Hasselblad 905 SWC and digital backs

[thomas_moran]

I'm bored with nothing to do at work today so I poked around the B&H site figuring out how to spend $100,000 that I don't have. Anyways from what I've read the Hasselblad 905 is the bees knees when it comes to wide angle medium format. I've searched around the web a little to see if anyone is using a digital back with one of these camera's and I came up with nothing. Is it even possible? With the exception of maybe the Digitar lens that have been talked about on this site would this the sharpest most distortion free you can get for wide angle? Just curious...

Thomas

[Concorde-SST]

Hi Thomas,

my brother currently uses a P25 with the Hasselblad 903SWC
for architectural photography. The results are spectacular.

Of course this means the P25 would work with the 903´s
successor!! Its a superb small and powerful choice - like
a 35K point-and-shoot !!

How it can be compared to the Cambo with a Digitar lens
I don´t know. Maybe Michael has more expertise in it.

I would guess that there aren´t huge differences between
the superb Biogon lens and the Digitars.

best,

Andreas

[Ray Maxwell]

Anyways from what I've read the Hasselblad 905 is the bees knees when it comes to wide angle medium format. I've searched around the web a little to see if anyone is using a digital back with one of these camera's and I came up with nothing. Is it even possible?

I am using a Leaf Valeo 22 with a Hasselblad SWC.  It works just fine.

Ray Maxwell

[michael]

Andreas,

You couldn't be more wrong.

The Biogon is a 30+ year old design, intended for film. The Schneider Digitars and Rodenston Apo-Sironar digital lenses were designed specifically for use with digital backs, even taking into account as part of the optical design the 2mm thickness of the back's coverglass / IR filter, reduced image size, greater focal plan flatness. These are also true Aprochromats, something that the Biogon isn't; a necessity to avoid fringing.

Results with WA lenses on traditional MF cameras can be very good, but certainly nothing like what is possible with the latest digital specific lenses.

Michael

[Concorde-SST]

Michael,

o.k. I agree that there are big advantages made
since the first calculations of the Biogon lens. Cer-
tainly there is a big one compared to the previous
use of film. The 903´s size is quite unbeatable any-
way.

Its just I can´t see any "bad" factors on any of
my brother´s pictures - maybe I´ll see them
when I´ve got a comparable RAW-File from one
of the Digitar lenses.

Maybe we can make a comparison in Africa? I´ll
be bringing my H´blad (though not the 903) and
we can take shots from comparable subjects, if
we find an idle moment.

hope that sounds good?!

all the best,