hasselblad 500 apo

[dick_chandler2]

Anyone have any experience with the Hasselblad 500 Tele-Apotessar? I

didn't see any explicit discussions of it in the archives.

 

I've heard that the 500mm C lens was kind of a dog, but I'd guess the

Apo is considerably better. Anyone know for sure?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Dick Chandler

[ulrik_neupert]

Can't comment on the Apo-lens. The 500 C-lens is no dog, you just have to keep in mind that it was designed in the early 1960's. In those days it was phantastic. Today it is still able to produce contrasty sharp pictures, but if you look closely it shows colour fringing around dark/bright contours.

 

Keep in mind that there are two versions of the Apo-Tessar with differrent minimum focus distances. The newer one goes down to 5m if I remember it right.

Ulrik

[dick_chandler2]

Ulrik

 

Thanks for the response. Prices on these things are getting low enough that they're almost in striking range.

 

Regards.

 

Dick

[roland_haid]

With the issue of the (old standard) tessar shortly after 1900, the computing masters of Zeiss soon realized that the lens could be used on a smaller format with great success as a longer focal lens. The center sharpness is very acceptable. This lens was used as such for the next decades. After 1950 the market wanted Tele-Lens for better handling. Although other designs for a Tele-Lens are possible and have been used before, it was tried to improve the Tessar by splitting the last doublett in such way that the negative element points to the (film) focal plane. Voila, a true Tele-Lens.

 

Among other lens, Zeiss developed the 500mm and 350mm Tele-Tessars for the new 500C, Walter Mandler did the same at Leitz Canada for the Visoflex mirror adapter: The 4/200 and 4.8/280 Telyt lens. With only four elements, the design was (and still is) truly outstanding. One of the merits is the small diameter of the aperture, hence a compur shutter was possible for the 500C.

 

The disadvantage is: First, the lens can't be made very fast, definetely not faster than a Tessar with the same focal length. Secondly, the secondary spectrum (the colors other then green and red) is not very well controlled. The color spectrum limits the performance of the lens on greater apertures (F5.6 and F8).

 

For B&W photos, with filters limiting the spectrum, the Tele-Tessar is still very good. You need an Apo-Design (Or a Superachromat) for general photography if you wish superior performance. Regards