Hasselblad X1D Adapter for V Lenses

New Novoflex adapters let you use full-frame lenses with the Hasselblad X1D

 

Novoflex just announced a series of adapters to use legacy lenses on an Hasselblad X1D. There are adapters for Nikon and Canon lenses, but the coverage might be marginal unless stopped down. The best news is an adapter for V lenses with a stop down lever for focusing (there's one on the lens too). With the latest firmware, Hasselblad added an electronic shutter which will, among other things, allow lenses to be used without internal shutters or mechanical synchronization..

 

I have seven CF and CFi lenses in my Hasselblad kit. The X1D could be the ultimate wedding/portrait/landscape camera, at a cost close to that of a Nikon D5 or Canon 1D. It helps that you wouldn't have to spend another $20K on lenses to get off the ground.

It will be interesting to hear from users how well the combination of V lenses on the X1D body actually works.

 

I've always found the V lenses to render beautifully when mounted on Nikon DSLRs, with the much-maligned older 50mm Distagon CT* being the biggest pleasant surprise. Of course drawbacks do limit the use envelope with DSLR considerably. The weight/clumsiness of the package, slow operation, and significant crop factor trade off against the value of the unique rendering quality. The larger sensor, EVF and different body style of the X1D could make the whole idea far more practical, at least for those who already own/need an X1D for its native lenses and abilities.

 

Although reports indicate Hassy V lenses used on the Fuji GX50 (same sensor as X1D) lose some of their luster: I hope that isn't an across-the-board incompatibility with the size/pitch of this sensor. It would be a shame if all that beautiful Zeiss Hassy glass gets banished to the film-only graveyard.

I can't find a review of Hasselblad V lenses on a Fuji GX50. Nor do I understand the terms "luster" and "unique rendering quality."

 

V lenses will cover a 6x6 cm image, so 33x43 mm would not be a particular challenge (my CFV16 is 39x39 mm). It could be that the resolution of V lenses is not quite up to demands of 50 MP digital. As good as they are, the MTF is about 90% in the center of the field, compared to >95% for the best 35 mm lenses, and would produce a noticeably soft effect on a 24 MP DSLR. Technique is important too. Even with a 16 MP back, a tripod is absolutely necessary for pixel-sharpness.

The Novoflex Hasselblad V to X1D adapter is a mechanical tube with no electronic or mechanical connections, so you must manually use the lens stop down lever, and you can only use the electronic shutter, which takes 300ms to read out from top to bottom. This means you get rolling shutter artifacts on moving subject, and you cannot use the leaf shutter, or flash sync. Probably not the best thing for weddings, but still good for portraits and landscapes.

 

It is possible to make an adapter that can stop down the V-lenses, and trigger the lens shutter, but there has to be an electronic connection to the camera, and a mechanical connection to the lens screw, and some stuff in between to translate the electronic signals from the camera to mechanical motion for the aperture and leaf shutter.

Electronic connections are only found in CFE and FE lenses. Only the preset aperture value is transmitted to the compatible camera, for metering purposes. You can use non-E lenses by using the DOF preview control on the lens. Releasing the lens shutter could be electronic. Winding it could be manual, using the same mechanism as Arcbody.

 

The read time for the sensor is really long. I had no idea. It would be inconsequential for landscapes and use with continuous lights. No flash would be s serious handicap. I guess if you charge enough for weddings, you could afford two or three lenses native to the X1D. On the other hand, I can wait and see what the rumored Sony A7R will deliver, possibly 70 MP. Lenses to match are already available.

I wasn't referring only to lab tests (though perhaps Lloyd Chambers or Jim Kasson did them): subjective impressions are also of interest. When the Fuji GX50S was announced, much of the initial enthusiasm reflected expectations it might be the Sony A7R of medium format (i.e., a large number of prospective buyers wanted a platform for adapted MF lenses). There was a corollary disappointment that the handier Hasselblad X1D could not be that platform, due to its leaf shutter requirement. But the trend of user reviews I've seen over time indicates the GX50 doesn't do all that great with adapted lenses: the system seems more optimized for the native Fuji lenses than hoped. As with smaller formats, there are differences in how various brands and cameras implement what seem to be identical Sony CMOS MF sensors. The baseline file output of the little Hasselblad is different enough from the Fuji that it might skew better with adapted CF lenses. OTOH, the electronic shutter may introduce enough drawbacks to negate the whole attempt, just one of several questions. Interesting times.

 

The Zeiss lenses for Hasselblad V offer a distinct imaging character that many of us enjoy. If you don't like the term "rendering", call it whatever you wish, these lenses were/are the primary reason any of us were drawn to the Hasselblad square to begin with. But just as some legendary Leica and Zeiss rangefinder glass is mediocre on the Sony A7 series, and some AIS Nikkors work better on Canon DSLRs than Nikon, the Hasselblad lenses that were predictable with film and CCD are not so predictable on various recent-tech MF cameras/sensors. Some of the best on film, like the CB 60mm and FLE 50mm Distagons, are oddly disappointing on some sensors: the "Zeiss Look" evaporates and results are somewhat dull (or borderline poor). If the Hasselblad X1D can keep a wider range of my CF lenses in play on a modern, near-affordable MF sensor, that would be great news.

"Crop factor" of approximately 1.5 when using traditional medium-format lenses on the X1D, assuming you can put up with the tactical problems of leaf shutter, stopping down, etc. This can still be quite useful to someone with a collection of V lenses. Unknown factor: how wide angle lenses would image around the edges of the sensor; probably not too badly, until the dream of a 56mmx56mm sensor comes around. Another fantasy: a Metabones Speed Booster for the X1D :).