Older Phase One backs do not have an e-shutter. How it works is that you hook up a cable to your flash sync socket and connect it to the digital back.
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Fun with the Hasselblad 907x
- Thread starter Godfrey
- Start date
TopgunCameras1
New member
After sleeping on it I decided to cancel the order. You are right that it would be too much of a hassle to use the touch functions of the 907x/CFV ii 50c. It does attach and detach by magnet but I think it would not be worth the trouble.
Have you had any luck with finding a screen protector ?
Godfrey
Well-known member
The CFV 50c back is quite different from the CFVII 50c back with respect to its operation, I think. I never had one of the earlier backs.
The default behavior of the CFVII 50c back when fitted to the 500CM is to just work like a film back does: you set the back for what sensitivity you want, and whatever other parameters you want. Otherwise, you use the camera as you always would with film and the back records the photo. That's it ... so yes, you're using the mechanical shutter in the lens. You have to set the back to a different mode, and the body to open the lens and body shutters, for Live View to operate. Completely different operation.
Again, I have no direct experience with the 503 model. I'd have to research what is different between it and the 500CM with respect to what the body supports. I've had three 500CMs, however, and they do everything I want.
Phocus is Hasselblad's image processing and camera control software. There's also Phocus Mobile for use with portable devices. Phocus comes with the 907x/CFVII 50c and is downloadable from their website. It's only useful in controlling the 503cw if you also have the motor drive, which is only compatible with the 503cw. It's always useful for processing the photos that you've captured with the back, if you choose that route of image processing. (I've used Lightroom Classic so far for my image processing.)
The CFVII 50c comes with a mask to place on the focusing screen of your Hasselblad SLR to give you an accurate framing tool. I haven't found it necessary: I can just visualize the difference pretty easily in my head. You can make one too. Here's a graphic of the format difference:
The Blue is the film format, the Black is the digital format. Easy.
If I were you, I'd buy a camera and a film back, play with that a while and see whether it appeals to you. Then consider whether to spend the extra money to buy the digital back.
G
Godfrey
Well-known member
I don't think it is. Hasselblad digital backs (whether they had live view or not) have used the mechanical coupling between the body and the magazine to synchronize operation with the leaf shutters in the lenses. This mechanical coupling was originally developed to trigger a small indicator on the film magazines which showed whether the current frame had been exposed. This indicator serves to warn the user of accidental double-exposure if a back is removed and then reattached without having been wound since the previous exposure,. This indicator is triggered by a "release bar" in the body which is actuated as part of the release sequence.
When Hasselblad started producing digital backs, they designed the backs to be triggered by this bar so that the backs would work seamlessly even with the oldest 500-series bodies. This is the "release bar sensor" shown on page 27 of the CFV-II-50c manual (https://cdn.hasselblad.com/manuals/CFV-II-50C-User-Manual/1.0.0.0/CFV-II-50C-User-Guide.pdf) Third-party backs (Phase, Leaf, etc) lack this interface. They're triggered by the use of a PC cord connected to the lens (just like a flash). You can do this with the Hasselblad backs, too, in case something goes wrong with the mechanical coupling, or if you're attaching the back to a tech/view camera that lacks this coupling. An unfortunate side-effect of this is that it wasn't practical to make the backs rotatable, since the release bar would no longer line up if you rotated the back 90 degrees.
The whole idea here is to keep the operation of the camera and back as consistent as possible, whether you're using film or digital. You can just slap the digital back on your 63 year-old 500C and start shooting exactly the same way you did with film.
rayyen
Member
Finally, my wait come to an end.
907 work like magic, but I spent a weekend with the CVFII50C on my 501c, took me some time to figure out the connection. Seems hard to get capture right, not always a photo capture with my 501c. I also having trouble opening those files captured in Lightroom. I don't know why...
907 work like magic, but I spent a weekend with the CVFII50C on my 501c, took me some time to figure out the connection. Seems hard to get capture right, not always a photo capture with my 501c. I also having trouble opening those files captured in Lightroom. I don't know why...
Godfrey
Well-known member
Nice photos! And good luck with your 907x SE!
I'm not sure why you're having trouble getting exposures with the 501c and CFVII 50c back, though. I wonder what's different about the 501c body vs my 500CM bodies ... I just stick the back on and go shooting, get exposures every time ... unless it's a problem with your specific 501c body.
Did you look at which body the back is set to when you fit it to the 501c? Perhaps there's something off kilter in the back's configuration.
One thing that's become plain to me: My lovely old Planar 80/2.8 T* and Distagon 50/4 T* are simply not so stunningly sharp when wide open as the XCD 21mm lens is. After many experiments and focusing trials, I've come to realize that for the kind of sharpness I get out of the XCD 21mm at f/4, I need to stop down either of those two lenses about two stops at least (f/5.6 and f/8 respectively), at least in the near focusing range. The focus is right on the money, they're just not as sharp wide open.
I'm going to take a walk with the 500CM+CFVII 50c+Planar 80mm tomorrow ...
G
I'm not sure why you're having trouble getting exposures with the 501c and CFVII 50c back, though. I wonder what's different about the 501c body vs my 500CM bodies ... I just stick the back on and go shooting, get exposures every time ... unless it's a problem with your specific 501c body.
Did you look at which body the back is set to when you fit it to the 501c? Perhaps there's something off kilter in the back's configuration.
One thing that's become plain to me: My lovely old Planar 80/2.8 T* and Distagon 50/4 T* are simply not so stunningly sharp when wide open as the XCD 21mm lens is. After many experiments and focusing trials, I've come to realize that for the kind of sharpness I get out of the XCD 21mm at f/4, I need to stop down either of those two lenses about two stops at least (f/5.6 and f/8 respectively), at least in the near focusing range. The focus is right on the money, they're just not as sharp wide open.
I'm going to take a walk with the 500CM+CFVII 50c+Planar 80mm tomorrow ...
G
No, the interface in the CFV50c is not the same as the CFVII 50c. The CFV50c is based on the interface of the H5D - there is no touch functionality and the screen is lower resolution I believe as well.
For me, the biggest differences between the CFV50c and CFVII50c are the improved live view and internal battery of the CFVII, in addition to the electronic shutter.
I use the CFV II 50c also with a Tech Camera (Silvestri Bicam III) and I find the electronic shutter very useful because you can use times not selectable in the prontor or copal. I also used the previous version of the back, but the liveview was much, much lower. Unfortunately I discovered a bug in Phocus that does not allow the use of scene calibration (lcc) which I hope Hasselblad will solve quickly, otherwise I can't work.
Uhhhhh that's not good. My interest in the CFVII is tech cam use so I hope that's something they can patch up quick. I haven't tried using scene calibration with the latest version of Phocus (3.5 maybe?) so maybe I should give it a try and see what happens.
Godfrey
Well-known member
Pardon my ignorance ... What is "scene calibration"? or "lcc"? When is it useful?
I haven't heard of that before.
G
Not sure how precise my language is, but it's useful for color cast and light falloff corrections, particularly for shots utilizing movements on tech cams. Removes color casts and normalizes light intensity.
Here's a scene calibration tutorial from HB that probably explains it better than I can:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7iggTakk-M
Oh, sorry - it's completely different.
TopgunCameras1
New member
Arctic Valley, Alaska.
Shot with
907x CFV II 50c + 80mm F1.9 / 21mm F4.0
Snow in May is pretty normal in Alaska. Slopes are empty due to the Pandemic. Stay strong everyone !
Some things I learned about the camera on the hike.
1. It does not do well with the cold. The Touch Screen froze a few times under windy and cold conditions. Everything else was functional. Once I turned it off and turned it on everything was fine.
2. In under sunny and snowy conditions the reflection from the snow made the LCD very hard to see. I'll be trying out a viewfinder for the LCD. It's like a LOUPE for Large Format but for digital I guess haha.
3. AutoFocus is pretty reliable. Since I was not able to manual focus I had to rely on Auto Focus most of the time.
4. I don't know why but the files were imported upside down. It was a quick fix in phocus / capture one but I'll be tackling that problem today.
Shot with
907x CFV II 50c + 80mm F1.9 / 21mm F4.0
Snow in May is pretty normal in Alaska. Slopes are empty due to the Pandemic. Stay strong everyone !
Some things I learned about the camera on the hike.
1. It does not do well with the cold. The Touch Screen froze a few times under windy and cold conditions. Everything else was functional. Once I turned it off and turned it on everything was fine.
2. In under sunny and snowy conditions the reflection from the snow made the LCD very hard to see. I'll be trying out a viewfinder for the LCD. It's like a LOUPE for Large Format but for digital I guess haha.
3. AutoFocus is pretty reliable. Since I was not able to manual focus I had to rely on Auto Focus most of the time.
4. I don't know why but the files were imported upside down. It was a quick fix in phocus / capture one but I'll be tackling that problem today.
Attachments
Thanks for great info on this still very rare beast. Can you advise, when the camera is attached to a 500 system camera, do the V lenses use their own leaf shutters, or does the camera revert to electronic shutter only?
many thanks
Godfrey
Well-known member
The CFVII 50c back fitted to a 500CM defaults to that mode: you use the 500CM as you always would after setting the ISO on the back, and the 500CM's lens controls the exposure.
G
phOtOny teXas
Active member
907X - XCD 65mm
Still stuck indoors, this is all I got, Still Life:loco:
New Light by tOny endieveri, on Flickr
Still stuck indoors, this is all I got, Still Life:loco:
New Light by tOny endieveri, on Flickr
Godfrey
Well-known member
I pulled out my dedicated 6x6 pinhole camera the other day, the "ReallySoSubtle 6x6", and discovered I had a few exposures left on the roll*of Ilford HP5 that I had put into it last year. Hmmm... I should use that up!
I used the 907x fitted with the Fotodiox Pro R to X mount adapter and the Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm + Macro Adapter-R to capture the negatives. Aside from the mostly ridiculous nature of the endeavor (after all, pinhole images are never "high resolution" and a 50Mpixel capture is mostly a laugh), it did a good job.
Couch & Lamp - Santa Clara 2020
Bed & Bears - Santa Clara 2020
Tall Palms - San Jose 2020
Bicycle & Cafe - San Jose 2020
Appropriate Distance - San Jose 2020
One thing that I don't understand, though: When I have a mount adapter for either Leica M or Leica R lenses on the camera, and the camera is oriented straight down on the copy stand, the operation of the touch screen becomes flakey. Eventually the touch screen controls in the LCD freeze and I have to power off and restart to regain operation. This doesn't happen when I'm using the XCD21 lens, and it doesn't happen when I'm using the back on the 500CM in Live View/Electronic shutter mode. I'm a little perplexed by why this would be happening.
Has anyone else see this kind of behavior?
G
I used the 907x fitted with the Fotodiox Pro R to X mount adapter and the Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm + Macro Adapter-R to capture the negatives. Aside from the mostly ridiculous nature of the endeavor (after all, pinhole images are never "high resolution" and a 50Mpixel capture is mostly a laugh), it did a good job.
Couch & Lamp - Santa Clara 2020
Bed & Bears - Santa Clara 2020
Tall Palms - San Jose 2020
Bicycle & Cafe - San Jose 2020
Appropriate Distance - San Jose 2020
One thing that I don't understand, though: When I have a mount adapter for either Leica M or Leica R lenses on the camera, and the camera is oriented straight down on the copy stand, the operation of the touch screen becomes flakey. Eventually the touch screen controls in the LCD freeze and I have to power off and restart to regain operation. This doesn't happen when I'm using the XCD21 lens, and it doesn't happen when I'm using the back on the 500CM in Live View/Electronic shutter mode. I'm a little perplexed by why this would be happening.
Has anyone else see this kind of behavior?
G