Lars Schneider and his wife Katrin, who make up the photojournalist team Schneider Outdoor Visions, have been traveling, exploring, and working together around the globe for over ten years now. Based just outside of Hamburg, Germany, Lars has built a career around his love of nature and travel and outdoor sports of all kinds and his photos and stories have been printed in outdoor catalogues around the globe and in many major European magazines. Lars is unique in that he provides the entire content for his stories, both text and images. He took his first photo safari at the age of thirteen, cycling through northern Germany with a camera body, two lenses, and three rolls of film. His photo kit has expanded considerably over the years, and as of April of this year, Lars is the proud owner of a Hasselblad H4D-50.

Shot by Lars Schneider with the Hasselblad H4D-50.

Being able to combine his love of nature with his love of outdoor sports makes Lars a very happy camper indeed. “I’m really happy with what I do – I love my job!”

Lars says that his type of shooting, and the extreme effort it takes to get into the right location, with the right set-up, puts a lot of pressure on a camera system. Sometimes conditions demand his 35mm system, other times the sheer grandeur and beauty of the scenes in front of him demand that every breathtaking detail be captured as faithfully and detailed as possible. It is this that prompted him to add a Hasselblad to his photo arsenal.

“The Hasselblad is perfect for fine art landscapes, where the most important thing is image quality.” For shots with lots of details, shots that you want to print large, I had not been happy with the performance of some 35-mm-lenses. I would find and frame these perfect images and then the shot would be blurry at the edges, un-sharp in the corners. For me it is important that I can choose the right camera for the right job - and the Hasselblad is the best tool for our landscapes or portrait work.” Was the investment in Hasselblad worth it?

Shot by Lars Schneider with the Hasselblad H4D-50.

Absolutely. Once you see the quality of the images, you can’t help but say it’s worth it. It is just pure joy to see these images – even untouched, straight out of the camera, the amount of details you see compared to 35 mm are just great! The decision to buy a Hasselblad was a good one!”

Lars didn’t take much convincing to switch systems, however, and didn’t exactly spend a great deal of time comparison shopping.

Shot by Lars Schneiser with the Hasselblad H4D-50.

“I rented a Hasselblad for one day, just to try it out. I loved it. But the cost was, well… So I thought about it for a couple of nights, slept on it a bit, and then a few days later, I bought my H4D-50. I also bought the 120 mm Macro and the 28mm wide angle lenses. I shoot mostly with the 28mm and I really love the edge to edge sharpness I get with these lenses.”

Lars says he is looking forward to the new upgrade to the H4D-40 and H4D-50, which features a range of improvements and tweaks. “I’m really looking forward to getting the upgrade installed – I know I’m really gonna love the spirit level function - shooting landscapes this will really come in handy… working with wide angle, it sometimes can be really hard to ensure that things are straight… I also think that the One Click focus feature will help a lot, especially when having to quickly check images before moving on to the next shot.

Lars also likes some of the other features of the Hasselblad system. “I actually use True Focus a lot! Even on the nature shots, to eliminate movement and ensure focus in the right spot of the composition … I especially use it on my portrait work. I think it’s a really useful feature!”

“Working with a Hasselblad was a big change for me… But it was a change I wanted. I was used to an entirely different style of shooting. Naturally the Hasselblad is not as fast as the 35mm gear, but I like the change… For shooting landscapes and scenes that don’t contain people or action sports, it is important to me to be able to slow down, to take more time with shooting. I take fewer images, but often better images. This is a good thing. I actually like the fact that I don’t shoot as fast… After all in those moments, I am trying to capture the perfect image, not the fastest.”

Lars says that the difference between his 35mm gear and his new Hasselblad comes down to more than just technical quality: “With my 35mm gear, I never got the “thrill” I get with my Hasselblad and these images… With 35mm you don’t get the detail, the clarity… The Hasselblad is just perfect in this regard; the detail and clarity are amazing. Of course, it was really expensive, but when you see the image quality it is worth it. There’s no way back!”

“I would definitely recommend a Hasselblad system for anyone starting out in nature or landscape photography… It’s a good investment.”