A modern SWC

[Godfrey]

I guess we will soon know whether Hasselblad will be releasing X1D MkII or a V1D, but seriously, camera companies should think outside the box. Someone should make a small square sensor digital, e.g. 22x22, or 24x24, which would mean full frame lens would already cover it, and make a mini-Hassy-V. From SWC-wide to telephoto....

It looks like they just announced both, based on the 44x33mm 50mPixel sensor and the XCD lenses. I find the updated CFV back, new modular body, and compatibility with both V system and XCD series lenses more compelling than the X1D in concept ... It's what I expect out of Hasselblad. Whether and when I buy in ... that's a mystery at present. One thing's for sure: my Hasselblad V system—500CM, A12 backs, four lenses, finders, etc etc—is not for sale.

And now back to my "mini-digital SWC" joy... Answering the question, "What's the first thing I did after opening the Voigtländer 10mm box...?"

Leica CL + Voigtländer Hyper-Wide 10mm f/5.6
ISO 100 @ f/5.6 @ 1/10​

Having too much fun to take much seriously ...
G

 

[faberryman]

And now back to my "mini-digital SWC" joy... Answering the question, "What's the first thing I did after opening the Voigtländer 10mm box...?"

In the lower left corner, is the base of the paper towel holder a circle, or an oval as it appears?

 

[Godfrey]

In the lower left corner, is the base of the paper towel holder a circle, or an oval as it appears?

It is a circle.

This is wide angle distortion. Wide angle distortion is inevitable, even with the original SWC, due to the imaging geometry when the near field at the edges of a frame with a 77x77 degree FoV are only 12" from the lens. I usually avoid it by keeping the near field a bit further away.

G

 

[Godfrey]

I am so enjoying this lens.

Leica CL + Voigtländer 10mm f/5.6
ISO 3200 @ f/8 @ 1/80​

G

 

[MGrayson]

It is a circle.

This is wide angle distortion. Wide angle distortion is inevitable, even with the original SWC, due to the imaging geometry when the near field at the edges of a frame with a 77x77 degree FoV are only 12" from the lens. I usually avoid it by keeping the near field a bit further away.

G

If you get your eye close enough to the picture, so that the picture subtends the same angle as the taking lens, the distortions go away. The wonders of projective geometry!

(This is a general comment, not intended to imply anyone's ignorance of this fact.)

Godfrey,

Have you used the 11-23 zoom? It's almost that wide, and it's a superb lens.

Matt

 

[Godfrey]

If you get your eye close enough to the picture, so that the picture subtends the same angle as the taking lens, the distortions go away. The wonders of projective geometry!

(This is a general comment, not intended to imply anyone's ignorance of this fact.)
...
Have you used the 11-23 zoom? It's almost that wide, and it's a superb lens.

Yes! It's very cool to see the oval turn into a circle just by moving your eye point closer. I'd forgotten all about that ... learned in a mathematics class an eon or two ago! Thanks for reminding me.

I haven't used the TL 11-23mm lens. I know it's very very good ... but. It's easily three to four times the cost, almost impossible to find due to its popularity, and it's a zoom ... I'm not interested in zoom lenses, in general. More importantly, it's an L-mount lens and thereby only usable on one of my cameras, whereas with an M lens I can use it on both Ms (digital and film), the CL, and any other camera that I can buy a mount adapter for including the SL, the l-mount Panasonics, the Olympus mFT bodies (that I still have!). Etc etc.

Hmm. That's reminded me that I have an M to mFT mount adapter. And I still have an Olympus E-M1. Time to experiment ... the V10 is a bit shorter than my Olympus ZD 11-22mm—one of my favorite FourThirds DSLR system lenses that also works on the E-M1. I wonder how the two lenses will compare on the mFT body...? Ach, not today, but maybe tomorrow.

The Voigt 10mm is reasonably priced, small, light, adaptable, and produces superb imaging on both the CL and the M-D. It's a great match to the CL body for my purposes, and has definitely hit all the buttons for me...

G

 

[Domip]

Hasselblad X1D + XCD 21/4 & cropmode 1:1. A modern SWC.


Thanks to Dan, I just bought the 21mm...

 

[Shashin]

I am sure nothing is going to stop Dan Linberg from being first in line for the new SWC (907X) (Dan, do you already have a preorder in?), but the only thing I can see missing from the new 907X body is a cold shoe.

 

[Godfrey]

I am sure nothing is going to stop Dan Linberg from being first in line for the new SWC (907X) (Dan, do you already have a preorder in?), but the only thing I can see missing from the new 907X body is a cold shoe.

Somewhere I read that there is a mounting point for a viewfinder and/or other accessories (like a shoe) behind the name plate.

G

 

[danlindberg]

Hasselblad X1D + XCD 21/4 & cropmode 1:1. A modern SWC.


Thanks to Dan, I just bought the 21mm...

Happy to be an enabler :grin: But it's an excellent lens so you are going to enjoy it, I'm sure.

 

[danlindberg]

I am sure nothing is going to stop Dan Linberg from being first in line for the new SWC (907X) (Dan, do you already have a preorder in?), but the only thing I can see missing from the new 907X body is a cold shoe.

Will, I love the back and wouldn't mind at all being first in line, but I am unfortunately somewhat price sensitive so I need to know their pricing strategy for me to dive in. However, I have started to save.....

 

[Godfrey]

Will, I love the back and wouldn't mind at all being first in line, but I am unfortunately somewhat price sensitive so I need to know their pricing strategy for me to dive in. However, I have started to save.....

I'm putting money aside and beginning to consider what of my existing equipment excess I am willing to part with. There's something very compelling to me about the notion of both putting my Hasselblad V system gear into more active use, and the SWC form factor that the CFV50c II + 907x lends to XCD lenses like the 21mm.

The form factor of the SWC is one of the reasons I enjoyed using it so much, as it turns out! Once I had the feel of the field of view, I would often use it entirely without the viewfinder even attached... The bubble level proved more important than the viewfinder!

G

 

[JohnBrew]

I am sure nothing is going to stop Dan Linberg from being first in line for the new SWC (907X) (Dan, do you already have a preorder in?), but the only thing I can see missing from the new 907X body is a cold shoe.

Will, not sure about this, but the optional grip may have a shoe incorporated. However no images or description! It may resemble the grip shown with the prototype square format body shown several years ago (?).

 

[Shashin]

Will, not sure about this, but the optional grip may have a shoe incorporated. However no images or description! It may resemble the grip shown with the prototype square format body shown several years ago (?).

John, thanks. After I wrote this, I noticed the Hasselblad video shows a cold shoe with an optical finder in their promo video. I guess the name plate slides out and the shoe thingy is mounted there.

 

[Jack]

Will, I love the back and wouldn't mind at all being first in line, but I am unfortunately somewhat price sensitive so I need to know their pricing strategy for me to dive in. However, I have started to save.....

IMHO only, no need for you to "save." The images you're making with this kit are already quite stellar! (And I love that it's fairly compact!)

I commend you for starting this thread. It's something I've been looking for ever since I got into digital. I sort of got there with my Nikon D810 and 24mm Sigma Art, but could only crop the finder to 4:5 and so had to interpret the "square" framing -- not ideal. Tried it with the small Sonys, no love there either. There is just a certain "je ne sais quoi" to the process and images --shooting square wide-angle and then outputting it in mono-- that I personally relish.

Kudos,

 

[danlindberg]

Thank you Jack! appreciate your post!

I fell in love with a Hasselblad 500 CM and a 40 Fle lens in the early/mid eighties. I mostly shot Ilford HP5 with it and ever since I have had a love affair with square format and black & white images. So, I have been 'seeing' square for a long time!

It is actually interesting because a very good friend of mine is a professional commercial, wedding & portrait photographer (and a good one) but he only started 10 years ago and has never shot square. He has great difficulty in seeing square and only gets frustrated trying.

 

[Shashin]

My biggest beef with digital is the limit formats: 3:2 and 4:3. Film, and Medium format in particular, was so great because of that. My two favorites formats were 6x6 and 6x12. But I also had a Widelux swing-lens panoramic camera. Format was a main driver in the choice of the camera.

Mamiya 6:

Widelux F8:

Horseman SW612:

Remember when shooting "full frame" meant you did not crop, not that you were using the 35mm camera...

 

[Jack]

Thank you Jack! appreciate your post!

I fell in love with a Hasselblad 500 CM and a 40 Fle lens in the early/mid eighties. I mostly shot Ilford HP5 with it and ever since I have had a love affair with square format and black & white images. So, I have been 'seeing' square for a long time!

It is actually interesting because a very good friend of mine is a professional commercial, wedding & portrait photographer (and a good one) but he only started 10 years ago and has never shot square. He has great difficulty in seeing square and only gets frustrated trying.

I hear you on the 500CM/40 FLE combo -- that later 40 Distagon in FLE was an amazing pice of glass, but the SWC allowed for a shorter, more forgiving flange focal, and so allowed the Biogon design which was no slouch optically either. And thus the whole package was so much more compact -- and frankly, just a hoot to shoot!!!

A lot of contemporary photographers have no idea why we learned (and had to learn) to shoot square in the first place!

 

[Godfrey]

I hear you on the 500CM/40 FLE combo -- that later 40 Distagon in FLE was an amazing pice of glass, but the SWC allowed for a shorter, more forgiving flange focal, and so allowed the Biogon design which was no slouch optically either. And thus the whole package was so much more compact -- and frankly, just a hoot to shoot!!!

A lot of contemporary photographers have no idea why we learned (and had to learn) to shoot square in the first place!

My first real camera was a Rolleiflex TLR...

G

 

[MGrayson]

My first real camera was a Rolleiflex TLR...

G

Yashicamat 124G here. The grad student’s Rolleiflex. :ROTFL: