Hackers Add Video Recording, Linux and ChatGPT to Hasselblad X2D II 100C

Custom firmware built by a Chinese creator named 奶酪 has added video recording to the Hasselblad X2D II 100C — a capability the $8,000-class medium format camera does not ship with and that Hasselblad has signaled no intention of adding.

The experimental firmware demo, posted on Xiaohongshu and surfaced via r/hasselblad and Mirrorless Rumors, builds on open-source work published by creator Radium Wang on Github. A few weeks ago, Wang demonstrated Doom running on the X2D II 100C and said more projects were coming. That promise has held up.

What else is running on the camera?

Beyond the video recording demo, the community has pushed the platform in several directions:

• Radium Wang got Apple CarPlay running on the camera.
• Wang also installed ChatGPT on it.
• Reddit user u/Unable_Ad_1804 loaded a full Linux kernel onto the body.
• Wang has published Github repositories covering individual camera subsystems, including LiDAR, autofocus, AF-C and IBIS.

That last item matters more than the stunts. With source-level access to autofocus and stabilization code, a developer could plausibly tune performance for niche applications or build custom software around specific photographic workflows — the kind of vendor-gap filling that Magic Lantern delivered for Canon shooters for years.

Is this Magic Lantern for medium format?

The comparison is natural. Magic Lantern's open-source firmware added new video features, improved performance and unlocked advanced time-lapse tools on Canon DSLRs — including HDR video on select bodies years before Canon shipped it officially. The X2D II 100C hacks sit at a much earlier stage, but the pattern is the same: a capable body with locked-down software, and a community willing to unlock it.

For working medium format photographers, the video demo is the headline. Hasselblad has never positioned the X2D line as a hybrid stills-video platform, and the company has given no indication that will change. If community firmware matures into something stable, it could turn a stills-only investment into a dual-purpose tool. That's a big if — this is experimental code from individual creators, not a shipped product.

What are the risks?

They're real, and they fall on the user. Loading open-source software onto a camera can cause malfunctions, violate terms of service, and create warranty problems if the body bricks — a significant exposure on a medium format investment. There may also be legal implications to modifying source-level camera code. PetaPixel, which reported the developments, explicitly notes it shares the information as interesting, not as an endorsement.

For now, the practical takeaway for photo businesses is simple: don't load this on a production body. Watch the Github repositories instead. If Wang's work on autofocus, IBIS and LiDAR attracts serious developer attention, the X2D II 100C could gain capabilities Hasselblad never planned to ship — and that would change the calculus on what the platform is for.