Hasselblad Acute Matte D screen with NO crosshairs? Counterfeit?

Hi all, I've purchased a screen advertised as a 'rare' plain Acute Matte D. When I received it, I discovered it had no crosshairs or any markings at all. It does appear to be high quality and well made, and the semicircular notches ARE present. When I look at it, reflections of bright light have a bit of a 'rainbow' sheen and out of focus areas have a grid-like or honeycomb structure. It doesn't appear that bright compared to my other screen. If anything, it's dimmer. Can anyone compare to their Acute Matte D and help me figure out if this is genuine or not?

 

There were no "official" completely featureless Acute Matte D screens. Hasselblad was known to quietly make customized items for some influential photographers upon request (and at great cost), but it is highly unlikely a $600 custom "plain" AMD screen would fall into the hands of a random buyer today.

 

So my guess would be it is a not-quite-counterfeit. Given your description of how it works, it seems to be one of Hasselblads own earlier brief in-house attempts at brighter screen technology (before they gave up and contracted Minolta to make the Acute Mattes). The "honeycomb" effect is unique to the Hasselblad 42221 OptoFiber screen, which is relatively rare but turns up for sale every now and then. The 42221 was also the only "bright matte" genuine-Hasselblad screen model with no markings on it whatsoever (all the others have crossbars, gridlines, focusing aids, or meter circles). Your screen is most likely a combination of 42221 glass in a later AMD 2-notch frame. Either an intentional attempt to counterfeit an AMD, or the result of an innocent repair effort on a 42221 with broken frame (the original 42221 frame did not have two notches).

 

At the moment, OptoFiber screens are somewhat collectible, selling for approx $150-$200 (USD) on eBay. If you paid approximately that amount, it was a decent deal. Of course, if you specifically wanted an Acute Matte D, then you have cause to return it for refund.

Edited September 20, 2018 by orsetto

The only completely clear screen that Hasselblad produced for commercial sale was the Bright-Matte 42226 fiber optic screen, as orsetto said (maybe 42221, but I have it listed as 42226?)

 

Hasselblad Acute Matte screens are 2 piece constructions (...3 really...), the lower acrylic plate contains the focus surface (Acute Matte micro prisms) and the etched lines. The top layer was clear unmarked glass, which acted a protection, and allowed the photographer to mark the screens with tape/grease pens for specific studio setups. The 2 are held together by the metal frame. It is relatively easy to disassemble the screen for cleaning, although this was usually done by Hasselblad technicians as it is very easy to damage the acrylic surface.

 

Since the etched lines were always on the acrylic focus surface, any screen that does not have lines must have the fiber optic screen, or an after market one. Or a custom screen, which I've seen a few. Since screens are not marked, they get mixed up.

 

Because the Acute Matte surface is unique, you can usually verify that the acrylic plate is authentic by looking at a point source of light through the screen, it gets broken up in a prismatic fashion. If you have an authentic Acute Matte, you can just test it to see what it should look like.

 

Unfortunately I am not as familiar with the Acute Matte D versions, as they used micro lenslettes to soften the aerial image and make the focus snap more. But they are the same brightness as the regular Acute-Matte versions.

The two "interim" attempts at brighter screens Hasselblad offered between the original "dim matte" and final popular "Acute Matte" are confusing, because they're rather scarce (and when they do turn up, hard to identify).

 

The 42221 OptoFiber screen came first: this was a novel concept where the screen was basically sliced from a fused bundle of tiny fiber optic strands.The hundreds (if not thousands) of strand bits act as micro lenses, making the image seem notably brighter than standard ground glass matte or plastic matte surfaces. The drawback of the OptoFiber (aka OptoBrite) was difficulty of mfr leading to poor yield ratios and high costs for Hasselblad. Also many users objected to the sometimes visible honeycomb pattern, and rainbows. This was the only genuine Hasselblad "brighter" screen with no etchings or focus aids- totally plain.

 

Next came the 42226 Bright Matte screen, which was essentially a Hasselblad-branded knockoff of the popular third-party "BriteScreen" or "Beattie Intenscreen" technologies. Like those, it was somewhat of a dud: much brighter than the old original screens, yet kind of "meh". Hard to explain unless you've used one: the combination of 500c/500cm mirror reflex design and optical characteristics of the Zeiss wide angle / normal lenses just don't "feel" quite right thru this type of screen. This screen can be partially identified by its only marking: a small etched circle in the middle which indicates the spot metering area of certain Hasselblad meter prisms. This circle is almost exactly the same size as a split-image focus aid, and from a distance (or in listing photos) it can be mistaken for a split image screen. It isn't: this is the only Hasselblad-branded screen with a spot metering circle bot no focus aids, cross, or checker grid.

 

After that came the various Acute Mattes, along with the silly "D' vs "pre-D" fetish. There is no reason to pay a huge premium for the "D" screen over an ordinary "non-D" screen: in normal use it is virtually impossible to tell one from the other. Hasselblad created the "D" to satisfy a vocal percentage of users who felt they couldn't get an accurate feel for depth-of-field using the original Acute Matte. Allegedly, the "D" (for "Depth", get it?) surface was roughened a bit to make DOF a little more apparent, but thats mostly theoretical: 99 out of 100 Hasselblad photographers would never be able to tell them apart in use. The "D" effect is so subtle as to be almost non-existent. So save some money and opt for the earlier "non-D" versions of Acute Matte, unless you very specifically need the cluttered combination of split image, microprism donut, and crossbars (which was only offered as a "D" model, 42215).

Edited September 20, 2018 by orsetto

Orsetto, you were on the money. I reached out to hasselblad - though the service department was a bit puzzled at first, they did some digging and concluded it was probably an opto fiber screen installed into an Acute Matte D frame at some point by a technician.

 

I ended up returning the screen. I paid Acute Matte D price for it, so definitely overpaid. Seller was very understanding and apologized - it was most likely an honest mistake.

 

I need an Acute Matte or Acute Matte D so that my PME51 finder meters properly. Ended up going for an AMD with split image and prism. Really debated between the focus precision of the prism/split image version versus the clean, undistracting plain AMD, which I imagine is just a joy to look through. The prism version just barely edged out the plain version in the end. If I'm shooting 120 I want to be assured that I can focus very precisely.

Edited September 21, 2018 by kshan

Glad to hear you worked things out, and found the screen that you wanted in the first place.

 

Yes, I've had the same ambivalent feeling you've described toward the different screens: it can be very very hard to make a choice. I was lucky enough to obtain some of my AM screens at low prices in package deals, where I bought complete cameras just to get the screen (its often far cheaper that way, but of course then you need to resell the un-needed camera). The ones I've tried are the standard AM 42165 with center cross, AM 42170 with checker grid and split image, AM-D 42204 standard with center cross, and AM-D 42215 split/micro/cross.

 

Much as I like a split image for added accuracy and security, I find I keep returning to the plain AM cross screens. With the slow-ish f/4 lenses and WLF, the split image tends to black out too often (it works better with prism finders, but I prefer the WLF). With practice, I've learned how to decipher the sometimes-tricky focus presentation of the plain cross Acute Matte screens. I'm pretty good up until borderline infinity, which is very hard to tell from infinity with the 50mm Distagon and any AM screen. If I feel the need for a split image, my preference is the checker grid version. The oddball 42215 D screen, which I believe is the one you've settled on, never quite worked for me. The microprism donut adds clutter but doesn't help me with focus much, and it pushes the cross bars out to a point that makes them distracting. I sold mine a couple years ago, but sometimes miss its slightly larger split image (the split in the checker screens is a hair too small).

 

One seldom-discussed issue with shopping for Acute Matte screens: they can deteriorate as they age. This wasn't a huge problem when replacements were still available new from Hasselblad for $99, but at current $400+ pricing for second-hand D screens, it can come as a nasty surprise. Some AM screens seem to "separate" in a random pattern of concentric circles. This results in a tell-tale fogging effect, where the "fog" is the remaining intact matte and the "clear" part looks like the matte has been wiped off. Depending on severity of the concentric "fogging", effects in use can range from invisible to very distracting. The deterioration occurs with screens kept in camera bodies, and screens kept in their original Hasselblad storage cases: nothing seems to stop it. Sadly there is no alternative to replace these aging screens: all we can do is look for other used examples in better condition. Mamiya managed to create cheap nice bright contrasty solid-plastic matte screens for their final TLR revision and the RZ67: I wish some clever mfr would put that material into Hasselblad-compatible frames.

Thanks for the info, orsetto... Hopefully I get on with the split image screen. Now you've got me worried :D