Dan's take: One lens to rule them all? The rendering is everything you want from the system, and with the X2D II's extraordinary IBIS it's a brilliant low-light pairing - as long as your subject holds still. For moving people in dim rooms the ISO climbs fast, and the noise reduction eats exactly the colour and detail you carry medium format for. I sold mine and went back to primes - but for landscape, travel and static subjects it might be exactly the right lens.
The 35-100mm is Hasselblad's standard (but of course, 'exceptional') range zoom for the X system, taking you from a useful wide-normal out to short telephoto in a single barrel. On paper it's the do-everything lens: the focal lengths you reach for most, without changing glass.
And the rendering is everything you want from the system. Beautiful colour and tonal range smoothness that makes a Hasselblad file look like a Hasselblad file. And whilst the Hasselblad colours make a great base to work from, I do process my images to taste.
Despite the f/2.8-4, thanks to the amazing in body stabilisation of the Hasselblad X cameras you can shoot in very low light environments.
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Both of those were shot in near-darkness, and they're clean. That's because the X2D II's in-body stabilisation is extraordinary. For a static scene you can drop the shutter speed a long way, let the IBIS hold the frame steady, keep the ISO down at the bottom of its range, and the narrow maximum aperture simply stops mattering. Landscape, architecture, interiors, dusk, anything that holds still: this lens and that body are a brilliant low-light pairing, and the aperture you were worried about never comes into it.
The catch is the one thing IBIS cannot do. It stabilises the camera. It does nothing for your subject.
In good light it handles people beautifully, skin tones believable even in harsh contrast. These few street photos were me testing how well the autofocus could lock on and take a photo as both me and the subject were walking, not the ideal street camera, but it's how I like to push new gear.
At an event, people move, they walk, gesture, turn, react. Which means indoors at an event I had to keep the shutter speed up. On a variable f/2.8-4 zoom in a dim room, that pushes the ISO high, fast. And on medium format, where the entire reason you're carrying the system is clean colour and fine detail, the noise reduction needed to tame that high ISO is precisely what eats the colour and detail you came for. After trying Lightroom (and even Phocus), I found the software just isn't optimised to handle high-ISO Hasselblad files as well as it does with Sony, Nikon or Canon.
This part is less about the glass and more about me, and I think that's fair to separate out.
I tried to use the zoom as I would my Sony A1, chasing the moments, but of course it would never let me work as fast. Over a few jobs it started to dull my enjoyment of the camera, and a camera you don't enjoy reaching for is a camera you stop reaching for. That mattered more than any spec.
In the end the decision made itself. I already had the focal range covered by XCD primes, and I am never giving up the 80mm f/1.9. Once I admitted the zoom wasn't earning its place for events, and was redundant for everything else, there was nothing holding it in the bag. The lens was also out of stock everywhere and I had the opportunity to sell it on and get my money back in full.
So I sold it and went back to primes. I still occasionally shoot Hasselblad at events, but I take a more relaxed approach, chasing the light foremost.
My reason to sell is some people's reason to buy.
If you shoot events, weddings, gigs, anything with people moving in dim rooms, I wouldn't do it.
But if you just want to carry one lens and you shoot landscape, travel, architecture, street in daylight, or any static subject where you can lean on that remarkable IBIS, almost none of my reasons apply to you. You get one lens covering the most useful range, the full Hasselblad colour and detail, and a low-light capability that is genuinely there as long as your subject sits still. For a huge number of photographers that is exactly the right lens.
Hasselblad's medium-format standard zoom — the XCD 35-100mm f/2.8-4 E for the X system.
The Hasselblad XCD 35-100mm f/2.8-4 E was released in 2025 as part of the E-series of XCD zoom lenses for the Hasselblad X medium-format mirrorless system. It extends the XCD zoom range into the standard-to-short-telephoto region, complementing the wider 20-35mm E zoom and giving the X system a general-purpose zoom on medium format.
This is an autofocus Hasselblad X-mount medium-format zoom covering 35-100mm with a variable f/2.8-4 maximum aperture. As part of the E-series it uses the focal-plane-based exposure design rather than the leaf shutter of the V and older prime lenses, so flash sync behaviour differs from those designs. Confirm the exact weight, filter thread and minimum focus distance against the specific copy before listing.
On the larger medium-format sensor the 35-100mm range covers a wide-standard to short-telephoto field of view suited to portraits, landscape, travel and general work, giving a walk-around zoom for the X system. The relatively bright f/2.8-4 range provides subject separation on the large sensor, and a single lens across this range reduces the need to carry multiple primes for everyday shooting.
As a very recent lens the used supply is minimal and prices sit near retail. Confirm the zoom and focus action is smooth and that autofocus drives correctly across the range. Inspect the front element and any filter thread for damage. Verify the lens reports and updates firmware correctly on an X-system body, and confirm the shutter behaviour, as the E-series differs from the leaf-shutter lenses. Check the mount, contacts and barrel for wear or impact marks.