If you love Zeiss so much, just use them ... CF, CFi and CFE or any F/FE lens can be adapted to any focal plane MFD or film camera made (like 645 Mamiya, Leica S2, or Contax 645) ... and CF/CFi and CFEs can be use in leaf shutter mode on any H camera, film or digital made to date. Or just use a 503CW.There are three possibilities:
1. No EVIL, just a minor upgrade of the H-system (80MP-sensor...)
2. EVIL but 80-90% sourced from Fuji
3. EVIL actually designed and made by Hasselblad, maybe even with new Zeiss-lenses
Sadly, 2. is less likely than 1. and 3. even less likely than 2. ...
For me, it makes a difference if Hasselblad is willing to invest into it's Sweden-based R&D & production and a cooperation with Zeiss or if they continue to let Fuji do the vast majority of work. But I have to admit, I don't say that just as a photographer but also as an engineer, someone who is also worried about craftsmanship and technical standards.
Zeiss for example has the skill and technology to give a hypothetical EVIL-system lenses that are fully usable at f2.8 even in demanding (WA) focal lengths. Or strong WA that make technical lenses superfluous - especially considering the possibility of Live-View.
I tested various MF-systems and I had a quite simple requirement: a nice WA which offers excellent sharpness corner to corner and a not too-slow standard lens making sharp images at f2-f2.8 even off-centre.
The 40 year old Planar 80mm didn't really convince me (no big surprise, but why they never re-designed it?) - well just an old design, but even the slow 4/80 for the Mamiya 7 is not performing too-well at f4 (just did some drum scans) and I was really shocked how unusable the Planar 2/80 for the Contax 645 is - how did they dare to put their name onto this lens? And Kyocera is one of the better manufacturers...
@ondebanks
The Distagon 60, Planar 100 or the 250 Suparchromat are still among the best lenses in medium-format and their production was started nearly 40 years ago! By now they could make them faster or even better-performing, just look at the progress they made in smaller formats. Or the mechanical quality, the patented internal focusing mechanism (used in the later Superachromats) derived from their experience in cinematography - you don't want to focus a Fuji/Mamiya-lens again... The Fuji 60-120 I tested got stuck after two weeks...
I don't say that medium-format systems should only be equipped with Zeiss-lenses but right now it's quite the opposite: all similar equipped and performing lenses by Mamiya/Fuji - no exception without using a technical camera. Wouldn't it be great to have access to state-of-the-art optical technology?
Here is the Velvia-sample I've talked about: beautiful landscape, not sufficient light to stop down and the result = mushy corners :-(
IMHO the Mamiya 4/80 is one of the very best standard-lenses available in MF...
Personally, I wouldn't judge Fuji lenses based on the old 60-120 for the F cameras ... even some of the all-mighty Zeiss lenses for that camera left something to be desired.
BTW, the Leica S lenses are probably the best out there right now ... fast apertures and pretty sharp all the way out to the corners ... a lot sharper than what you consider to be one of the best lenses in MF. However, the cost of a little better is a LOT of money.
Quoting the performance of Zeiss Cine lenses is a red herring ... yes they are state of the art, but at what cost? Who would pony up that kind of money for some IQ gain in MF lenses? I mean lets get real here.
-Marc