Question about Hasselblad 250c Telephoto lens.....

[harlequin]

HelloTeam,

I recently acquired a 250mm lens for my 500c, question..

In some literature I have read on this lens, it is said that image quality at f 5.6 (wide open) is very high
and does not improve at smaller f stops? With most other lenses, when you stop down DOF certainly improves.

I read that a version of the Sonnar 250 was used by NASA on the Apollo missions, so who am I to argue, but does this mean the sweet spot aperture is 5.6, appreciate anyone’s opinions and shedding some light on this topic. I do mostly B&W portraits, and prefer more compression and flattening than my old 120 offers.

Besides, this lens did not cost a great deal versus other focal lengths, yet solidly built and good optics.

Any photos with this lens would be icing on the cake!

Regards,

Harlequin

 

[Sirius Glass]

HelloTeam,

I recently acquired a 250mm lens for my 500c, question..

In some literature I have read on this lens, it is said that image quality at f 5.6 (wide open) is very high
and does not improve at smaller f stops? With most other lenses, when you stop down DOF certainly improves.

I read that a version of the Sonnar 250 was used by NASA on the Apollo missions, so who am I to argue, but does this mean the sweet spot aperture is 5.6, appreciate anyone’s opinions and shedding some light on this topic. I do mostly B&W portraits, and prefer more compression and flattening than my old 120 offers.

Besides, this lens did not cost a great deal versus other focal lengths, yet solidly built and good optics.

Any photos with this lens would be icing on the cake!

Regards,

Harlequin

Like all the Hasselblad Zeiss lenses, the 250mm lens is sharp wide open and gets sharper as the f/stop is increased.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

Lovely lens, with an interesting view approximately similar to 135mm on 135 film. I love the viewpoint.

https://worldofdecay.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-long-view-and-some-gas-250mm-sonnar.html?m=1

 

[Sirius Glass]

If I need a longer lens than the 80mm, I reach for the 250mm lens first. I rarely consider using the 150mm lens.

 

[GG12]

I have used this lens by Zeiss, but on a Rollei mount. Wide open, an alternative, the Schneider 300 f4, was significantly sharper, but by f8 or11, there was nothing between the two. With the Zeiss 250 being much smaller and lighter, that’s the one kept.

 

[itsdoable]

It is true that the theoretical MTF curves for the 250C/CF/CFi are close to it's optimum wide open at 5.6.

Keep in mind that this lens was originally designed and built as a Sonnar 250mm f/4 for the 1000f, and the f/5.6 version was optically the same, with the lens elements trimmed down. When the 500c was introduced, they could not use the f/4 design as the Compur shutter did not have a large enough opening. So optically, it's basically one stop down from the designed f-stop.

 

[Vaidotas]

My Sonnar 250/5.6C is equally sharp from 5.6 to 8 but became softer from f11. However when in combo with Zeiss x2 Mutar converter it performs better at f8.
I strongly recommend additional support with or without converter. I’m happy with Manfrotto 293.
Never tried it handheld.

 

[Arthurwg]

Lens quality and DOF are not the same thing.

 

[mrosenlof]

Zeiss claims that sharpness does not improve by stopping down, and their published MTF diagrams seem to support that.

Stopping down will always increase depth of field, and at some point diffraction effects will begin to degrade the overall sharpness.

For the 250, if your subject is flat and you can focus carefully, wide open might be best, but many subjects have some depth or you might make small focus errors, so stopping down some might have benefits.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Zeiss claims that sharpness does not improve by stopping down, and their published MTF diagrams seem to support that.

Stopping down will always increase depth of field, and at some point diffraction effects will begin to degrade the overall sharpness.

For the 250, if your subject is flat and you can focus carefully, wide open might be best, but many subjects have some depth or you might make small focus errors, so stopping down some might have benefits.

The 250mm focus at full aperture is shape enough that I very rarely stop down to check the depth of field.