leo_grillo Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 No matter how great film is, digital sure is screaming fast when you need to be fast. I shot MF film (landscape) all morning and then whipped out the Nikon D2X for a quick shot -- that ended up being about 50 shots because I could move so quickly from spot to spot. All I've thought about since was having a Nikon with the Hasse's 39MP sensor, and a film cassette that slipped into it like a magzine into an assault rifle! Question: I have a 20-year-old Hasse 500 CM and all the lenses. And lots of film backs. If I used the old lenses and body, and put on a new digital back, is this as good as the alternative of renting an H3D which is optimized for both? All things being equal, would my older system's photos be inferior (color, resolution, distortion) due to older optics? Then the weight -- H3D is 5 pounds? What is your experience between the two? Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellis_vener_photography Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 There are lots of digital backs made for Hasselblad 500 series cameras: Current Hasselblad CFVs of course, but also older Imacon (now HAsselblad), Phase One, Leaf, Sinar, Jenoptik, and Kodak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graham_mitchell Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 The older optics should still be pretty good. The differences are more about metering, aperture and shutter speed increments, autofocus, communication between body and back, etc. Plenty of people are not enamoured with the Hass H optics anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leo_grillo Posted November 14, 2007 Author Share Posted November 14, 2007 Thank you Ellis, I KNEW you'd be the one to ask! As a foundation for this next question, I was just offered a demo P45 back at $18k. Meanwhile a demo H3D-39 at $21k. The Hasse is autofocus (for more mature eyes) and a complete kit, the P45 would go on the older Hasse system. If this were a viable solution, at this entry point the expense is fairly even. My guess is that you've seen the results of each of the above ... would there be a noticable difference in quality in large (gallery) prints, given the age difference of the lenses? Thanks again. PS: That other thread got pulled (!) -- did you say you were going to test the 1DS MKIII against the H3D? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellis_vener_photography Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Sory I didn't really answer your question. The digital backs on the older bodies will have no auto functions but I figure you are aware of that. Performance wise it really depend on the lens and getting the focus plane in the back tuned adjsuted to your individual camera body. The problem with te H3d is that it locks you into Hasselblad's backs and while those are excellent (and the lenses terrific) there are alternatives. I've used a now discontinued Kodak DCS pro back on a H'blad 553 and also on a Contax 645. In both cases the results were, with the performance parameters of the back (no exposures longer than 1 second, ISO between 100 and 200) and the quality of this old design 16mp back surpassed that of the Canon 1Ds mark 2. New er backs have a bit more range and versatility and also the option of greater resolution and physically larger sensor area. Some have a 4 shot and 16 shot multi step option which eliminates color interpolation and and when you use the 16 step version ,where the sensor is moved in 1/2 pixel wide increments, all data interpolation. But with the multi function enables everything needs to be static: camera, lighting and subject. But in the 16 step mode the resolution is at least as fine as you'd get from a 5x7 view camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever_max Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 "Graham Mitchell, Nov 14, 2007; 08:50 p.m. The older optics should still be pretty good. The differences are more about metering, aperture and shutter speed increments, autofocus, communication between body and back, etc. Plenty of people are not enamoured with the Hass H optics anyway." It is really amazing that in all these years the laws of physics and the laws of optics have not changed! No matter what the politicans do they have not managed to screw those up. Not only do the old optices work; they do not need batteries! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leo_grillo Posted November 16, 2007 Author Share Posted November 16, 2007 Thanks all. It is also worth noting that Hasselblad makes (for the H3D) the adapter for all the older CF and CFE lenses. The camera then allows "focus assist" for these lenses -- which they still brag about. Ellis, you're right, the multishot won't work so well with landscape (windy out here), but it's an amazing capability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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