I want A Hasselblad. Talk Me Out Of It!

[Sirius Glass]

I believe the ArcBody needs special lenses to fully exploit its movements whereas the FlexBody mounts standard CF lenses with some limitations in movement. At least, that's how I heared it.

Yes you are correct.

 

[chuckroast]

50, 80, 150.

Pretty much the default trio for many 'Blad shooters, especially working pros.

Two additional lenses you may want to consider:

The 60mm f/3.5 Distagon, my hands-down most used lens. It's an absolute razor sharp,
contrasty shooter that has just the right angle of view for oh so many situations. I easily use this 3x more than any of the other 5 lenses I own. If I want to take a 'Blad on a trip where I have to keep bag size reasonable, a V body, an A12, and that lens is all I take.

The 100mm f/3.5 Planar. I thought it wouldn't be different enough than my 80mm that I'd use it much, but truth be told, I now reach for it as- or more often than the 80mm.

Honourable mention to the 40mm f/4 FLE CF Distagon if you like shooting wide. It's a bit of a beast but it's oh so fun. Even the original C 40mm is spectacular - mine was stolen and insurance bought me the CF FLE, but I could have lived with that C no problem. Generally speaking the pre-T* Cs have only two drawbacks: A) They're getting kind of long in the tooth and the shutters will need CLAs and helicoids may need cleaning and lubing and B) You have to be a bit more careful with hoods and flare control with the pre-T* lenses. Is it a huge deal? No. You can manage it well by paying attention.

Hasselblad never made bad lenses. They just made better and better ones ...

 

[Sirius Glass]

50, 80, 150.

I have 38mm CF [SWC], 50mm CF, 80mm CF, 100mm CF, 150mm CF , 250mm CF and 500mm C lenses

To help avoid problems from having lenses not used enough, my Hasselblad repairman advises shooting each lens ten to fifteen times at 1/second and the smallest aperture [biggest f/number every 90 days. I have it marked on my computer calendar on 1 January, 1April, 1 July and 1 September.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Pretty much the default trio for many 'Blad shooters, especially working pros.

Two additional lenses you may want to consider:

The 60mm f/3.5 Distagon, my hands-down most used lens. It's an absolute razor sharp,
contrasty shooter that has just the right angle of view for oh so many situations. I easily use this 3x more than any of the other 5 lenses I own.

The 100mm f/3.5 Planar. I thought it wouldn't be different enough than my 80mm that I'd use it much, but truth be told, I now reach for it as- or more often than the 80mm.

Honourable mention to the 40mm f/4 FLE CF Distagon if you like shooting wide. It's a bit of a beast but it's oh so fun. Even the original C 40mm is spectacular - mine was stolen and insurance bought me the CF FLE, but I could have lived with that C no problem. Generally speaking the pre-T* Cs have only two drawbacks: A) They're getting kind of long in the tooth and the shutters will need CLAs and helicoids may need cleaning and lubing and B) You have to be a bit more careful with hoods and flare control with the pre-T* lenses. Is it a huge deal? No. You can manage it well by paying attention.

Hasselblad never made bad lenses. They just made better and better ones ...

I believe you mentioned the 60mm several pages ago, and have been keeping an eye out. The 40mm would be great as I do love WA...but I would have to save up $$...which means, work more...in order to obtain one... or sell off some of my gear, which I do not want to do

 

[Sirius Glass]

I found that 60mm too close to the 80mm lens and therefore I have the 50mm. I like the progression of 50mm, 80mm, 150mm and 250mm lenses and 50mm, 100mm, 150mm and 250mm lenses. The 40mm lens is pricey but less that a SWC.

 

[chuckroast]

I believe you mentioned the 60mm several pages ago, and have been keeping an eye out. The 40mm would be great as I do love WA...but I would have to save up $$...which means, work more...in order to obtain one... or sell off some of my gear, which I do not want to do

Just for reference, I believe the sequence of options was:

C -> C T* -> CF T* -> CFi T*

T* coating made a difference is flare performance of the lenses, so bias towards that if you can. But like I said, it's not like the C lenses sucked

From the CF T* onward, Hasselblad moved away from the older style Synchro-Compur shutters and used Prontors instead. The only real practical difference is the the older shutters are harder to get serviced because parts are harder to find. But there are people who do still work on them so it's not a deal breaker.

All things being equal, I'd always opt for a CF T* or later but this wouldn't prevent me from buying an older C T* if the price was right and it was in good shape. Let's not forget that every single one of these generations of lenses was used to excellent effect by the wedding, fashion, product, and other professional photographers of their day...

 

[chuckroast]

I found that 60mm too close to the 80mm lens and therefore I have the 50mm. I like the progression of 50mm, 80mm, 150mm and 250mm lenses and 50mm, 100mm, 150mm and 250mm lenses. The 40mm lens is pricey but less that a SWC.

I think this comes down to how you shoot. a 60mm/80mm lens paring is roughly the same as a 35mm/50mm lens pairing on a 35mm camera. I shoot the vast majority of my 35mm negatives on a 35mm focal length, both on SLRs and rangefinders. For this reason, the 60mm feels right to me on a V body. Different people shoot differently of course, so everyone's mileage will vary. I also find the 60mm f/3.5 Distagon just a tad sharper than the 80mm f/2.8 Planar - not night and day better, but slightly noticeable.

 

[Pieter12]

I think this comes down to how you shoot. a 60mm/80mm lens paring is roughly the same as a 35mm/50mm lens pairing on a 35mm camera. I shoot the vast majority of my 35mm negatives on a 35mm focal length, both on SLRs and rangefinders. For this reason, the 60mm feels right to me on a V body. Different people shoot differently of course, so everyone's mileage will vary. I also find the 60mm f/3.5 Distagon just a tad sharper than the 80mm f/2.8 Planar - not night and day better, but slightly noticeable.

If I were to limit myself to a single lens, it would be a 60mm.

 

[John Wiegerink]

I believe you mentioned the 60mm several pages ago, and have been keeping an eye out. The 40mm would be great as I do love WA...but I would have to save up $$...which means, work more...in order to obtain one... or sell off some of my gear, which I do not want to do

I got my SWC fairly cheap so the 40mm didn't mean much to me. My old chrome 50mm is much better than people think. I could get by with the 50mm for wide angle work just fine. The first time I used my 50mm for a group shot at a wedding where space was tight I found out that you want to keep things pretty level. You start tilting the 50mm up and down and you'll have some bridesmaids with odd shaped arms. Lesson learned!

 

[thinkbrown]

50, 80, 150.

I don't have any intuition for how a 50 on 6x6 compares to 6x7 or 6x9, but the Mamiya press 50mm is one of my favorite lenses ever. Something about a really wide medium format lens looks so much cooler than an equivalent 35mm lens

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I don't have any intuition for how a 50 on 6x6 compares to 6x7 or 6x9, but the Mamiya press 50mm is one of my favorite lenses ever. Something about a really wide medium format lens looks so much cooler than an equivalent 35mm lens

The 50mm lens on my RB67 is by far, my favourite. Next up is the 127.

 

[thinkbrown]

The 50mm lens on my RB67 is by far, my favourite. Next up is the 127.

This is a shot from up in Nova Scotia last summer on the 50mm. I only recently acquired a 127 for the press and I've yet to shoot with it.