Hassy lens education...

ChristopherCoy · Jul 25, 2012

Can someone give me a basic education on Hassy lenses? Are the only lenses available the Carl Zeiss lenses? Are there, or we're there any third party makers?

Or what's the difference between Distagon, Planar, Sonnar, and Tessar?

Leigh B · Jul 26, 2012

I think there were a couple of non-Zeiss lenses for the V-series (500C/M et al) cameras.

Schneider made their Variogon 140mm-280mm zoom lens for that camera.

And the Russian Kiev copy of the 500C had a line of lenses, although I don't know the specifics.

Kenko and Komura made lens accessories (converters and such). I don't know if they made complete lenses or not.

- Leigh

Alan Gales · Jul 26, 2012

I have seen Rodenstock Imagon lenses advertised on Ebay that fit the V series Hasselblad. Imagons are popular soft focus lenses often used on large format 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10 cameras.

ruilourosa · Jul 26, 2012

distagon: 30,40,50 and 60mm, a retrofocus design wide angle
planar: 80 and 100, normal designs
sonnar: 150 up, long focus and tele design
tele tessar:160 up, tele design
makro planar and s-planar:120 and 135mm simetrical design (or almost) designed for close range photo
biogon:38mm (and 60mm) true wide angle design, low distortion

tessar design (the classic) is only available for 1000 and 1600 focal plane cameras along with some kodak lenses
variogon zoom was made by schneider
rodenstock made 3 grandagons for the arcbody model

Slixtiesix · Jul 27, 2012

Apart from the types (Planar, Distagon ect.) there are also different generations. C lenses were the first. Early ones were silvery, only the latest of these had the T* multicoating. Most had a simpler double layer coating. Silver T*s are rather rare. From the early 70s on, C lenses were black and came with T*. At the beginning of the 80s, the CF lenses were introduced to replace the C lenses. Around 2000, Zeiss introduced the CFi and CFe lenses to replace CF lenses.
Apart from these, there were also the F-lenses for use with the focal-plane series only. F-lenses were introduced in the 70s, in the early 90s electronic contacts were added so they became FE lenses.
Though the barrels changed, most lens designes stayed the same since their introduction. The 250/5,6 Sonnar is essentially still the same lens as it was in 1957. The F and FE lenses never changed in lens design, apart from some very minor modifications Zeiss did to the 110/2 in 1999. Neither did the 60/3,5, 100/3,5, 150/4 and 180/4. Concerning the 80/2,8, only very early ones were a little different. The 38/4,5 only changed when Hasselblad introduced the 905swc because of some changes in the glass formula Zeiss had to use.
The only lenses that saw considerable development were the 50/4 and 40/4. Floating elements were added in the 80s to improve close up performance of these. The 40/4 saw two major redesigns, one in 1982, when it lost a lot of weight and size, and one in 2006, when performance was improved even further.

ChristopherCoy · Jul 27, 2012

So any lens that is a "C" lens will work on my 1977 500cm? CF, CFi, CFe?

feilb · Jul 27, 2012

Sure will. Parts are not available for C lenses anymore (though some Like David odess reportedly can still fix them), so some prefer cf and later.

Leigh B · Jul 27, 2012

feilb said:
Parts are not available for C lenses anymore

That's an oft-repeated statement that's not really true.

While it's true that parts for the Compur shutter are no longer available from the factory (long out of business), I
have a decent stock of parts for them, and I'm sure David has far more than I do, along with many other people.

The Compur shutter is an extremely robust and reliable mechanism that seldom requires replacement parts.
I would never avoid buying a C lens due to possible repair issues. They seldom arise.

- Leigh

Sirius Glass · Jul 28, 2012

Slixtiesix said:
Apart from the types (Planar, Distagon ect.) there are also different generations. C lenses were the first. Early ones were silvery, only the latest of these had the T* multicoating. Most had a simpler double layer coating. Silver T*s are rather rare. From the early 70s on, C lenses were black and came with T*. At the beginning of the 80s, the CF lenses were introduced to replace the C lenses. Around 2000, Zeiss introduced the CFi and CFe lenses to replace CF lenses.
Apart from these, there were also the F-lenses for use with the focal-plane series only. F-lenses were introduced in the 70s, in the early 90s electronic contacts were added so they became FE lenses.
Though the barrels changed, most lens designes stayed the same since their introduction. The 250/5,6 Sonnar is essentially still the same lens as it was in 1957. The F and FE lenses never changed in lens design, apart from some very minor modifications Zeiss did to the 110/2 in 1999. Neither did the 60/3,5, 100/3,5, 150/4 and 180/4. Concerning the 80/2,8, only very early ones were a little different. The 38/4,5 only changed when Hasselblad introduced the 905swc because of some changes in the glass formula Zeiss had to use.
The only lenses that saw considerable development were the 50/4 and 40/4. Floating elements were added in the 80s to improve close up performance of these. The 40/4 saw two major redesigns, one in 1982, when it lost a lot of weight and size, and one in 2006, when performance was improved even further.

In addition: C lenses use B50 filters; CF and later lenses with a few exceptions take B60 filters. If one sticks to either C or CF lenses only then one set of filters will work for the lenses. If one has C and CF lenses then that photographer needs both B50 and B60 filters and/or a step up filter adapter from B50. Since the filters for Hasselblads are pricey I recommend that one buy CF or higher lenses. CF and higher lenses cost more than C lenses but there are more lenses to choose from.

C lenses are less ergonomic than CF lenses, therefore some do not like the handling of the C lenses.

Philippe-Georges · Aug 23, 2012

Leigh B said:
That's an oft-repeated statement that's not really true.

While it's true that parts for the Compur shutter are no longer available from the factory (long out of business), I
have a decent stock of parts for them, and I'm sure David has far more than I do, along with many other people.

The Compur shutter is an extremely robust and reliable mechanism that seldom requires replacement parts.
I would never avoid buying a C lens due to possible repair issues. They seldom arise.

- Leigh

I was told that some parts of the actual Prontor shutter can be used to service the old Synchro-Compur, is that correct?

Leigh B · Aug 23, 2012

Philippe-Georges said:
I was told that some parts of the actual Prontor shutter can be used to service the old Synchro-Compur, is that correct?

I don't know. I've never worked on a Prontor, and have no literature about them.

There was some relationship between the Prontor and the Compur, but I don't know the details.

- Leigh

Sirius Glass · Aug 23, 2012

There is a lot of information here http://www.hasselbladhistorical.eu/HS/HSTable.aspx

Hassy lens education...

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