Silly question: Are Hasselblad V mount lens cells interchangeable?

zerminator

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Hello friends, dumb question: Is it okay to pop a lens cell from one Hasselblad lens and pop it into another of the same kind (e.g. the rear cell from one Planar 100 CF swapped with another Planar 100 CF).

Mostly asking in case you have a lens with damaged glass but an excellent shutter and a different lens with the reverse. Would it be better if you swapped both the front and rear cells? I know in some cases lens cells are carefully calibrated with their front half and maybe the body of the lens itself, but I assume for something like a mass produced medium format lens, it is probably not an issue?
 

Dan Daniel

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As a general rule, there isn't a general rule on this. I would expect that the more recent the lens, the more consistent lens elements will be as machining improved.

The lens design can affect this. I've been told by an optical engineer that an 80mm Planar design is not highly sensitive to different elements being swapped in (I cannot say if 'Planar' as a general term, i.e. 100mm, would share this). I assume that some lens designs would be more sensitive.

Try it?
 

OAPOli

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My guess is that originally, the lens would be assembled from generic elements and then collimated in its helicoid. So even if you swap the pair of cells the focal length could be a bit different?

It could be a just a tiny difference, but if you can check the collimation after the swap you would be golden.

I've never seen shims between the elements (Mamiya 6/7 is the exception), so just adjusting the back focus would be necessary.
 
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