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Fun with the Hasselblad 907x
- Thread starter Godfrey
- Start date
scho
Well-known member
Finally assembled all of the parts to convert my Cambo Actus G for use with the Hasselblad 50CII digital back. So easy to use, just unlatch the back from the 907x and snap on to the ACDB-989 adapter on the rear standard of the Cambo Actus. Put back in electronic shutter mode and aperture priority. I can easily carry both the 907x and the Actus assembly in a small bag and switch back and forth in seconds as needed. True modularity and versatile function. Shots below just for testing mechanics and did not critically focus.
First shot using the Cambo Actar 60/4 on the Actus with 50CII.
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First shot using the Cambo Actar 60/4 on the Actus with 50CII.
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Did my first official shoot with the 907x a couple days ago—my son’s high school mountain bike team portraits. It worked quite well! Loved the waste level perspective for “hero” type poses and lighting. Having the leaf shutter was a godsend since I had to use strobes outdoors due to Covid, and 1/750s was required to darken the background the amount I wanted. And the 80mm f/1.9 XCD? This is what it was made for. The camera is a lot of fun, and it is well matched to this sort of requirement.
After a week of getting my 907x 50c + 45p + OVF, I finally fired off a few frames. Was surprised at how compact the kit was and how good it feels in my hand. Very balanced and made me feel like I was holding a V-series camera (which I will do shortly). The colors from the sensor is way better than my H3DII-31 + HC 80mm. Looking forward to getting ourside (yes as socially distant as I can!) to get more images.
From my back deck:
From my back deck:
Attachments
I've been slow to post images even while being retired and in the times of COVID! It seems I have become more busy lately with all of the various house repairs! 
This is a shot I did a few weeks ago when the fog came up from the Pacific. I have always found these two trees to be interesting but only become really visible when the fog comes in due to the very busy background of other trees and houses.
Taken with Hasselblad 503CW / 250 mm / CFV II 50C
FoggyTreeTopNeighbors02
This is a shot I did a few weeks ago when the fog came up from the Pacific. I have always found these two trees to be interesting but only become really visible when the fog comes in due to the very busy background of other trees and houses.
Taken with Hasselblad 503CW / 250 mm / CFV II 50C
FoggyTreeTopNeighbors02I took this one yesterday on a walk in Redwood Regional Park in the East Bay hills near Canyon, California. I liked the soft glow of the late afternoon light and the texture of the moss on the tree and, especially, how the trunk and branch framed the warm light in the background. This was taken with the 907X and 50 II CFV using the 80mm f/1.9 XCD lens. I chose an f/2.8 aperture to get the contrast I wanted and to ensure the background wouldn't become too busy, then focus bracketed enough to capture the branches receding into the background. White balance was set manually using an XRite Passport. Raw images were imported into Phocus since I often prefer the color rendition in the Hasselblad software vs. Lightroom, then exported as DNG's. The DNG's were imported into Lightroom and lightly processed to taste. Focus stacking was in Photoshop.
I felt like this had a good sense of dimensionality and managed to capture both the relative darkness of the forest and the warmth of the autumn late afternoon. I love the woods but often struggle to capture what I see and feel. It can be challenging to simplify the composition enough that you don't get distracted by branches and leaves and more branches and dirt and leaves and rocks and trees and streams and branches.
I felt like this had a good sense of dimensionality and managed to capture both the relative darkness of the forest and the warmth of the autumn late afternoon. I love the woods but often struggle to capture what I see and feel. It can be challenging to simplify the composition enough that you don't get distracted by branches and leaves and more branches and dirt and leaves and rocks and trees and streams and branches.
HA HA of course. Sorry about it. It should read XCD 90!
Godfrey
Well-known member
Thanks!
That's more what I'd expect given the perspective in the photograph.
Looking at it again, yes: very lovely!
G
Sorry to post this a month after, but I only recently started to play with Phocus and my 907X...I was experimenting with Phocus Mobile 2 yesterday, on my iPhone for the first time, and I noted that I could not get focus assist magnification to operate. Someone on the Hasselblad User Forum said it was working with his X1D using the older Phocus Mobile app, so I sent a note to Hasselblad Technical Support to ask if I was missing a setting.
Hasselblad Technical Support responded to me promptly, as always; unfortunately this functionality is not available in Phocus Mobile 2 at present. It is in their feature request list.
In subsequent discussion with the Hasselblad Tech Support representative, he suggested strongly that the update team for the camera/back firmware and Phocus app software listen carefully to all input when planning features and prioritize based on demand. If all the X1DII and 907x/CVFII 50c users who might want to use Phocus Mobile 2 and have the magnification focus assist function would send in a request to Hasselblad Customer Support, it would help quicken the process.
Use the Contact link on the Hasselblad website to send a message to Hasselblad Customer Support and request this feature for Phocus Mobile 2!
Thanks!
G
There is a way to get focus assist magnification working, just not the way you may be expecting...
1) Connect the Phocus app on your phone or iPad to your 907X as you (probably) already we’re doing.
2) Make sure you have the CFV II 50C set to manual focus
3) Make sure focus magnification is enabled in your camera back (as opposed to focus peaking)
4) Choose an AF point by touching the screen of your iPhone or iPad. The camera will try to autofocus even though it is set to manually focus. It may succeed or fail depending on your subject.
5) Now if you focus manually On The Camera Lens, not in the Phocus app, it will automatically magnify the view on your phone or iPad.
The trick is to manually focus on your lens, not on the phone or iPad. Then you get the magnification you need to judge critical focus.
Hello. I want to hear everyone’s opinion on the shooting experience with adapted (manual) lenses on the 907X.
I’d imagine you need to use your right hand to adjust focus, then the same hand again to press the shutter. How is that experience like?
Is camera shake an issue?
I’d imagine you need to use your right hand to adjust focus, then the same hand again to press the shutter. How is that experience like?
Is camera shake an issue?
Godfrey
Well-known member
When I use my camera, it's always the left hand that works the lens controls while the right hand stabilizes the body, and the right hand that works the shutter and exposure controls while the left hand stabilizes the body. Doesn't matter which lens or lens series I'm using.
Camera shake is always an issue ... You have to learn how to hold the camera and stabilize it such that it is still. This is the same, again, regardless of what lens you use. The Control Grip changes the way you do this to some degree due to the different way you hold the camera, but the issue remains the same.
G
Camera shake is always an issue ... You have to learn how to hold the camera and stabilize it such that it is still. This is the same, again, regardless of what lens you use.
The Control Grip changes the way you do this to some degree due to the different way you hold the camera, but the issue remains the same.G
My CFVii50C arrived today, so I took it out for a walk around my neighbourhood. I paired it with my 501CM and the 100mm f/3.5.
My immediate thoughts:
- Damn the setup is heavy. My hands were aching after 30min.
- You are never going to get sharp images at 100% with V glass on anything that moves the slightest
- After using so many modern cameras with IBIS, camera shake is finally back! Yay!
- Feels amazing to fire off my 501CM without having to pay money for every shot taken (and processed and scanned)!
- I like the colors coming out of the CFV more than the Fuji GFX files.
This shot below is the only shot out of 10, with decent sharpness. It is soft at the eye on 100%.
My immediate thoughts:
- Damn the setup is heavy. My hands were aching after 30min.
- You are never going to get sharp images at 100% with V glass on anything that moves the slightest
- After using so many modern cameras with IBIS, camera shake is finally back! Yay!
- Feels amazing to fire off my 501CM without having to pay money for every shot taken (and processed and scanned)!
- I like the colors coming out of the CFV more than the Fuji GFX files.
This shot below is the only shot out of 10, with decent sharpness. It is soft at the eye on 100%.
Godfrey
Well-known member
Lovely shot of the Scarlet Macaw! I love those birds, along with the Blue & Golds and the Hyacinth Macaws. Big, smart, raucous when they are in the mood, and about the same 1:1 link with a human as a German Shepherd.
Two Qs:
- Were you using a prism finder? They add substantially to the weight of the 'Blad cameras.
- What I've found is that I just have to have faith and pump the ISO up higher to get a usefully hand-hold able speed. What ISO were you shooting at? For walking about photos, I'm often at ISO 1600: the sharpness, noise, and DR seem quite good for hand-held work of things which are moving. I also use the lens shutter rather than the eshutter for anything moving. (500CM for me.) I try to stick to two-stops down and keep the shutter speed up over 1/2f.
G
WLF for me.Lovely shot of the Scarlet Macaw! I love those birds, along with the Blue & Golds and the Hyacinth Macaws. Big, smart, raucous when they are in the mood, and about the same 1:1 link with a human as a German Shepherd.
Two Qs:
There's definitely a learning curve to getting the best out of the back on the reflex 'Blads. I'm at a reasonably satisfying point with it now, after six-seven months of messing about occasionally.
- Were you using a prism finder? They add substantially to the weight of the 'Blad cameras.
- What I've found is that I just have to have faith and pump the ISO up higher to get a usefully hand-hold able speed. What ISO were you shooting at? For walking about photos, I'm often at ISO 1600: the sharpness, noise, and DR seem quite good for hand-held work of things which are moving. I also use the lens shutter rather than the eshutter for anything moving. (500CM for me.) I try to stick to two-stops down and keep the shutter speed up over 1/2f.
G
I'm guilty of shooting at ISO400 at roughly 1/60 (i think) and f/4.
It works for film shooting but I reckon the safe exposure setting to minimize handshake needs to be 1/125 & f/5.6 on the 100mm on the CFV.
Definitely there is a learning curve to get the best out the setup. Then again, that's part of the fun of owning a v-series isn't it?
Also, my Minolta-X1D adaptor is on the way. I'm hoping to put it on the 907X. The Minolta Rokkor 55mm f/1.7 was my go-to lens when I was using the GFGX and I had great results wide open.
Godfrey
Well-known member
I fitted my Voigtländer Color Skopar 28mm to the Hasselblad 907x with a Fotodiox Pro M to X adapter and snapped a few frames as an experiment. As expected, this lens design isn't particularly compatible with the 907x sensor, showing a good bit of color shifting across the frame as well as significant fall-off towards the edges and corners of the frame. However, that doesn't mean it can't be used for B&W rendering.
Bicycle Wheels - Santa Clara 2020
Hasselblad 907x + Voigtländer Color Skopar 28mm f/3.5
Here's a photo of the the camera outfitted with this lens, the control grip, and a 21/25mm OVF (seems to match this lens' FoV on the 907x sensor well enough).
I doubt I'll use this combination very much, but it does illustrate for me how useful an XCD 30mm might prove to be should I decide I needed a lens between the 45P and the 21.
enjoy! G
Bicycle Wheels - Santa Clara 2020
Hasselblad 907x + Voigtländer Color Skopar 28mm f/3.5
Here's a photo of the the camera outfitted with this lens, the control grip, and a 21/25mm OVF (seems to match this lens' FoV on the 907x sensor well enough).
I doubt I'll use this combination very much, but it does illustrate for me how useful an XCD 30mm might prove to be should I decide I needed a lens between the 45P and the 21.
enjoy! G
scho
Well-known member
Using the Cambo CA-XCD lens adapter primarily with my wide Canon EF lenses on the 907x, but also possible to use adapted EF mount lenses as well. Example below with a leitaxed Leica R 50mm Summicron. The adapter can't read the aperture and focal length, but no matter because not needed for this full manual lens.
Sample image shot at f/8 with the 50 cron
Here is an example using an EF lens where adapter was able to read focal length and set aperture on a 16-35/4 at 20mm. Only downside is no communication between adapter and camera - only with the lens - so no exif recording. I use lens tagger in post to write data to the file.
Sample image shot at f/8 with the 50 cron
Here is an example using an EF lens where adapter was able to read focal length and set aperture on a 16-35/4 at 20mm. Only downside is no communication between adapter and camera - only with the lens - so no exif recording. I use lens tagger in post to write data to the file.
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