Thanks, Paul. This is good news and bad news. I recently tested the HC 35-90mm lens on an H3D-39 against the 35, 50, 80 and 100 primes and the HC 50-110 zoom. I was always impressed with the 50-110 zoom and my tests confirmed that it holds up very well against the HC primes. There is little, if anything, lost with the 50-110 zoom. However, the 35-90 zoom is on another level, at least at 50mm compared to the HC 50mm prime. The latter looks soft compared to the 35-90 zoom. Initially, I thought the 50 must just be a poor performer, but then I compared it to the 50-110 zoom at 50mm and they were very comparable. I could not see a real difference. (I have not had the time to really compare the 35-90 at 35mm and 80mm with the primes.)
The bad news is that I cannot use the 35-90 zoom as I am now using an H1. The good news is that I am foreclosed from spending $6,000 or so on another lens.
I wonder how much money Hasselblad is losing in lens sales in locking out the HCD 28 and the 35-90 zoom. A thousand copies of a $6,000 lens is $6M!