Affordable Portrait Lens for Hasselblad?

waffles · Jul 14, 2019

I recently bought a used Hasselblad 203fe + a Zeiss Planar 80mm f/2.8 CFE. And I just bought a used Zeiss Distagon 50mm f/2.8 FE. I would like to buy a short-telephoto lens to round out my kit. I plan on using this lens mostly for studio portraiture, so I'll need a lens with a built-in shutter. And I have a 200-series body, so obviously I'd prefer a lens with electronic databus connections. Are there any good recommendations for a sub-$1000 portrait lens out there? I see that the 150mm and the 180mm are pretty popular, but Hasselblad never made a CFE version of the 150mm (and the 180mm is going for $1,500+)

What about the Makro-Planar 120mm? I know that the Nikon Micro-Nikkor 105mm is often used as a portrait lens. Would the Makro-Planar make a good portrait lens? I see a CFE version going for $800 right now on eBay. What about the new CFi lenses? Other than losing the electronic databus contacts, would I be losing anything else if I went with a 150mm f/4 CFi rather than a 180mm f/4 CFE? I see that it sells for about half the price, and would consider going with one because 90% of the time I'll be using this lens with strobes. And if I really need to do available-light portraiture, then I can always use the 80mm >_>

Are there any other options you'd recommend?

etn · Jul 14, 2019

The 120 is a great portrait lens. You can go relatively close to your subject without using extension rings. It is also of excellent quality. $800 is a good price for a CFE - beware of scams, here the CF versions of the 120 go for 600-700 €. To me it seems almost too good to be true but the market price might be different on this side of the Atlantic.

If you are interested i have a 120 CF for sale, but I recommend you the CFE you mentioned, as it is not much more expensive than my asking price.

There is no difference between CFE and CFi apart from the electronics. The CF, CFi and CFE have the same optiics.

Alternatives are:
150 CF, the typical Hassy portrait lens, goes for a couple hundred $,
180, an excellent lens (I use mine all the time for landscape and general photography),
110 f/2 - said to be „the ultimate portrait lens“, but requires a 200-series which you have. (I have a 500). Can fetch prices way above 1000.

Strobes can be used with all, at least in manual mode. the 150 and 180 require an extension ring for portraits. Not sure about the 110.

Hope this helps!
Etienne

GLS · Jul 14, 2019

The 120mm Makro-Planar, 150mm or 180mm are all great portrait lenses. Your main consideration should be on focal length & typical focus distance, framing etc for intended use. Without extension tubes or closeup filters you can't focus closely enough with the 150mm to do tight headshots, but with the 180mm you can (and obviously the 120mm can too). For closeup work the 150mm is also the weakest performer of the three when looking at the MTF curves, but "weakest" is of course a relative term and the 150mm was/is still a ubiquitous portrait lens for the Hasselblad.

Personally I would go for either the 120mm or the 180mm; I own both and they are superb. The 180mm is a more flattering focal length for headshots, is obviously better suited to really blurring out the background should you want to, and is razor sharp (one of the sharpest lenses for the Hasselblad) but the 120mm is perhaps more versatile.

etn · Jul 14, 2019

GLS said:
Personally I would go for either the 120mm or the 180mm; I own both and they are superb. The 180mm is a more flattering focal length for headshots, is obviously better suited to really blurring out the background should you want to, and is razor sharp (one of the sharpest lenses for the Hasselblad) but the 120mm is perhaps more versatile.

My experience too.

One of the reasons to go for a 150mm would be its affordability compared to the others. The 150 is one of the most widely produced Hassy lenses and therefore cheaper per offer and demand dynamics.

There are CB lenses as well. They are lower-cost alternatives to the CFi. Stay away from those as they will not work on your 200-series camera: the shutter lacks the F setting for focal plane shutter use.

Grim Tuesday · Jul 14, 2019

I've never been quite as taken with the 120 as everyone else around here, I think it is an awkward focal length for a tele and the smoothness of bokeh of the sonnar is like no other lens. Also, the 150 is the cheapest Hasselblad lens and in my opinion it's performance is quite sufficient. It has amazing bite. Finally it fits in better with an 80 as part of a kit. There are some advantages to the 120 -- namely it is extremely sharp close up and has the helicoid to let it get close up. In my case I decided the extra expense of the 120(cf version $450-550) is not worth it over the 150 (cf version $200-300), especially when I like the 150 more, so I have my 120 up for sale as well.

cowanw · Jul 14, 2019

CB lenses will work set on the B setting. I wonder if you might say why you mentioned that you need a lens with a built in shutter for studio work.

abruzzi · Jul 14, 2019

cowanw said:
CB lenses will work set on the B setting. I wonder if you might say why you mentioned that you need a lens with a built in shutter for studio work.

Presumably for the higher flash sync?

Sirius Glass · Jul 14, 2019

Check the prices at KEH where EX+ can be had for less. I was thinking about the 135mm lens plus the variable extension tube both of which can be had to a whole lot less than the lens alone on eBay. And KEH will do a CLA for free if it is necessary, could you do that on eBay?

BrianShaw · Jul 14, 2019

abruzzi said:
Presumably for the higher flash sync?

With a strobe... how fast does one really need?

Theo Sulphate · Jul 14, 2019

cowanw said:
... I wonder if you might say why you mentioned that you need a lens with a built in shutter for studio work.

abruzzi said:
Presumably for the higher flash sync?

BrianShaw said:
With a strobe... how fast does one really need?

The issue is that, when using flash, a lens with a leaf shutter is needed (C, CF, CB, etc.). With an F lens on a 200-series camera, there's only the focal plane shutter and, consequently, a much slower flash sync speed (1/30 max?) - any faster speed will result in just a slit of the film frame being exposed.

But you probably knew that already.

The 200-series cameras have three combinations of lens usage:

1. Mount a (non-shutter) F lens, then select a (focal plane) shutter speed on the body.

2. Mount a C-series* lens (C, CF, CB, etc.), select B or F on the lens, then select a (focal plane) shutter speed on the body.

3. Mount a C-series lens (C, CF, CB, etc.), select the shutter speed on the lens, and then set C on the body.

It's very intuitive: F means you want to use the focal plane shutter, C means you want to use the lens' shutter.

--
* The C designation initially represented the use of a Compur shutter; starting with the CF lenses a Prontor shutter was used.
--

BrianShaw · Jul 14, 2019

Hi Theo. I think the synch is a bit faster than 1/30: 1/90... and, of course, all slower speeds.

John Koehrer · Jul 14, 2019

Even in the studio you may want a darker background and using a higher sync speed in a darker room can let it go darker. It will
also depend on flash-subject and room size.

waffles · Jul 14, 2019

etn said:
110 f/2 - said to be „the ultimate portrait lens“, but requires a 200-series which you have. (I have a 500). Can fetch prices way above 1000. Strobes can be used with all, at least in manual mode. the 150 and 180 require an extension ring for portraits. Not sure about the 110.

I would *love* to get the 110mm f/2. But its only available in an FE version, and as I said I'm going to need a lens with a built-in shutter, so I can sync to my studio strobes. Also, another great option would be the 250mm f/5.6 Superachromat ... but the CFE version of that lens goes for $5,000 :'-(

waffles · Jul 14, 2019

etn said:
One of the reasons to go for a 150mm would be its affordability compared to the others. The 150 is one of the most widely produced Hassy lenses and therefore cheaper per offer and demand dynamics.

See, that's what I don't understand ... if the 150mm is Hasselblad's most popular "long" focal length, then why didn't they ever make a CFE version?! It makes no sense! X(

Theo Sulphate · Jul 14, 2019

waffles said:
See, that's what I don't understand ... if the 150mm is Hasselblad's most popular "long" focal length, then why didn't they ever make a CFE version?! It makes no sense! X(

Maybe so as not to jeopardize sales of the 120 CFE or 180 CFE? Just a guess.

spijker · Jul 14, 2019

waffles said:
I would *love* to get the 110mm f/2. But its only available in an FE version, and as I said I'm going to need a lens with a built-in shutter, so I can sync to my studio strobes.

You don't need a lens with a built-in leaf shutter for studio strobes. The shutter time is irrelevant as long as it is long enough that all strobes flash while the shutter is completely open. You set the depth of field with the aperture and the exposure with the strobe flash power. The short flash duration will freeze any motion, not the shutter time. The 203 FE focal plane shutter at 1/90s will work just as good as a leaf shutter built in the lens. I've done many studio sessions with various cameras; film, digital, 35mm and medium format but always a focal plane shutter. In rental studios with a wide variety of strobes and with my own flash gear. I often shoot both digital and MF film together with the DSLR at 1/200 and the MF film camera at 1/60 s or 1/125 s. As long as the ISO and aperture is the same, the exposure is the same. Shutter sync speed doesn't matter.

Only if you're shooting outside in daylight with a fill flash, then a leaf shutter has an advantage as you can use a high shutter speed with a wide aperture and still use flash and get a proper exposure for the daylight. But even then, you can probably use modern strobe with high speed sync and use a higher shutter speed on the 203fe's focal plane shutter.

So if you really want that 110mm (or another) FE lens, no need to hold back.

Sirius Glass · Jul 14, 2019

waffles said:
I would *love* to get the 110mm f/2. But its only available in an FE version, and as I said I'm going to need a lens with a built-in shutter, so I can sync to my studio strobes. Also, another great option would be the 250mm f/5.6 Superachromat ... but the CFE version of that lens goes for $5,000 :'-(

Standard 250mm lens will be more than just plain perfect for you. I do not need a Superachromat.

Sirius Glass · Jul 14, 2019

waffles said:
See, that's what I don't understand ... if the 150mm is Hasselblad's most popular "long" focal length, then why didn't they ever make a CFE version?! It makes no sense! X(

It would if you knew about optics and of course marketability. There just was no need.

waffles · Jul 14, 2019

Theo Sulphate said:
Maybe so as not to jeopardize sales of the 120 CFE or 180 CFE? Just a guess.

This. But its a terrible reason -_-

GLS · Jul 15, 2019

waffles said:
This. But its a terrible reason -_-

I think it more likely that they didn't want a 4/150 CFE to compete with the Sonnar 2.8/150 FE lens. Same thing with the 4/50 Distagon: i.e. no CFE version to compete with the 2.8/50 Distagon FE.

Other than the databus connection the CFi and CFE lenses are identical.

waffles · Jul 15, 2019

I ended up buying a 180mm f/4 CFi for $700. One day (when I’m rich and famous) I’ll sell it and upgrade to the 180mm f/4 CFE

Sirius Glass · Jul 15, 2019

waffles said:
I ended up buying a 180mm f/4 CFi for $700. One day (when I’m rich and famous) I’ll sell it and upgrade to the 180mm f/4 CFE

That is about the right price. Stick to CF or later lenses so that you only need to buy one set of B60 filters. Enjoy!

waffles · Jul 15, 2019

Sirius Glass said:
That is about the right price. Stick to CF or later lenses so that you only need to buy one set of B60 filters. Enjoy!

Unfortunately, I already bought a 50mm FE, and I’ve been looking for a solution for filters for that lens too

GLS · Jul 15, 2019

waffles said:
I already bought a 50mm FE, and I’ve been looking for a solution for filters for that lens too

The Lee system has an 86mm adapter ring available.

Sirius Glass · Jul 15, 2019

Use real filters, not the plastic sheets. I recommend Helopan, B+W, and Hasselblad. If they are not available in the type or size get a B60-67mm adapter and 67mm Hoya or Tiffin filters. In the case of the 50mm FE consider a 86mm screw in adapter unless the above brands have something available for you. I have found high quality used filters in excellent condition.

Affordable Portrait Lens for Hasselblad?

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