Questions on Hasselblad Flexbody

[anyone]

Hi all,

I have since a while the Hasselblad Flexbody, but I didn't use it much. Mostly I used it for stitching full-frame 6x6 pictures. Now I'd like to use it in a bit more serious way (or part with it). Does anyone use it with a digital back?

My most pressing question is: how do you ensure that everything is parallel? The scale that is painted / etched is rather coarse. Do you check it with a bubble level? Where do you attach or hold it against to make sure things are parallel?

For reference, I attached a screenshot of a test picture I did. It shows a curved surface, and I marked the different sharp point on the image. I did my best to keep everything parallel, so the camera was level, I used the shift of the camera to move the object into the frame.



Thank you!

 

[PhiloFarmer]

Hello-in-There,

(That's an allusion to John Prine....who just passed over-the-rainbow...)..

I owned and used the Flexbody productively for many years.

Like any tool.....it requires practice.....patience...persistence.....to get good results ....

One of the issues I had using it was spending time getting the focus exactly where I wanted it. It's not designed for a "sliding-back," so you have to remove the flashcard and view on a computer (or...depending on the back...use a linked-computer while the back is on-camera).

That said...images are achievable...for sure.

My grief was lack of shift/swing (mostly swing...it does enable rise/fall & tilt)....and the "missing" sliding-back feature.

So...keep-the-faith...steady-on...keep deepening your skills.

You will be rewarded...richly....

Cheers,

Hank

 

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi all,

I have since a while the Hasselblad Flexbody, but I didn't use it much. Mostly I used it for stitching full-frame 6x6 pictures. Now I'd like to use it in a bit more serious way (or part with it). Does anyone use it with a digital back?

My most pressing question is: how do you ensure that everything is parallel? The scale that is painted / etched is rather coarse. Do you check it with a bubble level? Where do you attach or hold it against to make sure things are parallel?

For reference, I attached a screenshot of a test picture I did. It shows a curved surface, and I marked the different sharp point on the image. I did my best to keep everything parallel, so the camera was level, I used the shift of the camera to move the object into the frame.


Thank you!

Hi,

I have used it with a P45+ digital back. That one needed a wake up cable. My experience was that it was not really usable in the field.

What were the issues?

• Replacing the viewfinder with the digital back is cumbersome in the field.
• Focusing is really hard.

Got some nice images, tough.

I mostly used it for tilts.

I think it would be more usable with modern era CMOS backs, where there is magnified live view on the LCD. But the affordable ones are all 44x33 mm, which means that wide angle options are severely limited.

Best regards
Erik

 

[anyone]

I used it first with the P45+ and now with the IQ1 60 - the wakeup cable workflow is familiar from my tech camera, as is the focusing. Both backs are CCD, although the IQ1 60 has live view.

The issue I have is to keep the lens plane and sensor plane parallel. My Linhof Techno has quite riquid "0" positions, and the Flexbody is lacking those. I also do not find any 90° angled metal surfaces to attach a precise bubble level, and that makes it tremendously hard for me to focus and/ or to avoid accidental back tilt.

Of course the workflow with attaching and removing the expensive + fragile digital back is also not ideal, but I do like the small form factor of the camera.

 

[anyone]

Update: Now I was re-doing my test, but was working a little bit on my technique.

What I did was:
(1) Attach a bubble level on the flexbody
(2) Attach a bubble level on the rear standard
(3) Use a 7x Loupe

I first levelled the whole setup. Then I fine-tuned with the use of the bubble levels the parallelism of the camera (lens plane) and rear standard (sensor plane). Then I focused, attached the digital back, and took the shot.

The result is attached. It's a 50% view of the actual image, but I'm quite satisfied now. See the thin line of dust on the table for reference of DOF. The lens is a 120mm Makro Planar at f4.

Learning: it is possible to get everything parallel, but it does require a quite slow workflow. I will need to test this in the field, but I could imagine that the procedure of taking off the digital back for focus + composing is not an option for me.

PS: if one has a recommendation for a really precise bubble level, that would be appreciated!

 

[vivizen]

Very interesting. Where on the body, and how, did you attach the bubble level? Could you share a photo?

I once tried to do this, and found out that I had to be very careful about the epoxy layer used to glue the level to the body, since any thickness variation of the glue layer could cause a systematic error in the bubble level's parallelism.

Update: Now I was re-doing my test, but was working a little bit on my technique.

What I did was:
(1) Attach a bubble level on the flexbody
(2) Attach a bubble level on the rear standard
(3) Use a 7x Loupe

I first levelled the whole setup. Then I fine-tuned with the use of the bubble levels the parallelism of the camera (lens plane) and rear standard (sensor plane). Then I focused, attached the digital back, and took the shot.

The result is attached. It's a 50% view of the actual image, but I'm quite satisfied now. See the thin line of dust on the table for reference of DOF. The lens is a 120mm Makro Planar at f4.

Learning: it is possible to get everything parallel, but it does require a quite slow workflow. I will need to test this in the field, but I could imagine that the procedure of taking off the digital back for focus + composing is not an option for me.

PS: if one has a recommendation for a really precise bubble level, that would be appreciated!

 

[anyone]

I used one of those cold-shoe bubble levels for the camera and "mounted" it with a Novoflex clamp, basically pressing the bubble level to the camera. That was done on the surface on the right-hand side, below the shift mechanism.

For the rear standard, I was using a very precise bubble level that I'm typically using with my Linhof Techno or large format camera setups. Since there is no real surface to attach it to, I was holding it against the metal frame that keeps the ground glass / digital back. I was thinking that a magnetic bubble level could be nice for that, to avoid permanent modifications.

Unfortunately I did not snap any pictures of the setup, but hopefully this was understandable!