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Your portrait lens of choice for the Hasselblad V System

Bernie Kohl

New member
Hello everyone,
I hope you don't mind that this is my first post here.

Three months ago I bought a pre-owned Hasselblad 503CW just for the fun of using film again. So far I have been using it with the 80mm Planar it came with and shot five rolls of TMAX. I found that I should probably be looking for a longer lens for portraits that also has excellent sharpness. On the Mamiya RZ I used to love the 140mm/4.5 and was told the 150 Sonnar might be the right lens for me. After I saw a few pictures made with the 150 I wasn't so certain about its sharpness though...

Any Hassy photographers out there with some advice?
 

MikeHlop

Member
I guess none of Hassy lenses will be as sharp as Maimya ones. All of them will be softer. It is not a bad thing - they are just different. I'm not a portrait shooter but I've heard some people are using 120 Macro which is quite sharp
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
One of my favorite lenses of all times happens to be a Hassy F lens -- the 110 f2. It would be T H E landmark portrait lens in the Hassy line-up except it's a wee bit short. So my vote would be the 150. But in truth, if I owned a Hassy F I'd darn sure have the 50, 110 and 150 trio of fast F lenses. If you've got a C, then I'll need to defer to the better informed ;)
 

MikeHlop

Member
110 F2 is quite nice but it is F lens - it needs 203/205 camera with focal shutter, that's why I didn't even bother to mention it though the lens is really good
 

rmueller

Well-known member
Hi Bernie,

the 150 seems a little soft when compared to the 120 Macro or 180mm lens.
Of course it all depends, the 150 is still a nice portrait lens IMO, but if you're looking for better sharpness i'd probably use the 180

Just my 2 cents,
Ralf
 

DDudenbostel

Active member
Hi Bernie,

the 150 seems a little soft when compared to the 120 Macro or 180mm lens.
Of course it all depends, the 150 is still a nice portrait lens IMO, but if you're looking for better sharpness i'd probably use the 180

Just my 2 cents,
Ralf
The 150 is plenty sharp but for amazingly sharp images the 100 F3.5, 120 Macro Planar f4 and the 180mm Sonnar f4 are razor sharp.

The Mamiya lenses have nothing on these. I feel the Zeiss glass renders smoother tones with biting sharp resolution.
 

Bernie Kohl

New member
Thanks to everyone for sharing their expertise. I decided to go with the 180 and think it will be quite suitable.
 
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