6x6 "Changing to the "BIG SQUARE"

Dobry Den Everybody...From Prague...

FOr a "Luddite" like me this web site is sweet.

After years of "Documentary Portraiture", I have alas grown weary of the rectangular format and have have discovered a wonderful new vision in "the square". Now its time to choose a tool.

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My Requirements:

1]Square Format

2]Ultra Sharp Lenses with "in your face" minimum focusing stats [1 meter is not good enough/.5m would be fine]

3]Do NOT require any form of metering or,prism viewfinding.

4]Do NOT require motor driven body

5]The longest lens would be a 50mm with surely something in the 40mm range or wider.

Basically a sturdy box with interchangable backs and brilliant wide lenses.

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Questions:

Does this mean Hasselblad makes the best sense?

WHat other choices are out there for 6x6

If Hasselblad is the choice, what are the problems with combining older bodies with new lenses. Or vice versa.

Although my Leica M bodies and lenses have strong resale value,I would like to take a bit of the sting out of the change over.

Finally. are their any MAJOR quirks about Blads I should know about.

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Thank you in advance for your help, and goodnight from Prague.

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Laurence Horricks

1. You don't need a square film gate to make a square photo. It's amusing to me that there are some photographers who say they always carefully compose and print the whole frame or use uncropped slides, and others who extensively crop dodge and burn every image. There must be a happy medium.

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2. Ultra sharp and "in your face" distance don't really go together.

A meduim format camera focused to less than 1 meter must be stopped down so much for adequate DOF that diffraction dominates. This distance pretty much limits you to SLR's. Sounds like you're looking for someone here to reassure you to buy a Hassy SWC. FOrget about getting rid of your Leica. No MF camera can really take its place.

A different perspective from the previous reply...

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Your main problem will be getting lenses of focal length less than 40mm. You don't really have any practical choices for that in 6x6 that I am aware of. I'm sure the Hasselblad SWC, with its fixed 38mm lens and no reflex viewing, is not what you have in mind.

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If you are satisfied with 40 and 50mm lenses, the Hasselblad would suit you just fine. The F series 50mm/f2.8 focuses down to... 32cm to be exact, and the 40 also focuses to within your requirements, just about. Most combinations of newer bodies/older lenses and vice versa work well, except the F series lenses can only be used on cameras with focal plane shutters, not the 500 series ones.

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You could also investigate the Bronica 6x6, which has electronic leaf shutter lenses, is also of very good quality, and is cheaper. There are also the various Rolleis, which are more expensive but have all sorts of whiz-bang features which you state that you do not need. If you would be willing to put up with a 55mm minimum focal length, the Mamiya C330 would have great close-focusing capability.

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As the previous poster mentioned, you could also try various 6x7 systems and crop to square, but that would waste film, and also be heavier and bulkier, and less fun.

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Please remove spam protection if replying by email...

"As the previous poster mentioned, you could also try various 6x7 systems and crop to square, but that would waste film, and also be heavier and bulkier, and less fun."

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Actually what I had in mind was to make square prints from the Leica he already has.

Laurence,

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Are you talking 50mm MF lens, or the MF equivalent of a 50mm 35mm lens? If so you're looking at 80-100mm in MF land.

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Helical focus cameras like Hasselblad will not give you close up focussing out of the box. For that the 6x7 Mamiyas are ideal - take a look at the RB and RZ. If you get the sheet film back, then you can really get the BIG square - 72x72mm - 1.6 times the film area of 6x6. For a more practical proposition, you can get a 6x6 back for these cameras.

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MF will impress you with its sharpness compared to 35mm. Hasselblad may give you an edge (at a price), but you're not going to find yourself disappointed with any system. Choose on the features that you need. If close focussing is a key feature, I would go Mamiya or Fuji.