was found in

abandonment. Silver Peak was found in the 1860s because of large swats of salt embedded in the region's dirt. Nowadays,

the only business in town is lithium, which I guess there's probably plenty to go around because it's the only place in the US that lithium is natively mined from what I read. Oh well, at least there were signs for Vegas. They

probably figured this dusty little town wasn't what, you know, travelers were looking for.

Eventually, there was Goldfield, a historic gold mining boom town. [music]

If the name itself wasn't clear enough for you, Goldfield nowadays is pretty dead, almost like a Fallout ghost town.

There was the faint sound of an unmanned radio station just blasting music over the airwaves to who knows who was still listening.

It seemed a lot of the exteriors [music] were preserved while the interiors were basically hollowed out.

Perhaps the most interesting building was the Goldfield [music] Hotel, a massive building that was once considered the most luxurious hotel between San Francisco and Chicago.

[music] On opening night, allegedly there was a river of champagne flowing throughout the lobby. What once was the [music]

the lobby. What once was the [music] highest form of opulence is now known as one of the most haunted places in America. Besides my toilet, the

America. Besides my toilet, the Goldfield Hotel has several ghosts with tragic backstories, of course, and even one ghost called the Stabber, which is pretty straightforward, I think.

What started as a settlement of 12 people grew to 20,000 almost overnight when gold was discovered in the hills.

The town yielded something like $86 million worth of gold over a decade or so.

But the ore dried up and uh that was kind of that down the road. There was finally some light at this old wreckage off the side of a mountain.

Well, we finally got into a mine, I guess, right? But who gives a [ __ ] about

guess, right? But who gives a [ __ ] about all that when there's wheelbarrow across the way was another homestead we had our eye on, but we were kind of

starting to lose confidence on it. Okay,

so we're at this location and there's an abandoned house way [music] out there.

Um, the only problem is there's also a truck out there that's been there a while. Looks cool.

while. Looks cool.

There's some more random schlop along the way, but we were kind of running out of enthusiasm for the road. Oh, wait,

never mind. This shot is a banger.

[music] Look at that lighting.

All right, so picture this. We haven't

eaten since breakfast.

That's it. That's the entire horror story.

In town, we followed the wind and found our safe place for the next hour or so.

[music] You already know what time it is, baby. A place we were comfortable

is, baby. A place we were comfortable enough to furiously masticate [music] right there in public for all the world to watch in horror.

But the light was peaking in both senses. We were cruising [music] down

senses. We were cruising [music] down the road when we saw some golden hour light, you know, barbecue sauce all over our titties because we're just animals [music] for that. Frantic, we found the first subject that we could find to try and catch any of the light while it

lasted. Like miners from the [music] day

lasted. Like miners from the [music] day coming from all over at the mere whisper of gold.

These shots ain't too bad. Good colors

and good detail. That's what the X2D2 does and does incredibly well.

[music] But with the light now behind some mountains, it was time to call it. No,

not go home, quitter. It was time to switch to my [music] 800T solver.

As we made our way up to a huge nearby casino that was the only option in the whole region, we talked to some staff who told us that the owner built it out here in the middle of nowhere because there was supposed to be a huge nuclear

facility built nearby. And of course, he was hoping to cash in on [music] the workers, but the facility never came to fruition. So now it just sits as a half

fruition. So now it just sits as a half empty casino on the border of Death Valley with scattered influxes of visitors.

Whatever. Through the power of bourbon, we prevailed. That night was that crazy

we prevailed. That night was that crazy aurora borealis night across the US. You

know, when it was like visible all the way down in Texas and of course, lucky for us, we just happened to be in the one state that really couldn't see it all that well. What the [ __ ] man?

Whatever. I shot some hella moody tungsten balance work that I quite like before, you know, we got blackout drunk and started hitting on Donald the GOAT.

But after Donald rejected me, which [music] is fine. I'm used to rejection after all these years, I came up with the bright idea to use a different lens on the X2D2. Remember that combat camera that broke down on me and I never got it

back? Well, I still had the 102mm 2.8

back? Well, I still had the 102mm 2.8 lens from that system. So, a few months ago, I got in touch with the team over at SK Grimes and I contracted them to build an adapter to use that lens on the Hasselblad X2D2. A tough job. They had

Hasselblad X2D2. A tough job. They had

to figure out the flange distance and reverse engineer whatever antiquated mount this system used. This Kodak lens is from the 50s or so and belonged to a proprietary camera system. [music] a

huge rangefinder body that exposed roughly 6 by9 sized images on 70 mil film. Regardless, I was excited to give

film. Regardless, I was excited to give the lens new life, approximately an 80 mil equivalent on full frame. I would

also need to switch the camera over to use the electronic shutter [music] mechanism in place of the leaf shutter in the native lens.

Sunrise again. Hopefully, it wouldn't disappoint like the last one. I mean,

things were looking pretty promising already after making a quick Inyo joke.

>> Ino in your butt.

>> Hey, Mom. Look, no eyes. Just kidding.

>> Woo! Let's kill us both.

>> We found our location for the morning and popped out X2-D2 and old war lens at the ready, which then reminded me I needed to also change the [music] systems sensor stabilization mechanics

to 102 mm as well.

>> [music] >> First shot down and it's a hot one. Look

at those colors on the mountain back there. It instills some mood draped over

there. It instills some mood draped over the subject like that. And here it is with light actually hitting the subject.

I'm not really sure which one I prefer.

[music] This [music] lens is quite sharp, too, for a 75-year-old piece of glass, but it's not without issue, as well.

[music] It's basically a free light leak lens, perhaps due to an old coating technology. I don't really know how that

technology. I don't really know how that [music] works, to be honest. It's got a lens hood though that's about as useful as my lazy ass dog during a home invasion.

I did have the lens cleaned and brought back to usability by friend of the channel, Gus. an invaluable master

channel, Gus. an invaluable master technician who's restored several things for me already. [music] So, I think the flaring is just a lifestyle choice by the lens.

I did however manage to take one of my favorite shots from the whole trip right there. Beautiful backlighting and a

there. Beautiful backlighting and a clear subject makes it all come together quite well. Even a flare from the lens

quite well. Even a flare from the lens pointing to the subject.

[music] >> [music] >> wide open at 2.8. This Kodak 102 mil is pretty dreamy, [music] but paired with 100 megapixels, it's a good combo.

[music] Our hard work that morning meant we finally deserved breakfast before we skated through Death Valley back to the Mojave for some unfinished business. There were

a few stops along the way, of course, just some quick one-offs that yielded some good work.

But I think my time with the 102 mil was [music] over and I wanted to switch back to the more versatile 35 to 100 in case we came across some interiors worth shooting. After all, that lens is one of

shooting. After all, that lens is one of the biggest reasons I agreed to take a look at this new generation of camera.

That lens, the 35 to 100, [music] is probably all I need on this body.

[music] We were back in the Mojave. There were

several locations we missed last time through because the light went behind a mountain. So, we hit them dirt trails

mountain. So, we hit them dirt trails out into the deep country like prospectors looking for gold only to be rewarded with one of our best locations yet.

[music] [music] >> [music] >> That was better up here.

Yeah. I didn't love that there was like a basement in there, you know.

Finally, a building that isn't eggshell.

The colors were incredible. And I was just hoping someone [music] or something wasn't living in that basement.

Thought something was. And we got the out of there.

Mojave is so remote. It's kind of wild.

I bet at night the starscape overhead is just incredible being, you know, so far from any light pollution. If there's a chance to see aliens, it's out there probably. Nowadays, we can peer across

probably. Nowadays, we can peer across spaceime and the cosmos with new telescope technology. And from that, I

telescope technology. And from that, I kind of started reflecting on I guess how far we've come with consumer [music] cameras. Not that the principles between

cameras. Not that the principles between the two are all that different. It's

still light being collected through glass onto some kind of sensor. Not

super sure what this is about.

There you go. This hassie, I hope it's still cool to call it that. It seems

like a nickname from the film days, is basically the endgame.

It's literally a perfect camera by my own standards. So much so that I have to

own standards. So much so that I have to like hold myself back a little bit, which is wild. But I truly do feel like convenience sometimes can actually stand in the way of my photographic process.

[music] I shot a lot of stuff out there on the road. That's wonderful. Stuff I'll be

road. That's wonderful. Stuff I'll be adding to the portfolio. No doubt about it. Like always, I can only hope that

it. Like always, I can only hope that the look natively kind of [music] camouflages itself amongst the rest of the film work in there and then, you know, metaphorically leaps forward and rips your spine out like the Predator or

whatever art is supposed to do when you view it. Maybe that's the effectiveness

view it. Maybe that's the effectiveness of digital. It can look like almost

of digital. It can look like almost anything you want with a little bit of work. But to me, it's almost like a bit

work. But to me, it's almost like a bit like candy. It's, you know, good in

like candy. It's, you know, good in moderation. It's kind of hard to imagine

moderation. It's kind of hard to imagine where Hasselblad can even go with future releases. How can this machine even be

releases. How can this machine even be improved? More megapixels. I think my

improved? More megapixels. I think my computer would [ __ ] itself and blow up.

Maybe we'll just keep getting bigger size sensors until we hit 6x7 and we all realize that. Yeah, that's probably good

realize that. Yeah, that's probably good enough. Hopefully that 67 joke will be

enough. Hopefully that 67 joke will be phased out at that point. How about

next? 100 megapixel medium format monochrome sensor. I don't know. I don't

monochrome sensor. I don't know. I don't

think Hasselblad wants my input. But

regardless, I'm quite happy with the trajectory Hasselblad is on these days.

So, I'm pretty glad I was able to test this one out.

[music] Eventually, we wrapped up the trip at one of my favorite restaurants in the world out in the desert. Last

time we were here, I was 115, I think.

A good sleep was awaiting me in my future. We were both tired and had yet

future. We were both tired and had yet another awesome adventure under our everinccreasing [music] sized belts cuz we eat like farm animals when we're out on the road. But, you

know, it's always good times.