HASSYs are CHEAP!!

[25asa]

I can't believe it!
I never thought I'd own one!
The market on used hasselblads has dropped!
Just look at the finished auctions on ebay!
I just bought TWO!!
WOOHOO!!



ooops, sorry, couldn't contain myself!!
Thank you, digital.

 

[Jim Moore]

Yep, I agree. There's so cheap I've bought 3 so far.

One for me, and one for each of my Daughters that are interested in photography.

Jim

 

[25asa]

Why thank you Mr. Moore!

I have a daughter interested in photography too!!
What an excellent excuse to go buy number 3!!
But for variety - I really should get a different model number!

 

[John L]

Although the lenses still cost and the SWC does as well.

 

[rbarker]

Yep, they're so cheap I'm clinging sadly to the two I bought new years ago, even though I don't use them as often as I used to.

I keep them in the safe, right next to those Enron shares.

 

[jd callow]

Although the lenses still cost and the SWC does as well.

I want an SWC really really badly...

 

[25asa]

I want an SWC really really badly...

Those puppies have a long way to come down to beat my 65mm on 4x5.

 

[jd callow]

Those puppies have a long way to come down to beat my 65mm on 4x5.

For what I want it for my 58mm on a 4x5 won't due -- a Mamiya 7 with a 43mm might suffice, but money is still the issue.

 

[rjr]

For what I want it for my 58mm on a 4x5 won't due -- a Mamiya 7 with a 43mm might suffice, but money is still the issue.

What about a Kiev60 with the 3,5/30mm Zodiak/Arsat? Or get the adapter for the 645 and a 645J body for not that much money.

But the lens is not rectilinear.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

The best deal out there for a 6x6 ultrawide is a Bronica S- or EC-series with the Nikkor 40/4.0. The camera is built around this lens, and it's one of the best lenses in the classic Bronica lineup. You can find an S2A for $350-500 with Nikkor 75mm, WLF and a 12/24 back (less if you get an S2, S, or C), and the lens should run around $650. The S-series Bronicas had a falling mirror and the EC-series have a split mirror, so that wide lenses can protrude into the mirror box. The Nikkor 40/4.0 is a similar design to the 40mm Distagon, but it doesn't have to make up for as much retrofocus distance as the Zeiss lens on a Hassy.

A 6x6 setup with a 500 c/m and all the Zeiss lenses you can afford with an S2A and all the Nikkor lenses you can't afford for the Hassy could be a really nice kit.

 

[rashrader]

Not only are they inexpensive these days, but they work just as well as they did when they were more expensive.

 

[mark]

Y'all got a funny definition of cheap. But that is just my bank account talking.

 

[Amund]

Not only are they inexpensive these days, but they work just as well as they did when they were more expensive.

True words! I`ve been enjoying my first two weeks with my 500 C/M +80mm T* ($660 eBay) so much I can`t describe it! I got a 150mm/4 T*($400) a couple of days ago and I`m developing the first film with it now.

A SWC is on my "to get" list too......

 

[Todd J. Bertolini]

I agree. I got away from medium format(actual serious photography for about 10 years). I just bought a 500CM (1982) and a 501CM (1999). PME prism,PME-90 prism. Mew waist level finder, 80 CF and had it CLA'd by hasselblad,a 160CB,2x Zeiss Mutar and 4 A12 magazines. All equipment is in near mint condition and at most spent 45 cents on the dollar opposed to new equipment. I use a small digitial point and shoot on occasion,but to be honest I am not at all interested in sitting in front of the computer manipulating images that with good equipment and proper technique would be perfect in the first place. I got rid of my Nikon gear-all the glass as well as an F4S and an F100 and I don't miss them a bit. I've had enough computer problems to know I will not trust my cherished images to cyberspace. If I wanted to play video games I'll get a play station. Nothing beats viewing extachrome on a light table. Photoshop is blasphemy.

 

[lensworker]

THANKS, DIGITAL!!!

Thanks to the current digital hysteria, just about anything that you can put film in and stick a lens on has become unbelievably affordable on the used market. The most crazy example I saw was a used Contax 645 with 3 lenses, all items like new, priced at 40% of the new price!!! I couldn't believe it!!

I picked up a clean Mamiya 7II, with like new 43mm, 80mm and 150mm lenses for about half the cost of new, thanks to the digital "revolution."

Nikon F3hp bodies - $1300 new, can be had for $600 in minty new condition!

Thanks, digital!!!

 

[eric]

The best deal out there for a 6x6 ultrawide is a Bronica S- or EC-series with the Nikkor 40/4.0. The camera is built around this lens, and it's one of the best lenses in the classic Bronica lineup.

Never seen this. Is this like a Bronica equivalent to the SWC? Got any links?

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Here's a picture with the Nikkor/Bronica 40/4.0 that I've posted before--

And here's some info on classic Bronica lenses including this one--

Dead Link Removed

It's more like the Bronica equivalent to the Zeiss 40mm Distagon of its era, but it has less retrofocus distance to overcome than the Distagon, because the lens can protrude into the mirror box of a Bronica, thanks to the falling-mirror design.

 

[gchpaco]

The S- and EC- series Bronicas have the strangest mirror design I've ever heard of on a medium format SLR; the S mirror goes down and forward and two light traps block off the viewfinder and the mirror, and the EC has a split mirror (the two halves of which apparently have a tendency to fall out of true with one another that is very difficult to fix). The whole point of this is that lenses don't have to be as retrofocus to work. I don't have the 40, only the 50, and it's a very nice lens, very sharp, little distortion. The 75 fits down the belly of the beast and hardly protrudes at all.

The S series are also the loudest cameras I've ever heard, and I include motor driven cameras in this; I nearly dropped mine the first time I heard the shutter go and I had been warned. Subtlety is impossible. I hear the reason the split-mirror design was used in the EC- was to quiet the thing down some.

The mirror was not the only odd design feature on those cameras--I am particularly amused by the detachable focusing helicoid, the extra 58x1mm lens mount, and the incredible disintegrating ground glass spacing foam--but it was one of the more important, optically.

So now that I've told you why they're neat, here's one reason not to get them: qualified mechanics are few and far between. In all of the US, the only mechanic I know of is Frank Marshman, and he's very good and fixed mine up real nice when I discovered that my ground glass foam had disintegrated and also that the mirror assembly was sticking.

On the other hand, if you're willing to get it cleaned, you can usually figure on getting a good S2 kit for the price of a Hasselblad lens; I think my body + 75 + back was less than the cost of a Hassy back. That was about a year ago, so things may no longer be so attractive. Although with Bronica killing the SQ and ETR, it may actually be more attractive.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Frank is great, and he's fixed all my Bronica stuff, but he's not the only one. Koh's Camera on Long Island also specializes in Bronica www.kohscamera.com. I think that some of the other guys who work on old cameras also can handle Bronicas but may not have quite the store of parts that Frank and Koh's have.

 

[Nokton48]

I've had the bug for a while, bodies and backs are cheap, lenses can be too, if you buy them broken, and have them fixed by a good shop. I ended up with 2-ELM's, 2-500CM"s (One numbered and signed by Dr. Hasselblad) and the matching beat-up black T* lenses from 50mm to 350mm, the complete set from the '70s.

-Cheap, and about as good as you can get

 

[fatboy22]

Here's a picture with the Nikkor/Bronica 40/4.0 that I've posted before--

And here's some info on classic Bronica lenses including this one--

Dead Link Removed

It's more like the Bronica equivalent to the Zeiss 40mm Distagon of its era, but it has less retrofocus distance to overcome than the Distagon, because the lens can protrude into the mirror box of a Bronica, thanks to the falling-mirror design.

I agree with David. These lenses are just amazing for the money! I just got a mint 40mm Nikkor for my S2a for $549. The lens still had its serial # tags on the lens cap. Not a mark on it. Sharp as a tack. I did not think anything could beat my 50mm Nikkor but this really is an amazing lens. The only draw back I have found is the odd 90mm filter size but SK Grimes is making me a step up adapter as we speak 90mm to 95mm so I can use normal 95mm filters.

 

[DrPablo]

I'm a wide angle fan, and I've pondered either the 47XL for 4x5, the SWC, the 40mm Distagon for my Hassy 500 c/m, or a Mamiya 7 / 43.

But now my heart is set on getting a Noblex 150. It's comparably priced to these options, and it has by far the widest angle of view short of a fisheye (what like 135 degrees with no distortion on a 6x12 frame).

 

[jd callow]

there is also the 38mm xl or the Grandagon 35mm and a sinar zoom rfh on a 4x5 that will allow for all of the above but won't be hand-holdable like the mamiya or as manageble as the slrs and swc.

 

[Roger Hicks]

As an aside, Zeiss's own tests indicate that the 38/4.5 Biogon is a lot sharper on an Alpa than on an SWC when hand held because the SWC is awkward to hold and has a less ergonomic shutter release (easier to twitch the camera).

There's also the possibility of buying ex-government Biogons and building/adapting your own wide-angle around 'em. Pay very great attention to film flatness, though, as depth of focus is pretty tiny.

Alpa-fit Biogons are another matter: Alpa told me a couple of days ago that the most recent Biogon to change hands on e-bay went for $15,000, and that a few months before, one in Moscow fetched $12,000. That REALLY makes Hasselblads look cheap.

 

[Roger Hicks]

... by far the widest angle of view short of a fisheye (what like 135 degrees with no distortion on a 6x12 frame).

Dear Paul,

For a given value of 'no distortion', because you still get that bellying-out effect in the plane of rotation of the lens.

And of course you can get a still wider angle of view with a Roundshot: over 360 degrees, in a sense, if you let the camera spin more than once.

For conventional wides, Frances is very fond of her 35/5.6 Apo-Grandagon and a 6x9cm back on her Alpa 12 S/WA. Beats 43 on 6x7!

Cheers,

Roger