I'd been contemplating a move to MF for almost 5 years when I finally decided to take the plunge last summer.

In addition to image quality, because I am a nature shooter, I was also interested in a platform that had the fastest possible lenses for wildlife, and well as a rich lineup of focal lengths--reasonably wide wides and good teles.

The Rollei lens lineup appealed to me, and upon hearing of the (originally) open Hy6 platform, I was excited. But as time went on and reality began to unfold, it turned out that, by all appearances, I wouldn't be able to use the back that I felt had the best image quality for my needs with the Hy6, at least not in the near future.

I moved to Plan B--using Zeiss glass instead of Schneider in front of the Phase. Zeiss was plan B because the lenses are typically a stop slower than what is available in the Schneiders, and the Zeiss' five laser-straight aperture blades can render some pretty disturbing bokeh.

This week I took delivery of my P45+ in H-mount, a Hasselblad H2 with an H to CF adapter, and a Zeiss 4/40 CFE IF wide angle lens. A week earlier and I would have taken it on my trip to Painted Hills, Oregon and given it a good run-through... But I suppose there is always next week...

I chose the H2 for the ergonomics of the body. I was getting used to the 500 C/M, but in the end I wanted more of a 'hair trigger' on the shutter button than the classic Hassy could offer, to capture that 'decisive moment'. With the 500C/M, I found myself using the cable release almost exclusively.

So far, I do like the CFE lens/H2 combination. (If you are considering using the CF adapter, you might want to make sure you are using CFE lenses with it--CFi and CF do not communicate any aperture information to the camera, and the experience is a little weird (but they do work). With the CFE, the camera knows exactly what you're doing with the aperture, and will suggest the appropriate shutter speed, if you're using the meter.)

I expect this to be my platform for at least a couple of years, until the next generation of square and/or true full-frame and/or 50Mpxl and/or 60Mpxl backs come out. At that point I'll be willing to re-evaluate whose backs are delivering the best quality and whose platform might serve best.

So I just wanted to let the community know where I ended up, and to say thank you for all the support and advice various folks have provided over the past year as I've made this (somewhat more painful than expected) transition. Happy to share my experiences (good or bad) for the asking.

Now that I'm here, the journey does seem worth it.

Speaking of journeys, here are a few of the images I've captured with my MF kit over the past 8 or 9 months:

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Again, thanks to the many of you who have help me get this done.

Kind regards,
Brad

Very nice work. It's got a natural feel to it.

Brad,
Glad to hear you're happy with your new kit. Haven't made any decisions yet, but I'm still looking at the Hy6 and may go that route when the time comes to upgrade, or may just upgrade the back on my 6008 since I can actually put any of them on there: Sinar, Phase, or Hasselblad.
Eric

snickgrr - Thank you! Definitely a quality I try to convey in my work.

EricWHiss - It's nice, but the romance of the Rollei is very real (for me at least). We'll see if/when things turn around on that front. Meanwhile, it's nice to not be in limbo any more. One thing this has taught me: I'll only consider shipping, proven systems from here on out. Keep me posted on your quest, as well.

Best regards,
Brad

If only these pictures were shot with Schneider lenses...

Good work! In the end it is often more about knowing your gear by using it often than about what exact gear one is using.

Hahaha!! Maybe someday!



I agree completely.

Thanks, Wim,
Brad

Wow, thanks for sharing Bradley. It's always kinda nice to know I'm not the only one using a "Frankenkamera" - I shoot with a Bronica SQ-B body, S and PS Zenzanon lenses with a Hasselblad V-mount Hasselblad Ixpress back attached via a Silvestri Hassy V-mount adapter for Bronica SQ!

Hi,

I'm curious why you are going via the adapter route rather than just H series lenses. I have also recently moved from a combination of medium format film and 35mm digital to an H3D system. I have a simple lens group (28,80,210, & 1.7x) that has been performing quite well.

I've considered picking up the adapter several times in order to gain flexibility in my lens choices. A mid-wide and a macro would be useful to me, and I don't really need the AF for those.

Thank you for your point about the CFE lenses & aperture control, I was not aware of that and it could save me some hassle.

I guess what I am rambling on about here, is that the adapter method for you feels refined, easy to use, non clunky? Also, you are happy with the performance of the older designed lenses on the p45?

Definitely! I guess sometimes you just have to mix it up to get what you want! It's an Olympic year--perhaps the Olympic judges will give out style points for the creative 'independent spirit' of Frankenkameras...

Hi, Nicholas,
I was looking for the best possible image quality from my medium format system, and after researching the HC lenses, I came to the conclusion that for my needs, I could do better. The Fuji glass can be very sharp, but how it renders many images isn't particularly pleasing (esp. outside of the studio), and when compared head-to-head with some admittedly different-price-category glass (such as the Schneider 35XL) the HC came up short.

A couple of examples: MR's now famous (infamous?) HC bokeh photograph shown here and the above-mentioned comparison of the HC 35mm vs. the Schneider shown here.

My feeling is that these lenses are optimized for the studio (probably not a bad business decision on Hasselblad's part, given how rare a breed the medium format fine art nature shooter is by comparison). I came to the conclusion that for my needs, the Rollei Schneider lineup followed by the Hasselblad Zeiss lineup would be about as good as I could do without a view camera.

In terms of how much "hassle" the H to CF adapter represents, I also think it also depends on where you are coming from. I was using the Hasselblad 500 C/M and was looking for better ergonomics--the H camera represents an improvement in ergonomics and flow over the 500 (for me). Since you are already on an H3D with HC glass and looking for an additional lens, I could very well imagine you experiencing some frustration with the adapter, since the HC lenses already 'just work'. Let me give you a rundown of the workflow with the adapter, so that you can decide for yourself whether it's worth the plunge.

1) In my case, I have several V-series lenses, so the adapter remains fixed on the camera. In your case, if you only buy one V-series lens, you can leave the adapter fixed to the lens.

2) Mount the lens into the camera.

3) Camera body will guess which lens is attached and immediately show you the lens on the LCD. Assuming you have no TC's or extension tubes in play just press the 'drive' button to confirm. If you have V-series TC/Tubes, you can dial in which one is attached and then hit 'drive'. If you V-series TC/tube do NOT have the databus contacts, the camera has no idea what is attached and you may have to choose from a larger list of options. HC TC's and tubes are not supported at all. My advice would be to be sure to get the XE line of V-series TC's and tubes if you were going to do that at all.

4) You may optionally connect the flash sync cable. If you are using flash, you'll need to do this. Even if you are not using flash, the digital back will not know exactly when the exposure ends without this cable. Your resulting image will be exactly the same with or without the cable, but the back will not record a shutter speed without the cable. The whole camera will delay 1.5s after the exposure "just to be sure". This is in the manual and is not particularly troublesome. It is nice to know that even with a missing or defective cable, one can still take pictures without a problem.

5) The camera will be in a special "Manual" mode for metering. You cannot change the shutter speed or aperture via the camera dials. You can change the aperture on the lens and the change will be reflected by the camera meter. The meter will be showing a shutter speed which it recommends you transfer to the lens' shutter ring. Of course, you can set the lens to anything you wish, given the artistic interpretation you want.

6) I have the camera set to provide focus confirmation when I half-press the shutter. It's like 'manual drive' AF... Two triangular focus indicators will light up when the camera detects peak focus. I find this to be more accurate than typical small format focus confirmation, such as provided by my Canon 1D-series body. Note that I have not been able to find a split-recticle focusing screen for the H body.

7) Take the shot.

8) Cock the shutter with the left thumb. This cocking maneuver is very well designed and requires just a single travel of the lever. I felt like I was winding forever with the 500 C/M--I'm glad they've upped the gear ratio on this lever to make it very quick and natural.

So you can see it's quite a different workflow than simply attaching the lens and shooting. I've posted this information here in as much detail as I could because I was unable to find this information before I purchased this setup. I hope it's helpful to you.

Best regards,
Brad

Brad. Fantastic information, thanks very much!

FWIW, I find the bokeh on the 210mm to be very nice. Also, not to delve into a side discussion, but I think comparing those two 35mm lenses is kind of meaningless, primarily because one is a retrofocus lens designed for an slr and the other (Schneider) couldn't be used on any slr platform due to it's design. It would require a second camera regardless of what platform you are using (unless you are already on a plate camera).

Regardless, we live in a time of fantastic photography equipment, and all choices are pretty darn good.

Thanks again for your detailed writeup.

-Nick

same question, I an using HC lenses on H1 & P45, do you think CFE lenses are really (far) better ?

Sorry, Eric, is your question about whether the CF adapter is better to use with the electronic databus lenses (ie. CFe vs. CF) or are you asking the more general question of why go through all the hassle of using the adapter in the first place, instead of using H glass (ie. CFe vs HC)?

Take care,
Brad