atanabe
Member
I recently purchased an used S2 for a good price - well that is a relative term in the Leicasphere. But I do enjoy the handling and performance of the camera as well as the quality of the lens that I have in hand, the 70mm Summarit. Now I currently have a complete Hasselblad system with CFV 16 back and while it produces very nice files, there are limitations. Before I purchased the S2, David Farkas at Dale Photo and Digital informed me that he is custom building an adapter that would allow the mounting of V series lenses onto the S2 body. This really intrigued me as 1, there are very few lenses being made for the S2 and 2, they are far and few between - in tight supply. As I had most of the lenses that Hasselblad made, I made the purchase of the adapter - to give it a try so to speak.
The history of Hasselblad V lenses are based in the film days, where a little CA (Chromatic Aberration) would not be as noticed as it is now with digital. Most of the designs that Hasselblad/Zeiss had are now 50 years old with minor refreshes to accommodate modern coatings. When Hasselblad developed digital imaging, they set abut the task of adopting software processing to overcome the shortfalls of their lens formulas. By processing the files through Phocus the lens corrections that are pre programmed into the software optimize the final image. The software takes into account aperture, distance and f stop when correcting images. You can toggle the corrections on and off to see the difference. Thankfully, they have a host of old V series lenses in the catalog which do make a difference. Their H series includes several lenses that are made with the understanding that they will not work on their film bodies and have the optical errors corrected with software.
The test that I started was to see what are the limitations of using older Hasselblad lenses on the new S2. Does a lens costing 10x more equate to final image 10x better? Once the king of MF, Hasselblad has seen a tumble in resale prices of their V system as the rush for pros to buy into 35 DSLRS. There has been a rebound in pricing of late but the lenses still remain a relative bargain. The first set was to compare s scene with a with tonal range including a area that would be prone to fringing (CA) and be static so that a constant focal point could be established and most important to keep the subject the same size. Another type of test would be to have a subject and camera at a fixed distance and just change focal lengths but that will be another day.
The equipment:
Hasselblad 501CM with CFV 16 vI 16 megapixel back
with the following lenses:
40 CF FLE f4
50 CF f4
60 CF f3.5
80 CB f2.8
100 CF f3.5
120 CF f4
180 CFi f4
350 CF f5.6
Leica S2
70 Summarit f2.5
Hasselblad V to Leica S2 adapter
With every scientific experiment you must start with a hypothesis, such as "I attempt to prove that a lens costing the equivalent of two Leica S2 lens hoods can hold it's own against a lens costing 10x that much" or something like that . . . But really, this is a test to show the results of two platforms, using the same optics. I will start with a group photo
The history of Hasselblad V lenses are based in the film days, where a little CA (Chromatic Aberration) would not be as noticed as it is now with digital. Most of the designs that Hasselblad/Zeiss had are now 50 years old with minor refreshes to accommodate modern coatings. When Hasselblad developed digital imaging, they set abut the task of adopting software processing to overcome the shortfalls of their lens formulas. By processing the files through Phocus the lens corrections that are pre programmed into the software optimize the final image. The software takes into account aperture, distance and f stop when correcting images. You can toggle the corrections on and off to see the difference. Thankfully, they have a host of old V series lenses in the catalog which do make a difference. Their H series includes several lenses that are made with the understanding that they will not work on their film bodies and have the optical errors corrected with software.
The test that I started was to see what are the limitations of using older Hasselblad lenses on the new S2. Does a lens costing 10x more equate to final image 10x better? Once the king of MF, Hasselblad has seen a tumble in resale prices of their V system as the rush for pros to buy into 35 DSLRS. There has been a rebound in pricing of late but the lenses still remain a relative bargain. The first set was to compare s scene with a with tonal range including a area that would be prone to fringing (CA) and be static so that a constant focal point could be established and most important to keep the subject the same size. Another type of test would be to have a subject and camera at a fixed distance and just change focal lengths but that will be another day.
The equipment:
Hasselblad 501CM with CFV 16 vI 16 megapixel back
with the following lenses:
40 CF FLE f4
50 CF f4
60 CF f3.5
80 CB f2.8
100 CF f3.5
120 CF f4
180 CFi f4
350 CF f5.6
Leica S2
70 Summarit f2.5
Hasselblad V to Leica S2 adapter
With every scientific experiment you must start with a hypothesis, such as "I attempt to prove that a lens costing the equivalent of two Leica S2 lens hoods can hold it's own against a lens costing 10x that much" or something like that . . . But really, this is a test to show the results of two platforms, using the same optics. I will start with a group photo