Shot a Hasselblad without tripod

I've done a number of images at 1/60th without mirror lock-up on my 501cm, and the sharpness seems excellent for 14x14" black and white prints. In short, even though I nearly always handhold it, the Hasselblad typically gives far better definition/grain etc than I can get with my Leicas.

 

THAT SAID, has any good research been conducted which compares a Hasselblad's sharpness within a handholdable range of 1/60 to 1/500 (when NOT using mirror lock-up) versus the sharpness achieved by TLRs such as the Rollei 2.8FX or GX or versus the Mamiya 6 or 7s?

 

ie, is there any evidence that mirror slap on a Hasselblad actually lessens sharpness at all within the 1/60-1/500 range, or could I truely achieve sharper handholdable shots with the Rollei TLRs or with the Mamiya rangefinders at the above shutter speeds??

 

Many thanks for your replies!

Good question John !

 

I also wonder if everything we hear about loss of sharpness due to mirror slap is not just crap.

 

For some shots it happened to me that I just shot forgetting to triger MLU and than decide to make another shot using MLU, just to try : No difference on the light table, even with a cheap SLIK tripod.

 

Regarding the first question I would say :

- 1/60 when pressing the Blad against my chest.

- 1/30 if I can find another support for help (like kneeling down and use my knee as support)

 

Of course these figures depend on your own stability and the focal length of the lens you are using (in my case they are valid up to 150mm)

I have taken many sharp pictures at 1/60 (and occassionally 1/30) handheld, lens

wide-open (100mm f. 3.5), without mirror lock-up, using the PME45 finder pressed

against my face. With a steady hand, you can get excellent results. I mostly use Delta

3200, but have also used Kodak 400UC (indeed a great film!). Anyway, its the picture

that counts, not sharpness,

I also don't see what the fuss is about. I hand hold the 501cm w/ 80mm easily to 1/60 and enlarge to 16 x 20. I use only the waistlevel finder which allows me to use the front of my body and both arms for support. The prism may not be as stable a setup. I use the mirror lockup also handheld.

When shooting handheld with my 500CM, I always use the

Hasselblad Flash Gun bracket -- the release built into the hand

grip allows for better ergonomics. As I type this, I am looking at a

razor sharp 16x16 print on my studio wall that was shot at 1/30.

If you have an opportunity to try out the bracket, by all means give

it a try! Happy shooting!

 

Matt

We all want black and white answers: this brand lens is better than that; this camera has more mirror slap and therefore more blur; this brand has lenses with better background blur. What speed can one hold a Hasselblad. But all is not black and white.

 

Yes, there are great images made handholding Hasselblads. Yes, some are quite sharp even at 1/60 of a second. Yes, I have had a hard time in some cases seeing the difference between 2 consecutive photos where I know 1 was without MLU. Overall, better sharpness will result from use with tripods and MLU. However, of course one can get great photos hand holding Blads. It's one of the many attributes of the slr design: see the exact image, hand holdable, mlu for tripod use, and on and on. For this reason, slrs are great all around cameras, and the Blad is a great all around MF slr. But let's remember that being "all around" usually means some compromises. If you are ONLY hand holding, and not doing close-ups, rangefinders have advantages. If you are ONLY doing tripod work, larger format (6 x 7,6 x 8, 6 x 9) MF cameras may have an advantage. And Large format much more advantage in quality of image. The more specific the purpose a camera is built for, the better it probably will be at that purpose. A Blad is a very good generalist of a camera: good for use on tripod, good handheld, OK for closeups. That means it's probably not the ultimate at any of these purposes, so you will read about "problems" hand holding, or "problems" at tripod mounted landscape work compared to other cameras. This does not mean that you can't use it for these purposes. It just means that for any individual purpose it can be beaten.

 

Specifically addressing your question: For me, tripod and mlu give the best results. For hand held, above 1/60 is best. But in reality, the speed at which it can be hand held is UP TO YOU: try different speeds and see how you like the results in the size print YOU like. See how your clients react over time. You'll have your own answer, which may chage over time, depending if you get technically more demanding, or start feeling the technical is less than the content...........in any case, pay attention to what YOU see and what pleases YOU.

I use a Hasselblad 500c/m (with 50mm and 150mm Zeiss glass) and would just like to echo and add a little more emphasis to someting Lawrence Smithers refered to earlier in this thread: Handholding any camera works best when the shutter speed (in seconds) exceeds the reciprocal of the focal length (in mm) of the lens being used.

In other words, if I am using a 50mm lens, I use a shutter speed of 1/50 of a second or faster. For a 150mm lens I use something faster than 1/150 of a second, etc.

This should work well for a person with a steady hand (and body). If you are not that steady, then "borrow stability from your environment". Lean against a tree, sit down and prop your hands (and camera) between your knees, anything to help absorb any possibility of vibration.

I do a lot of hiking (typically 5 to 15 miles round-trip in the Cascade Mountains) to get to great landscapes and scenics. I rarely carry a tripod on a hike, so almost everything I do is hand held. (But I almost always find a technique for borrowing stability from the environment.) I have a lot of tack-sharp scenics done this way that I'm very proud of.

Ernie Fosse (Seattle)

I had the same question in mind ; so i decided to buy an old TLR Rolleiflex.

You can really get great pics at 1/15 with 100 asa.

Of course the are some dissadvantages like parallax error and fixed 75 mm lens.

Maybe this doesn´t work for everyboby but for me , as an amateur, it´s great if you get used to it .