Hasselblad underwater ?

Is there a way to take a Hasselblad 500C/M with 50 or 80 mm lens (CF) under water? Its not for deep diving, just occasionally snorkeling, so budget is limited for that. Is a flash a must in this case, which lens makes more sense?

At one time H. made a underwater housing, and even a correction lens with a wonderful German name like "Untervassercorrectorlens". They recomende it's use uith the Super Wide, or wide area lens because of the optical effects of water, but t could be used with other lens. A flash was also available. (If used anywhere deeper than a few feet a flash is probaly needed to add color correction, as well as light.)

 

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This stuff is not in the current catalog, but probaly available used.("Preused?").

 

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Good Luck

................B.F..........

I don't know that much about Hasselblad systems, but I can give some

good advice about photography underwater, as I've been doing it for

around five years now.

 

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1) Be sure to use the longest film back that you can get. The 70mm

is probably best; the 220 back is passable. Unless you plan on bringing several cameras with you at once (like the pros do), you'll

run out of film before you run out of air (or strength if you're

snorkelling.);

 

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2) Water absorbs lots of light. First to go are the reds and yellows,

followed by the colors up to blue, and then the purples go. These

effects are quite noticeable at 20 feet. I can't tell you how many

times I've shone my dive light on a patch of what looked like dingy

brown gunk to discover that it is bright red, bright orange, pink,

or some other really pretty color. If you want to capture this

aspect of diving, a strobe is essential. But lots of beautiful photos

are taken without strobe too. They are just very blue.

 

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3) You want to get as close to your subject as is safe. Close focussing lenses are very important. The lens for the Nikonos III-V system that produces the most spectacular images is the 15mm f2.8(?),

which can focus down to 1 foot. It's the closest thing to a multipurpose lens one has on that system. That may sound strange to

topside photographers, but it's true. However, for your purposes, wide angle lenses need dome ports, or they lose a lot of their usefulness, because the focal length is increased by shooting through a flat port. Some care is needed in putting the lens at the focal point of the dome.

 

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3) With a system like a Hassie, you're probably best off trying to tackle macro first. The focussing should be pretty easy, since you have SLR capabilities, and if I remember correctly there's a macro lens at something like 110 mm or 120 mm. Through a flat port, this will convert to somewhere between 140 and 160 mm (multiply by the index of refraction of water, n = 1.33, for a first estimate at the proper focal length. However, I don't know about getting access to all the controls in a housing, so this may not work either.

 

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EWA marine makes a big plastic bag with a flat glass port that one can stick a camera in. There's a glove in it that you make adjustments to the camera with. But would you want to put your $3000+ Hassie system in a pumped up garbage bag and dunk it in salt water? Most cameras, even those designed for U/W use, are never the same after they are flooded. It's your call.

 

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Doing MF photography underwater has been a dream of mine for over a year now. Unless you're prepared to spend more than the cost of a car, going custom is the only way to go that I've found. Good luck, and if you figure out anything, please post it here.

 

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Regards,

I too have done uW photography for a number of years. At the present

time I use Nikonos 111 to V series. 15 mm lenses are the lenses of

choice. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT take your hassy UW. A

flooded camera is not an inexpensive item to fix/replace. Unless you

are doing UW photography for a living and need the quality of MF, opt

for 35mm.

 

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DON