Sharpness at 21mm

For this test, the Hasselblad XCD 21mm F4 lens was attached to a Hasselblad X1D II 50C body, which was in turn mounted to a sturdy tripod. Exposure delay mode was activated. Tonal and colour variance across the crops are due to change in natural light during the session. Raw format images have been exported using Phocus with no corrections applied.

The full frame at 21mm

The Hasselblad XCD 21mm F4 lens is tack sharp from centre to edges at f/4 through to f/16. Detail is a fraction softer at f/16 but only if you pixel peep (scrutinise at the enormous 100% size). We would not hesitate whatsoever to use this lens at its maximum aperture and have been blown away by how consistent the quality of detail is across the entire image area.

At f/22 overall detail is a little softer, while the negative impact of diffraction (soft detail) can be seen clearly when using the f/32 aperture setting. To gain reasonable depth of field for landscape images and so on, while keeping detail sharp, we would avoid going beyond f/19.

Aperture	Centre Crop	Edge Crop
f/4
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16
f/22
f/32