Distagon 50mm C vs CF?

[Kodachromeguy]

I was referring to generic 67mm threaded (non-Series 8) filters and hoods: these must be used very carefully, only screwed in a little bit, otherwise they can strip the Series 8 barrel threads and get stuck.

NO, do not use regular 67mm modern filters or hoods. They are the wrong thread pitch. Use the right hardware on these lenses. The C lens originally came with a retaining ring that would hold unthreaded Series VIII (63mm) filters. The Hasselblad hood would also hold the Series VIII filters. I have read that the thread pitch is 32 thread per inch, which is slightly different than the .75 pitch used with normal 67mm filters.

 

[mrosenlof]

I have the 50, 100, and 250 in the older 'C' style. I like the mechanical DOF scale, and I'm fine with the all-metal focusing ring. It's not super fast to use, but the hasselblad is not really a camera for action photos. (that said, in 1975, when I was shooting my high school football game for the school paper, another photographer from one of the local dailies was using a blad!) I very much like that the shutter and aperture markings are engraved and filled with paint. Yeah maybe the newer lenses have advantages, but the older models are still quite good.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Can anyone comment on the FLE feature? Is it a gimmick? I just acquired the CFI FLE version of this lens and shot just two rolls of film with it. I was having a hard time not forgetting to adjust the FLE ring. Looking at my results it's hard to tell its effect. Some images are amazing, others aren't really tack sharp but I've been shooting handheld at 1/125 and even 1/60 of a second, so the softness could be due to that. Maybe I'll do a controlled test on a tripod one day, but frankly I'd much prefer to just leave it at one setting and never touch again. Thoughts?

You need more use before you draw conclusions. I think you will get to love and enjoy the FLE.

 

[MattKing]

I've no direct experience with that function on a Hasselblad lens, but with the Mamiya floating element lenses adjustment has the most affect on the lens' flat field performance.
So, when one is working close to a subject, one could actually make an artistic choice to throw the corners and edges more out of focus by setting the adjustment for distant work.

 

[mcrokkorx]

Can anyone comment on the FLE feature?

The FLE feature in itself is not the most significant improvement or reason to choose the 50mm Distagon FLE over the non-FLE: the most significant improvement with the FLE is that its overall a better lens with more balanced performance across the frame at all apertures and distances. This is by dint of being a 25 years newer (1989 vs 1964) optical formula utilizing Zeiss' updated computer aided design facilities. Not that theres anything wrong with older vintage lenses, but in this particular category of wide retrofocal medium format focal lengths, newer is generally better across the board among all camera brands. The original 50m mm C (and its CF twin) are quite decent wides for 6x6 format, but they entail some performance compromises that certain photographers found difficult to work with or unacceptable. The updated FLE noticeably minimizes those issues, plus adds the FLE feature for even better performance at close range.

I was having a hard time not forgetting to adjust the FLE ring.

A lot of people have difficulty managing fully-manual floating element lenses: remembering to keep track of the extra ring is an acquired skill. However, there is a surprisingly harmless alternative: don't use the FLE feature at all. It does improve field performance at very close distances if used properly, but if you mostly shoot from medium to infinity distances you can just leave the FLE ring set permanently at infinity. The 50mm FLE adjustment doesn't really kick ass until you're less than 3 feet / 1 meter from your subject, at which point adjusting the FLE ring to rough distance range before final focus with the main focus ring will minimize close range aberrations. However, many photographers find the improvements too subtle to be worth the trouble: depends on how often you shoot super-close, whether your subject matter reveals or conceals the performance difference, and how critical that difference is (or isn't) to your work..

Zeiss itself made an interesting decision to kill the FLE ring altogether in its final commemorative limited-edition version of the Hasselblad CF-FLE 50mm Distagon. Years of feedback from photographers led Zeiss to conclude manual FLE adjustment lacked practical usability, and that most pros found the performance just peachy at common distances with the FLE ring set to infinity. So the last 50mm "ZV" Distagon (retail $5K, released circa 2008) internally locked the FLE subassembly at infinity and omitted the secondary external FLE ring.