Lenses

Hasselblad dominates the Best of the Best Professional Digital Cameras, but Leica with the introduction of its S2, is putting pressure on the front runner. Hasselblad makes cameras in the medium format category and this means you will get more megapixels (MP), a larger image sensor and better optics. The bottom line is when you use the Hasselblad medium-format digital cameras, you will capture the best quality digital images period. Nearly all digital cameras in this category are predominately used by fashion and advertising photographers.

With digital cameras in the medium format category, you get more control over the people, places and objects that tickle your photographic fancy. However, the more control comes with caveats – the size of your camera is going to be larger (medium format is larger than a 35mm DSLR) and you will spend more for the medium-format camera body. The Best of the Best camera in this professional digital category is going to be the Hasselblad H3DII-39. It features an extremely large image sensor, which is over twice as large as ones on a DSLR, 39 MP and superior optics. Most of the Hasselblads have a full-frame image sensor so there is negligible lens size distortion.

Also, the medium-format digital cameras aren't as ruggedized as the professional digital cameras from Nikon or Canon, because they are used primarily in a photo studio. The Leicas are also ruggedized as it's meant to be used as a creative and photojournalistic digital camera. While the lenses are almost always the most expensive part of a photographer's gear, this is only true for the Leica and the Canon cameras. The steep entry price of the Hasselblad's makes the lenses seem like a bargain.

All Best of the Best Professional Digital Cameras reviewed can take photographs in a combination of RAW and TIFF format or RAW and JPEG format, accept the professional CFII (compact flash) cards (with the exception of the Leica M8), have a hot shoe for an external flash gun or other lighting, and have sophisticated electronics. The Best of the Best Professional Digital Camera is the Hasselblad H3DII-39. It has a sensor size of 36.7 mm x 49 mm and captures 39MP of information.