Tips for Hasselblad 203FE/Using C lenses

nickandre · Feb 22, 2021

I did a terrible unspeakable thing and managed to track down a 203FE with full overhaul in 2019. Apparently Hasselblad is still servicing them with the exception of the shutters which are NLA (so the warning about the shutter fragility has been upgraded to a triple/quadruple be gentle with them).

Any tips/wisdom on this unit and working with the autoexposure?

In particular, the manual says to "avoid using the focal plane shutter together with a C lens" and then goes on to explain how to do it "if it cannot be avoided" which basically entails setting the lens to the B shutter setting. Is anyone familiar with why it says this or what potential problems exist?

And with CF lenses, I assume I can either stop the lens down or tweak the ISO setting (e.g. if using the 150 CF at f4 I could bump the ISO of my film to 80 instead of 160 rather than engaging the depth of field preview). Sound plausible?

TheFlyingCamera · Feb 22, 2021

C lenses have no provision to disengage the shutter when mounted. CF lenses have an option to disengage the leaf shutter when mounted to a focal-plane shutter body. IIRC it's the little green button near/on the shutter speed ring. The aperture should still trigger on its own without putting the lens in DOF-preview mode. If you don't already own a copy, I strongly suggest you buy a copy of The Hasselblad Manual by Ernst Wildi. You want to get an edition that is new enough to cover the 20xF/FE/FCC series of bodies. Don't look on Amazon right now - you'll go into sticker shock. Look in local used bookstores instead.

cowanw · Feb 22, 2021

Just to further on this, it is not a problem with aperture but that you must set the shutter speed at a longer shutter speed on the lens, say one second and use the shorter focal plane shutter time for real.

itsdoable · Feb 23, 2021

I've used C lenses on a 2000fc/m and a 203fe, both with the leaf and FP shutter.

All the 200/2000 series (except the 202fa) were compatible with the C lenses in Leaf Shutter mode, by setting the body shutter to "C", where it mimics the barn doors.

Conversely, for a C lens to allow exposure by the Focal Plane shutter, the lens shutter must first close, the iris move to the set aperture, then the lens shutter must open, and stay open. At this time the FP shutter can open and expose the film. After the FP shutter closes, then the lens shutter can close.

Since there is no sensor to tell the body that the leaf shutter is open, Hasselblad designed the FP shutter with a delay (except for the 202fa) so that an in spec C lens will open first. The Leaf shutter is set to "B", and hence behaves like the barn doors, you hold the shutter button down till the FP exposure is done. That is they there is a "C" mode, with no delay, on those bodies.

The problem is whether the C lens is in spec, because if the mechanism is a little slow, which happens often to C lenses as they age, then the Focal Plane shutter may open before the leaf shutter is open, and you would get uneven exposures.

You can test your C lens by setting the FP shutter to it's top speed (leaf shutter to "B"), and with the back off, and against a bright background, see if you can see the correct open aperture at the leading edge of the Focal Plane port when it is triggered.

Sirius Glass · Feb 23, 2021

Uh, do not poke your finger in the shutter.

itsdoable · Feb 23, 2021

Finger is fine! Corner of your film back - not so much...

nickandre · Feb 25, 2021

itsdoable said:
I've used C lenses on a 2000fc/m and a 203fe, both with the leaf and FP shutter.

All the 200/2000 series (except the 202fa) were compatible with the C lenses in Leaf Shutter mode, by setting the body shutter to "C", where it mimics the barn doors.

Conversely, for a C lens to allow exposure by the Focal Plane shutter, the lens shutter must first close, the iris move to the set aperture, then the lens shutter must open, and stay open. At this time the FP shutter can open and expose the film. After the FP shutter closes, then the lens shutter can close.

Since there is no sensor to tell the body that the leaf shutter is open, Hasselblad designed the FP shutter with a delay (except for the 202fa) so that an in spec C lens will open first. The Leaf shutter is set to "B", and hence behaves like the barn doors, you hold the shutter button down till the FP exposure is done. That is they there is a "C" mode, with no delay, on those bodies.

The problem is whether the C lens is in spec, because if the mechanism is a little slow, which happens often to C lenses as they age, then the Focal Plane shutter may open before the leaf shutter is open, and you would get uneven exposures.

You can test your C lens by setting the FP shutter to it's top speed (leaf shutter to "B"), and with the back off, and against a bright background, see if you can see the correct open aperture at the leading edge of the Focal Plane port when it is triggered.

Aha this makes sense. My 50mm F4 is definitely in need of TLC (some general wonkiness, shutter opened for a second once when it should have been 1/60th). Thanks for the test method, that seems pretty straightforward. Though it may be better to trade for an F lens since the cost of a CLA is probably more than the difference.

itsdoable said:
Finger is fine! Corner of your film back - not so much...

Yeah owning one of these sounds like risky business with the shutters being NLA.

Do the 200 series scoot the shutter out of the way like the 2000 when you remove the film back for this reason?

TheFlyingCamera said:
C lenses have no provision to disengage the shutter when mounted. CF lenses have an option to disengage the leaf shutter when mounted to a focal-plane shutter body. IIRC it's the little green button near/on the shutter speed ring. The aperture should still trigger on its own without putting the lens in DOF-preview mode. If you don't already own a copy, I strongly suggest you buy a copy of The Hasselblad Manual by Ernst Wildi. You want to get an edition that is new enough to cover the 20xF/FE/FCC series of bodies. Don't look on Amazon right now - you'll go into sticker shock. Look in local used bookstores instead.

Thanks for the tip! I'll take a look around.

itsdoable · Feb 25, 2021

tiberiustibz said:
Do the 200 series scoot the shutter out of the way like the 2000 when you remove the film back for this reason?

No, the shutter curtains on the 200's are pretty robust, in that they are cloth and not prone to creasing like the titanium foil of the 2000's. The edges of the film back tended to put a crease in the ti-foil when you dropped the back onto it, which doesn't usually happen with the cloth shutters (but you can get burn holes from the sun).

When the 205TTC came out, I went to a demo where the Hasselblad Rep. put his finger into the shutter, pushing it off the curtain rails (on purpose!). He then wound the camera body, which pulled the shutter curtain back onto the rails, and it continued to work fine afterwards.

nickandre · Mar 2, 2021

I will say, Hasselblad knows how to make a camera Got my first few test rolls off to the lab today.

Does anyone know how you differentiate focus screens? I took mine out and I don't see any numbers or codes on the metal. One of them has split prism, and one just has a full circle of crackle pattern with no split prism.

Also the other lens I got has the blue stripe aperture ring but no FE contacts. I'm assuming this means it was bastardized at some point? Caught me off guard a bit because I thought the blue stripes were synonymous with FE lenses. Everything on the lens seems to be fine save the idiosyncrasy; wondering if I should exercise a return policy on the lens.

itsdoable · Mar 2, 2021

The focus screens are not marked, except by series: Acute Matte with a single notch, and Acute Matte-D with a double notch. Beyond that, it's not that hard to tell them apart - the micro-prism has a micro-prism circle. The grid has grid marks. You can get a graphical diagram showing each one and their part #.

The double blue stripe indicates an FE lens, so either the contacts were damaged and a F mounting plate was used, or the aperture ring was broken, and one from an FE was used as a replacement. I'd guess the former, when you service an FE lens, it's really easy to damage the gold plated spring contact sweepers, and replacements are really hard to find.

nickandre · Mar 6, 2021

itsdoable said:
The focus screens are not marked, except by series: Acute Matte with a single notch, and Acute Matte-D with a double notch. Beyond that, it's not that hard to tell them apart - the micro-prism has a micro-prism circle. The grid has grid marks. You can get a graphical diagram showing each one and their part #.

The double blue stripe indicates an FE lens, so either the contacts were damaged and a F mounting plate was used, or the aperture ring was broken, and one from an FE was used as a replacement. I'd guess the former, when you service an FE lens, it's really easy to damage the gold plated spring contact sweepers, and replacements are really hard to find.

This probably makes more sense.

Also the kit came with a winder but when I put batteries in it I get no life. The fuse doesn't look obviously blown but I need to check it with a multimeter. Should it just roar to life when power is added? Is it a purely mechanical trigger?

nickandre · Mar 6, 2021

Side note: of all the pain and dollars, worth it.

itsdoable · Mar 7, 2021

tiberiustibz said:
...came with a winder but... Is it a purely mechanical trigger?

Sorry, don't have a winder, and I have not experience with it.

Also:

tiberiustibz said:
...with CF lenses, I assume I can either stop the lens down or tweak the ISO setting (e.g. if using the 150 CF at f4 I could bump the ISO of my film to 80 instead of 160 rather than engaging the depth of field preview). Sound plausible?

I use the Exposure compensation function on the 203fe body.

In auto exposure mode: If you are using an f/4 lens, and you have it set to f/8 (ie: 2 stops down). then just push the up-arrow on the body till the display reads +2.

In manual exposure, the display reads in 1/3 stops, so just set the lens to the # of stops down by the reading. Or adjust the shutter speed.

nickandre · Mar 8, 2021

itsdoable said:
Sorry, don't have a winder, and I have not experience with it.

Also:

I use the Exposure compensation function on the 203fe body.

In auto exposure mode: If you are using an f/4 lens, and you have it set to f/8 (ie: 2 stops down). then just push the up-arrow on the body till the display reads +2.

In manual exposure, the display reads in 1/3 stops, so just set the lens to the # of stops down by the reading. Or adjust the shutter speed.

Thanks for the tip That sounds like an easier workflow than stopdown.

Tips for Hasselblad 203FE/Using C lenses

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