Hasselblad FE Lens

[Mike Sellers]

Will the FE lens work on the HC body with an adapter?

[FredBGG]

No

FE lenses have no shutter.

[henrikfoto]

But they work very well with Mamiya/Phase and Contax 645.

Henrik

[Mike Sellers]

I did a search on ebay and found one adapted to the Pentax 6x7 and an adapter to use it on the Leica S2.

[FredBGG]

But they work very well with Mamiya/Phase and Contax 645.

Henrik

Work very well?

Lets say they can be used, but with limitations.

With the Phase/Mamiya 645....

They can be mounted, but you have to work with manual aperture stop down.
Focus confirmation is not accurate enough with the 110mm f2.
Manual focus is hard due to the low magnification of the viewfinder

With the Contax auto focus is slower, but more accurate with the faster lenses.
Also manual stop down.

[ondebanks]

I did a search on ebay and found one adapted to the Pentax 6x7 and an adapter to use it on the Leica S2.

Hmmm..sounds like a very roundabout and expensive way of doing it. Adapting a Hasselblad lens to the Pentax 6x7 requires mechanically hacking off the rear of the Hasselblad lens (to get infinity focus). There are straight Hasselblad to Leica S2 adapters, so that's one less step and no irreversible lens modifications. I guess some P67 user must have really wanted to use that particular Zeiss lens!

Ray

[henrikfoto]

Work very well?

Lets say they can be used, but with limitations.

With the Phase/Mamiya 645....

They can be mounted, but you have to work with manual aperture stop down.
Focus confirmation is not accurate enough with the 110mm f2.
Manual focus is hard due to the low magnification of the viewfinder

With the Contax auto focus is slower, but more accurate with the faster lenses.
Also manual stop down.




Yes, they really work very well. Manual focus is no problem if the screen is changed to a new Bright screen.
I use them all the time. Also the 110 f2. I have no problem finding the correct focus, but of course the dof is very
narrow and the hit-rate is lower. I use the DF 80% of the time with older manual lenses (40, 60, 100 and 110mm
all Hasselblad V).

What problems do you have using the 110 FE?

Henrik

[FredBGG]

I have no problem finding the correct focus, but of course the dof is very
narrow and the hit-rate is lower.

What problems do you have using the 110 FE?

Henrik

Focusing issues. A low "hit rate" is a pain in the ass and unacceptable for me.
I was using the Phase One DF with the latest and "greatest" bright focusing screen.
The problem is simply the low magnification of the viewfinder.
It is practically the same viewfinder from the first 645 AFD.
I shoot in a deliberate manner and work with my subject and shoot the right moments... no spray and pray for focus hits.
It is unacceptable for me to shoot A-list actors, singers and comedians ..... to then go and review the shots and say oops that perfect expression
isn't a focus hit.

While I liked the look of the Hasselblad 110mm f2 on a 1.1 or 1.0 crop MFDB the ergonomics and focus limitations were unacceptable.
Rather sad as my 110mm f2 was a brilliant lens. Closest thing to my Fuji GX680 with the 180mm 3.2 on 6x7 film.
By the way with the better view finder options on the 680 my focus hit rate even wide open is close to 100% despite the depth of field being as shallow as
the 110mm f2 on a 534 camera.

Here is how shallow the depth of field is with the 680... actually even more apparent with tilt and shift.

50% crop from a p25+





100% crop


I shot 25 shots for this portrait. All focused like this.


So to conclude... if focus "bracketing" or overshooting is OK and you don't mind a gloomy viewfinder when shooting stopped down
the Mamiya DF and Hasselblad 110mm f2 can work. The look is very nice, but only wide open. The 110 has a 5 blade iris so bokeh stopped down
looks so so to really bad compared to wide open

[henrikfoto]

When I say "lower hit-rate" I am talking about moving persons, not adults posing and cooperating.
It is also much easier with a P25 than an Aptus 12.


Henrik

[FredBGG]

When I say "lower hit-rate" I am talking about moving persons, not adults posing and cooperating.
It is also much easier with a P25 than an Aptus 12.


Henrik

I can assure you that when I talk about shooting A=List subjects there are many that are not what you would call co-operative from a posing and holding relatively still.

Also I don't see how it is easier to focus with a p25 compared to an Aptus 12.
The Aptus is higher res, but unless you are blowing up to huge sizes the difference is not significant.

The real problem is the Mamiya DF. The viewfinder was designed back in the film days with no where near the
resolution of digital. Both grain and focus buzz (due to the thickness of film) made critical focus less of an issue.

There is a reason why large format cameras use a high magnification loup for focusing on a focusing screen that is way way larger to start with.

A high res system like the DF with a low magnification viewfinder is really quite limiting when it comes to focusing.

35mm DSLR cameras on the other hand have made massive progress in both resolution and focusing.

For me personally I have more than replaced the Hasselblad 110mm f2 with a D800 and the Nikon 85mm 1.4G.
Wide open they give me the same look, but the Nikon is sharper. Stopped down a bit there is no comparison... the Nikon is better with the rounded 9 blade iris
compared to the 5 blade 110mm f2.

IF I'm looking for something more I shoot 6x8cm or 8x10 inch film (or 8x10 inch direct to paper).

[Pingang]

Very unfortunately, they can't, not like those CF, CFi and CFE lenses. I was hoping Hasselblad would do a hybrid body such as S2 or Later the Mamiya using the same mount but flexibility of either leaf shutter and focal plane shutter.  The leaf shutter is good for high sync speed but they cannot go beyond 1/500, 1/800, 1/1000 or 1/1500.
I still keep a handful of extremely high quality FE lenses, including the very rare Zeiss Super apochromatic TPP 300/2.8 for Contax 645AF or with the FF DSLRs.
They work vest good, although not that suitable for fast moving or candid shots, but for portrait, landscape, no less than current lenses.

BR,
Pingang

[heinrichvoelkel]

Can I adapt FE lenses to the Pentax 645D?

[groggylobster]

Yes, Hasselblad F or FE lenses can be adopted to Pentax 645D, including the 110/2, using a Fotodiox Hasselblad Lens to Pentax 645 body adapter (also good for CF/CFi/CFE lenses when set to focal plane shutter - it is not possible to use the lens' leaf shutter on a 645D.)  As there is no mechanical or electrical communication between lens and 645D, both F and FE versions will operate the same on the 645D.  Use the lever on the lens to toggle between wide open for focusing and stop down for metering and taking the image.  For long lenses that have tripod mounts, keep in mind (at least on the Hasselblad lenses I've looked at so far) the tripod mount does not rotate from landscape to portrait mode, as the native format was square.  The front filter mount is bayonet style; if you have threaded filters you would like to use, there is a bayonet to thread adapter (Fotodiox B70 to 77mm for 110/2 and 250/4)  The 250/4 has an 8 bladed aperture, the 110/2 has a 10 bladed aperture from f2.8 to f5.6, and converges down to a 5 bladed aperture from f8 to f16.  I have also tried the 60-120/4.5 FE zoom on the 645D, but find it impractically heavy compared to the Pentax 645 zooms.

[heinrichvoelkel]

thank you for the info, groggylobster. appreciated.