501c Hassy with perfect lens?

<p>I have a 501c body and am looking for the perfect one-lens set up. Hoping it can be the 100 or 110 f2 planar but not sure if this lens will work with this camera. Any thoughts or suggestions?<br>

Thanks!</p>

<p>With that body I would probably go with a 120mm if I was going to go with just one lens.<br>

Question why just one lens, what do you like to photograph?<br>

I think you could get better answers after these answers.....<br>

<br /><br />The F series optics would allow better control on a F-series body's, but yes they will work on the 501c also.</p>

<p>110mm is F lens, that has no shutter and as I know doesn't work on 501C. (I think Russ is maybe thinking of something else?) The 100mm is a fantastic, geometrically near perfect lens and works fine on a 501C. Right now I'm actually setting up my 501C with a 60mm as my "walk around" go to kit, but I'm thinking of adding the 100mm along for a two lens set.</p>

<p>Russ, I'm a documentary photojournalist and of course should be playing with Leica and the rangefinder lot, but these days with digital so prev in my everyday work I like to just slow it all down with MF and film. I have been using a Kowa for a few years and have just graduated to Hasselblad. I want my kit to be simple - one body, one lens, a few backs. I love the sound of the f2 lenses but just want to make sure one will work with the 501c before I begin saving for one.</p>

<p>Thanks Dave. This might sound like a stupid question but is the 100 planar worth moving up to from the 80 I already have? Is there enough of a difference - and I especially want it for people and portrait work - to warrant the price?</p>

 

<p>Hi Rick, your question is not stupid at all. It's just very hard to answer because for me, yes the 100mm has characteristics that for certain things I prefer over the 80mm. It's better wide open, is deadly sharp, about flawless geometrically and has more of that selective focus look at normal distances. But the 120 Macro might be a better choice for you, or maybe the 150mm. I don't own those, I jump to 180mm and I have a pair, because at one time I had to have one running always, so if one was in the shop I had a spare. Peter Gowland the famous glamour photog did a large portion of his work using only 80 and 150 on a Hasselblad in addition to his GowlandFlex later on. The 80 vs. 100 debate is not a new one, as far as I'm concerned having seen and dealt with very large prints from both, the 100 is pretty hot stuff. The real question is probably more about the angle of view you want rather than the poster size prints. Do you use smaller cameras, what lens do you prefer the most there? Then buy similar angle glass.</p>

<p>The 'classic' Hasselblad portrait lens is the 150mm Sonar. But depends very much on your style of portraiture. Whereas the 80mm is very good for "portrait in the environment" , you are into the realms of distortion if you move in too close. That said, Platon uses wide angle lenses to stunning effect for portraits. His <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/nov/13/photography-art#zoomed-picture">portrait of Vladimir Putin</a> is arguably one of his best ever, utilising the distortion that most others try to avoid.</p>

Owning all of the lenses discussed so far, I could not pick one "best" lens. I go back and forth. I think the 60mm needs to be in this list too. If I picked two lenses, I might be tempted to go 60mm and 100mm.

 

I'd be remiss by not also saying that the 110mm f/2 is my all time favorite Hasselblad lens, but I had so many shutter issues with my 2000 FC (which I bought shortly after they were introduced), that I just gave up on the system. The 110mm is an absolutely stunning lens.

<p>yes, the 110mm f/2 is magnificent; my favourite after the 150mm f/2.8 - But NEITHER Will Work With The 501C! rick, i think you'll have to draw up a shortlist, and then try them all out - that would be the only way to discover which one lens is more perfect, for you, over any other. my one-lens-choice, regardless of which hasselblad body i had - and regardless of whether it was primarily for portraits - would be one of the 150mm sonnars.</p>

Just so that it is absolutely clear: unless your exposures always are in the longer-than-a-full-second range, you can <b>not</b> (!) use the f/2 110 mm Planar lens on a 501 C.<br><br>As Dave said, the real difference between the 80 mm and 100 mm Planar lenses is the angle of view. (The other differences are extremely small, with - contrary to popular belief - the 100 mm by no means always being the better of the two.)<br>Whether that angle of view is to your liking only you can decide. For me, the focal length is both just too long and just too short, and i find the 80 mm (short enough) and 120 mm or 150 mm lenses (long enough) much more usefull. But, as said, that's a personal matter. And as with the 110 mm (which is not an option on a 501 C) you can of course 'work with it', and instead of picking a lens to suit the subject, pick your subject to (or rather make your subject) suit your lens. A matter of how you approach things.<br><br>For a one lens kit, the 80 mm isn't bad. The 60 mm isn't either.<br>But again: a matter of personal taste.

<p>Just in case you all care, I just set up my new go-to kit with the 60 and 100. I have my last rolls of Ektachrome and some black and white and I'm ready to continue my project. I think the most important thing is that we get out and shoot.</p>

<p>I had both the 150 and the 120. I absolutely loved the 120 and think it may be the finest piece of glass I ever owned in nearly 60 years of photography. There would not be a moment's hesitation for me in choosing the 120, if I could have only one lens.</p>

<p>The perfect one lens setup is a Rolleiflex.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>The perfect one lens setup is a Rolleiflex.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>But that has two!</p>

<p>I would probably not go any longer than 80 for one lens for a practical reason: difficulty in focusing and tiny depth of field. Even with an 80, unless the camera is on a tripod and the lens is stopped down, it's very easy to make focusing error, ones I never make with a Mamiya 6. I have an Accu matte -D and it's still difficult. If I had to chose one lens, I'd get the 80 and crop.</p>

<p>Thanks everybody. Very informative all.<br>

Scott, I had a Mamiya 6 for a short time and if I could have afforded it I would have loved to have kept it. What a great camera. Hoping some day I can get another. As a travel camera I don't think there is anything better.<br>

Steve, love the idea of the Rollei, but I have the 501c and trying to make it work for me rather than switching systems.<br>

Dave is so right. It's so easy to talk gear but the hard part is always the shooting. Got to get out every day.<br>

And the reason I want to build a one-lens kit to shoot a project or two is that I believe in focusing on making great pictures without the distraction of choice.</p>

<i>"[...] I believe in focusing on making great pictures without the distraction of choice."</i><br><br>You'll find that there are very many great pictures to be made that require a different lens than the one that happens to be on your camera/in your kit. ;-)

<p><em>You'll find that there are very many great pictures to be made that require a different lens than the one that happens to be on your camera/in your kit. ;-)</em></p>

<p>Or with you at the time ;-) If I take a stroll with only one lens, it's likely to be a 120 Makro, but most other lenses would work too. When you carry a hammer, you look for nails to hit and ignore everything else.</p>

Tool-driven photography under the guise of not-wanting-to-let-tool-decisions-get-in-the-way-of-photography.<br><br>To continue in the vein of your metaphor Edward (because it works so beautifully): would one not achieve the exact opposite of what one was hoping to achieve when, walking around to look for things to nail, one would pass by many things one could screw without making use of such opportunities?<br><br>;-)

<blockquote>

 

<p>The perfect one lens setup is a Rolleiflex.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<blockquote>

<p>But that has two!</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Not if it's a Rolleiflex SLR!</p>

<i>"Not if it's a Rolleiflex SLR!"</i><br><br>But then it's not an answer to the question, which is "what lens?".

<p>The 80mm is the best lens, if you don't have any other! It can be done a lot with this standard lens.<br>

Mr. Fritz Henle, to be known as Mr. Rollei, got world famous using the twin lens Rolleiflex with its 80mm Planar glass only.</p>

And even Fritz Henle did not use a Rolleiflex TLR, with its 80 mm Planar glass only, exclusively.

<p>Thanks again everyone.<br>

I will endeavor to dive in head first with the 80 I have and go from there.<br>

Two more questions:<br>

How do I tell which screen I have on this camera?<br>

And does anyone have an extra grip they want to sell?</p>

 

<p>An old photographer friend of mine watched once in an photo workshop at Arles/France an famous photographer, working with his Hasselblad and 80mm Planar glass. During an break he ask the photographer, which other lenses he is using, beside his standard glass.<br>

The answer was short and dry: <strong>NONE!</strong><br>

<strong>KISS</strong> = keep it short and simple!</p>