Cable-less shooting Hasselblad CFV-50C

[Brian Hirschfeld]

Hello,

Today I was at PDN PhotoPlus 2014 (videos coming soon) where Hasselblad is once again showing products, and I played with the new CFV-50c and one of the things that struck me about it was that you could shoot it at everything from 1/15th to 1/500 (possibly slower but I didn't test it since that didn't seem particularly hand holdable).

I was wondering if anyone knows how they were able to do it. I'm trying to learn more about the electrical engineering side of things lately and I was wondering how they are able to do this because there doesn't seem to be any sort of electronic connection, and I know that there isn't any sort of battery in a 500 series camera (obviously) so i was wondering if any of you guys could help educate me about this. Thanks,

Best,
BH

[Joe Towner]

You can get the Phase/Leaf backs for V mount as well - shutter speed is just a matter of how steady your hand is.  I think there's a lever that is moved when you take a shot, and the backs look for that.  Actually the more I dig around my head, it is covered in the POCP class - yes, that is the case - there is a cut-out on the plate of the back that has an electronic eye in it, when the pin retracts (a shot), it takes a photo.  Backs that can be rotated 90 degrees have 2 of these cut outs.  Backs that don't have the second cut out can't be rotated.

[Brian Hirschfeld]

Is this little guy highlight in red?

[DanielStone]

Is this little guy highlight in red?

yup, that's the little arm that sticks out
The digital back has a little switch that acts just like how the film back's counter is "triggered" to advance to the next frame(hence why you need to reinsert the dark slide & remove the back from a Hasselblad PRIOR to winding it, if you want to double-expose a frame). Only instead of unlocking/telling the back's mechanical linkage it's ok to wind, you're telling the back "hey, exposure coming in"

I wish P1 and Leaf could implement this, it'd be handy to not HAVE to use a cable between the lens and the back

[tjv]

Did you happen to witness how the live view performed? People who have seen it in action say it's adequate for easy focusing on a tech camera. Not as good as the Phase / Leaf implementation in terms of frame rate, but "good enough". I'm curious because this back is top equal on my shopping list with the older CFV-50, but I can't demo where I live. Live view and improved mid-iso performance sells itself, but if the live view isn't upto snuff then I'd sooner just rely on using the ground glass of my Techno.

PS: Yes, that's the pin that the back senses.

[tjv]

I wish P1 and Leaf could implement this, it'd be handy to not HAVE to use a cable between the lens and the back

Amen to that, especially because they sensibly designed their backs so they could be mounted in vertical position. It boggles my mind that Hasselblad haven't done this.

[Chris Gahran]

That metal bar extends when the exposure button (the plunger) is depressed on the camera body to take a picture. The metal bar checks to insure the dark slide has been removed from a film back. If the dark slide is still in the film back the metal bar hits the slide and prevents completing an exposure.

Hasselblad uses the extending bar to tell the digital back to wake up and expect an exposure.

Chris

[Chris Gahran]

The CFV series is designed to replicate a V-series film back. Those film backs have a distinct look and do not mount sideways. So if you buy a CFV you are photographing either horizontal or classic square images unless you hold the Hasselblad camera sideways.

The Hasselblad CF series of digital backs have two-way mounts but the CFV looks like a classic Hasselblad film back with a LCD on it.

Chris

[tjv]

While I take the point that it is designed to look like a classic V series back, it'd be nice if Hasselblad gave their customers the choice to decide wether to turn it sideways or not. This might make it look a bit weird, but it'd be a more practical design decision in that it would allow the use of the waist level finder. Better yet, they could give you the option AND design it so it looked acceptable when mounted both ways.

I'm saying all of this, but it doesn't really concern me as I'd buy it to use on a technical camera and not a V series body anyway.

The CFV series is designed to replicate a V-series film back. Those film backs have a distinct look and do not mount sideways. So if you buy a CFV you are photographing either horizontal or classic square images unless you hold the Hasselblad camera sideways.

The Hasselblad CF series of digital backs have two-way mounts but the CFV looks like a classic Hasselblad film back with a LCD on it.

Chris

[Brian Hirschfeld]

Did you happen to witness how the live view performed? People who have seen it in action say it's adequate for easy focusing on a tech camera. Not as good as the Phase / Leaf implementation in terms of frame rate, but "good enough". I'm curious because this back is top equal on my shopping list with the older CFV-50, but I can't demo where I live. Live view and improved mid-iso performance sells itself, but if the live view isn't upto snuff then I'd sooner just rely on using the ground glass of my Techno.

PS: Yes, that's the pin that the back senses.

I did not see the live view feature, however I have seen it on the PhaseOne IQ250 where it is much improved over the live-view function offered for CCD backs like my IQ180.

I'm not familiar with the sensor size of the CFV-50 but, I see no reason not to just get the CFV-50c over it any day of the week considering its improvements across the board simply based on the added flexibility from it being CMOS.

[tjv]

The CFV-50 is a 1.1 crop (same as CFV-39 / P45+) and performs much better with large movements on a technical camera; two reasons one might like it over the newer 50c. Personally, I'm torn between the two as would never use either on a V series body.