Hasselblad lens suggestion?

[blankk]

Hi guys. I've recently found, much to my surprise, a Hasselblad 500CM in lovely condition in my uncle's storage that he says he can give to me. Unfortunately he says he gave away the only lens he had long ago.

I'm really excited about getting to use a Hasselblad, but I realize that most of the lenses are going to be expensive. Is there a relatively affordable normal lens I can buy, and how much would that cost (at the very best)? I found a couple on KEH but they appeared to be telephoto, which I don't think I want at the moment. Also, is there anything I should know as far as which lenses will fit on this camera? Thanks in advance!

 

[Q.G.]

The standard lens, and a very good one to get as a first and only lens, is the 80 mm Planar.
In C version, it should run at about US$ 300. Later versions (CF, CFE) will be more.

 

[Slixtiesix]

Yes, 80/2,8 Planar is the way to go if you want a lightweight and fast normal lens.
Be aware that the early C-versions had only a simple dual-coating (which is quite good as long as you don´t shoot straight into the sun, IMHO), but are also less expensive.
Later versions which are multicoated bear a red T* sign on the front. Nethertheless, the
early versions are still good and I had superb results even without multicoating.
If you want a more modern lens, Zeiss made a "budget" line of lenses in the 90s where they used more plastic in some parts of the mount, like the filter bayonet. These lenses are called CB. There was also a good wideangle, the CB 60/3,5, but it is difficult to be found used.

Lenses for this Hassblads will need an inbuilt central shutter. The fast lenses for the focal plane Hasselblads like 50/2,8 150/2,8 110/2 won´t fit!
Enjoy your new Hasseblad and feel free to ask if you have more questions!

Greetz, Benjamin

 

[Q.G.]

The CB 60 is the same lens as any other version f/3.5 60 mm lens available for Hasselblad.
So no worries if you can't find the CB version: any other version will produce pictures of the same quality.

This is a quite good lens indeed. And a very nice focal length for an allround lens. Paired with a 150 mm lens, it makes a very usefull two-lens kit.

 

[Sirius Glass]

You will love the 500CM.

I got a PME prism [with a light meter] for around $175.

I buy the CF lenses. I am happy with the f/4 50mm, f/2.8 80mm, f/4 150mm, f5.6 250mm and the 2x extender.

Start with the 80mm CF ~$500. Any that follow will depend on whether you tend towards wide angle or telephoto. The rest of the lenses ran around $800 each in the CF model.

Steve