Hassey Distagon 40mm versus Schneider 65mm SA

Has anyone had experience with the Distagon 40mm on a Hassey body

versus the Super angulon on a press camera such as the Crown Graphic

with roll film back. I am wanting to know about the SHARPNESS for

enlargements.

 

The horizontal angle of view on the Distagon is 69 degrees on the 6x6

format, while the Super Angulon is 66 degrees on the 6x9 format. So

no real big difference there.

 

I am wanting to make covered bridge pics and other landscapes that

need extreme sharpness.

 

Any input will be appreciated.

 

John

Hi John,

 

I do not have the 40mm Distagon for the Hassey, but I have the 40mm Distagon for Rolleiflex SL66 and the 38mm Biogon of Hassey (SWC/M) and the 65mm f5.6 Super Angulon from Schneider (for Linhof). The only comparison I made between the Hassey lens and the Linhof one was between the 38mm Biogon and the 65mm f5.6 SA. The film used was Kodak PRN (same for both camera) 120 and A12 on the SWC/M and a 6X7 Super Rollex on my Technika 70 camera. The location was inside a department store using existing lighting ( taking pictures for my friend who worked there ). Gitzo #3 tripod was used on both cameras.

 

The films were developed on the same machine together and pictures were printed also on the same machine. Both lenses exhibited excellent sharpness and colour saturation. Because some tilting and shifting were used on the linhof, the dof cannot be compared. I found overall the sharpness and colour saturation from the SA had a edge over the Biogon, but without comparison, the Biogon can be considered as excellent as well. This was not meant to be a comprehensive test between the two, and the Biogon is not a 40mm Distagon, so it can only be taken as a form of reference. As far as my experience is concerned, lenses selected by Linhof have better performance over ordinary Schneider lenses. One interesting note on the Linhof 6X7 format is, it has the biggest actual film size of all 67 cameras, measures 56 X 72 mm.

 

 

Have fun with your selection of lenses.

<p>The 38mm Biogon has better performance and lower distortion than the 40mm Distagon. The advantage of the 40mm is the that you can easily see through the lens when composing and focusing. Since the covered bridges are not likely to move around much, the 38 Biogon is likely the better choice on the Hasselblad side. That said, though, movements can be very important for architectural work. You can fake them on the Hasselblad by holding the camera level and cropping the negative later, but if you really need movements, as I suspect you will as any tilt of a lens this wide will introduce dramatic convergence of vertical lines, would not the view camera be the better choice? The Zeiss Biogon is excellent. If movements are not an issue, it is very convenient and will produce excellent results, but if you end up comparing a severely cropped 6x6 negative to a full 6x7 negative, the larger negative is going to win by a wide margin.</p>

Supporting Michael4s statement, I would also see the SWC with Biogon 38 as first choice, if I can get away without movements. I recently did high resolution tests with Biogon lenses in Hasselblad SWC and Alpa cameras and found resolutions up to 200 line pairs per millimeter (this was the limit of the film used: Agfa APX 25). So even the best color film can be fully exploited with this lens.

There are some potentially serious limitations to press camera movements, especially with the 2x3 Crown. With a 65mm on my Crown, the front standard barely makes it out of the box-like case, so all movements other than a little bit of upward shift are unavailible. The movements work fine with a 100mm lens though. For this reason in your place I would consider a view camera with bag bellows.<p>

If cost is no barrier, I would second the Hasselblad 903 SWC with 38mm Biogon. Phenomenal glass.

Has anyone done any comparisons 903 v. Apta biogen? I think the latter is less expensive, but is it as good? Also, has anyone had any experience with the fuji 6X9 camera with the permanently mounted wide angle lense. How does this compare to the other 2? Finally, is there any significance to the fact that the 903 hasn't undergone an upgrade to the "E" or "i" designation, as with most of the hassy line?

 

Thanks.

Has anyone done any comparisons 903 v. Alpa biogen? I think the latter is less expensive, but is it as good? Also, has anyone had any experience with the fuji 6X9 camera with the permanently mounted wide angle lense. How does this compare to the other 2? Finally, is there any significance to the fact that the 903 hasn't undergone an upgrade to the "E" or "i" designation, as with most of the hassy line?

 

Thanks.