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Hasselblad 60-120 zoom lens


aricmayer

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I am buying the Hasselblad 203fe and am considering the 60-120 zoom

lens. Is there anyone out there with practical experience working with

one? how does it hold up in terms of sharpness, vignetting etc.? is

there any obvious difference between it and fixed lenses?

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Aric,<br><br>I haven't tried that lens myself, and can't comment about its sharpness, etc. But i have, long ago, tried the other zoom, the Schneider 140-280 mm lens.<br>At the time, it thought it would be an attractive alternative for the longer lenses i use a lot, until i actually tried the thing for a while.<br>Yes, a zoom lens is "easy" in that it eliminates lens changes. But you will be holding (or at least it soon feels like you are) the combined weight of every single lens the zoom replaces. Though the total weight of the kit you carry will be less, in use, more of it will be attached to your camera.<br>That was the Schneider zoom, but the 60-120 zoom is not a light-weight thing either, and i fear that its weight will indeed manifest itself as an important difference between it and fixed focal length lenses.
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Aric,

 

I started exactly with this kit and like it very much. Though I have now additionally a full line of primes I can recommend this lens. I think it is optically (sharpness and contrast) better than some primes. It was tested in a German photo magazine as the best zoom lens ever. Yes it is big and not lightweight but this stabilises handheld shots. Weaknesses are as mentioned minimum focussing distance and vignetting at 60mm which is quite visible wide open on slide film. Try it and find out wether You like it or not. Good alternatives are, but only with stop-down metering: 3,5/60 + 3,5/100 + 1,4x converter and later You can get a 4/40 CFE (or SWC) and a 4/180 CFE.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 years later...

I have that lense and words alone cannot discribe the sharpness and clarity I have gotten with

this truly well made lense, I am Freelance wedding photographer in northern Jerssey, and

now i Use the lense on my 5D canon via an adapter. The focal sharpness is equaled to prime

lenses of the focal lengths chosen, Yes it is a little slow and very heavy, work on your biseps.

take care

BudokaiDave

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  • 12 years later...
I have one inbound from Spain. I am excited to try it on film and the new CFV ll. The condition was represented as excellent and the photos in the sale indicate that could be true. In any event, at 800 USD, it may be worth the risk.
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  • 2 weeks later...
I am buying the Hasselblad 203fe and am considering the 60-120 zoom

lens. Is there anyone out there with practical experience working with

one? how does it hold up in terms of sharpness, vignetting etc.? is

there any obvious difference between it and fixed lenses?

 

Hi, aricmayer,

I have been using this lens now for about three months. It is a truly excellent lens!!! I was a bit wary of this lens, being a zoom, and being used to the excellent Zeiss primes over many years (since 1971, actually) but the results (Fuji PROVIA 100F III slide film) do speak for them selves - very high contrast, high resolution (at least as good as the Zeiss primes) and I think it balances well on my camera (a 2000FC). I have actually been doing a lot of shooting both with this, and the other longer Schneider 140-280mm zoom, lens for some time now, and I find I can compose each photo better on the GG, optimizing the 'crop' already in the camera with just a little zoom. The only special thing is that I need a thinner cable release for the release on the 2000FC, because the back ring of the lens is very broad and do not permit my usual heavy-duty Etsumi cable releases, so I am using a short extension cable.

 

I would recommend this lens to any serious landscape, portrait, or architecture photographer, because it is also basically distortion-free. The front of the lens will, however, only allow for a 93 filter (or large ProShade filter holder) to be used, and you will have to check for vignetting at the wide angle end (which is actually 61mm!) the way you normally do. I always shoot a fast Fuji FP-100B 100 ISO black & white 'Polaroid' first, to check the proper exposure, final composition, and that nothing unwanted vignettes into the image. The telephoto end is roughly 118mm, so very slightly shorter than the Zeiss Makro-Planar CF 4/120mm lens.

 

Best regards from Stockholm, Sweden,

Bengt Fredén, photographer ;-)

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