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Laowa T/S 35 mm on Hasselblad XD2 II and 907x100c- any experience? what about the strips at movements?

Alkibiades

Well-known member
Use anybody the new Laowa T/S 35 mm on Hasselblad XD2 II or 907x100c- any experience? what about the strips at movements?
As this lens sits much closer to the sensor as the classic canon ts-e shift lenses, the strips could be the same problem as at rodenstock-schneider lenses, when shifted.
 
I just saw this - so what is the consensus on the Laowa stuff - does it beat Canon TSE and is the go-to now for GFX / X2D architectural photography? The price seems unbeatable?!
 
I just saw this - so what is the consensus on the Laowa stuff - does it beat Canon TSE and is the go-to now for GFX / X2D architectural photography? The price seems unbeatable?!

I don't know about consensus, but Keith Cooper (of Northlight) says that optically the Chinese lenses he's testing (couple 17mm, 20mm, 35mm, etc.) are very high quality. The issues are more in the mechanics.

Keith is a serious working professional, so I'm always interested in his opinions about lenses.

 
I don't know about consensus, but Keith Cooper (of Northlight) says that optically the Chinese lenses he's testing (couple 17mm, 20mm, 35mm, etc.) are very high quality. The issues are more in the mechanics.

Keith is a serious working professional, so I'm always interested in his opinions about lenses.

I have seen both reviews, but both are not really helpfull for my questions.
the review of Keith is better as he is a real architecture photographer.
But he also did not test the hasselblad "strips" problem.
Canon TS-E lenses are build for older EF system that have a real mirror and therefore the distance to the sensor is much bigger than in the new lenses for mirrorless system.
Yes the mirrorless lensdesigns can be easier corrected, it allows much better lenses, but here the problems of hasselblad strips can apear. Just like at combination of symmetric schneider wides and some rodenstock wides with hasselbald latest back.
Fuji seems not to have this problems, so 30 TS works fine. So the Laowa 35 mm should work well on Fuji. But I have already Fuji 30 TS for Fuji system and I am am thinking about getting the Laowa 35 mm for other system. It could be for Sony- as traditional 35 mm standart-shift lens- or for Hasselblad- when it have not the "strip" problems- I can live than with 8 mm real shift...
 
I'm interested in the answer to your question. It is a handy focal length, so I hope that at some point someone with a Hasselblad X system will take a chance on the lens and report back about this issue.
 
I just saw this - so what is the consensus on the Laowa stuff - does it beat Canon TSE and is the go-to now for GFX / X2D architectural photography? The price seems unbeatable?!
not for GFX: here Fuji 30 TS allows best optical performace for full 15 mm movements- Laowa only ""real" sharp 8 mm. at Fuji system you buy the camera for the lens, not the lens for the camera... But for Hasselblad, as not big movements are needed the Laowa seems to be a hot deal. The lensdesign is really modern, I expect a performace similar to their 55 mm that was little under canon TS-E 50 mm but pretty good when not full shifted.
 
I'm interested in the answer to your question. It is a handy focal length, so I hope that at some point someone with a Hasselblad X system will take a chance on the lens and report back about this issue.
yes, absolutly, at this price it is a very attractive option, aspecially when you cant use a technical camera.
 
Is the usable shift limited to 8mm on a 35mm body? I'm also interested in real world examples -
 
Is the usable shift limited to 8mm on a 35mm body? I'm also interested in real world examples -
no, the shift on 35 mm - full frame- is 12 mm. when you use this lens on 33x44 mm the real usable image circle will be smaller, anyway mechanicly you will be able to use the whole 12 mm movement on 33x44 mm also. With 8 mm I mean a real sharp, usable image cirlce...
 
Strip effect aside, how does their IC and sharpness compare to Canon?

I think China is really upping their game considerably in the photo world, Hassy + their deluge of M low-cost optics
 
I have the Laowa T/S 35 mm in XCD mount and used on the Hasselblad X2D II. The optical quality of the lens is excellent. For most practical purposes you would be hard pushed to tell if the lens used was Hasselblad or Loawa when comparing the end result. As others have stated, 8mm - 9mm is the practical shift maximum when using the full sensor size. Quite a hard cut off at the edge of the lens coverage makes correcting cut off a challenge. I like the way that the lens stays stationary on the tripod with the camera shifting or tilting, which makes stitched panoramic images a breeze as regards to perspective correction. The only slightly disappointing aspect is that the gearing drag on the shift mechanism is difficult to control effectively and the rise / fall mechanism is likely to be controlled by gravity. If you are aware of this it’s easy to take this into account and stay in control of things.

I have not observed any strips, relating to the Hasselblad sensor with this lens, bearing in mind that we are talking about 8-10 mm shifts.

I also have no experience of Fuji or Cannon T/S lenses, but from what I understand the mechanical features of the Fuji are probably superior the Laowa, but you get what you pay for. The Loawa is a fraction of the cost of the Fuji and with the Laowa weighing in at 1,350g this is a hefty bit of kit.

Hope this is of some help.
 

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I have the Laowa T/S 35 mm in XCD mount and used on the Hasselblad X2D II. The optical quality of the lens is excellent. For most practical purposes you would be hard pushed to tell if the lens used was Hasselblad or Loawa when comparing the end result. As others have stated, 8mm - 9mm is the practical shift maximum when using the full sensor size. Quite a hard cut off at the edge of the lens coverage makes correcting cut off a challenge. I like the way that the lens stays stationary on the tripod with the camera shifting or tilting, which makes stitched panoramic images a breeze as regards to perspective correction. The only slightly disappointing aspect is that the gearing drag on the shift mechanism is difficult to control effectively and the rise / fall mechanism is likely to be controlled by gravity. If you are aware of this it’s easy to take this into account and stay in control of things.

I have not observed any strips, relating to the Hasselblad sensor with this lens, bearing in mind that we are talking about 8-10 mm shifts.

I also have no experience of Fuji or Cannon T/S lenses, but from what I understand the mechanical features of the Fuji are probably superior the Laowa, but you get what you pay for. The Loawa is a fraction of the cost of the Fuji and with the Laowa weighing in at 1,350g this is a hefty bit of kit.

Hope this is of some help.
Fantastic feedback, and lovely photo. Thanks!
 
Use anybody the new Laowa T/S 35 mm on Hasselblad XD2 II or 907x100c- any experience? what about the strips at movements?
As this lens sits much closer to the sensor as the classic canon ts-e shift lenses, the strips could be the same problem as at rodenstock-schneider lenses, when shifted.
What are these "strips" you mention? I have never heard of this term.

G
 
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