Which old lenses can you recommend?

[Dennersten]

I have the X1D II, but i am in the market for a second camera, the 907x seems to be the obvious answer.

I am curios. One obvious big advantage with the 907x is the chance to shoot with legacy lenses. Coming from Leica where it was hundreds or thousand messages in the forums about choosing the right old lens which gave the right cool look from the fifties (with tons of samples), or if it just was a bad performer.

I have seen two Youtube clips where they just discuss sharpness, rendering etc. Not the look. The 50's or 60's feeling.

Does anybody have a link or two to check som sample pictures from old lenses? Or can you please post some here?

[ramarren]

I have the X1D II, but i am in the market for a second camera, the 907x seems to be the obvious answer.

I am curios. One obvious big advantage with the 907x is the chance to shoot with legacy lenses. Coming from Leica where it was hundreds or thousand messages in the forums about choosing the right old lens which gave the right cool look from the fifties (with tons of samples), or if it just was a bad performer.

I have seen two Youtube clips where they just discuss sharpness, rendering etc. Not the look. The 50's or 60's feeling.

Does anybody have a link or two to check som sample pictures from old lenses? Or can you please post some here?

The advantage for using alternative lenses that exists with the 907x is exactly the same as what exists for the X1D II. Fotodiox Pro and Novoflex produce adapters for Leica M and R lenses (and others) to use them on Hasselblad X mount, and there are the Hasselblad V system lenses usable via the XV Adapter from Hasselblad (or other third party lookalikes).

I have used a smattering of my Leica R and M, and Hasselblad V, lenses with the 907x, at least in testing thus far, but I've never had multiple different versions of the same lens with Hasselblad V system, and only very very rarely with Leica R and M, to compare differences between same focal length options. There aren't thousands of different lenses for legacy Hasselblad SLR cameras, and virtually all of what there is produces very beautiful results.

I have four V system lenses (C Distagon 50mm f/4 T*, C Planar 80mm f/2.8 T*, Makro-Planar CF 120mm f/4 T*, and C Sonnar 150mm f/4). The 150 is my oldest lens (1967 vintage, both the 50 and 80 are middle 1970s vintage, and the 120 is 1991 vintage. They all, every one of them, produce superlative results on the 907x.

I have ten Leica R lenses and eleven Leica M lenses. I've tested a few of each but not gone shooting seriously with them as yet. Most will show corner darkening and some show vignetting; most are best used with the 907x constrained to a square crop in capture and perform well that way. Some have odd vignetting due to mechanical components needed for the rangefinder or anti-flare measures that fit their imaging correction tightly to the 24x36mm format. Of course, their imaging characters look extremely similar to the same lenses used on a Leica SL, albeit without the Leica lens profiling and with the bigger sensor's added dynamic range. So if you want to gauge between different legacy lenses from the Leica range, just look at full frame captures with the lenses in question made with a digital Leica M or SL.

I hope that helps you out a little.

G

[sailronin]

Hi,
I've tried 3 Leica M lenses (24mm Elmar, 90mm Summicron, 135 tele-Elmar) all with good result. Very sharp but as G mentioned the coverage is inadequate for the larger sensor.  I use full frame mode and the crop to either square mode or X-Pan mode in Phocus. You are limited to manual focus and electronic shutter of course so fast moving subjects (really pretty much any moving subject) are out of bounds.

I have examples posted on Flickr at the group "Hasselblad with an M" as well as some examples her on the 907 image thread.

Best regards,
Dave

[Dennersten]

Stupid of me. I forgot about the adapters. Then, it's the coolness factor of shooting with an old Hasselblad then Thank's a lot (the like buttons is suddenly gone) I have unfortunately sold all my Leica gear. And I am a little worried about investing in old Hasselblad lenses without having any recommendations or samples. Leica produced quite a lot of turkeys through the years also (which I guess was fine for that decade). 

[ramarren]

Stupid of me. I forgot about the adapters. Then, it's the coolness factor of shooting with an old Hasselblad then Thank's a lot (the like buttons is suddenly gone) I have unfortunately sold all my Leica gear. And I am a little worried about investing in old Hasselblad lenses without having any recommendations or samples. Leica produced quite a lot of turkeys through the years also (which I guess was fine for that decade).

There are very few Hasselblad V system lenses that I would ever consider "turkeys" ... Even the poorest V system lens was near to the top of the game of its time. The biggest issue is that some of the older lenses have parts that are no longer available, so if they need service it might prove difficult to find and/or expensive.

Of course, if you're using them with the adapter tube on the 907x body, all that has to work correctly in the last analysis is the stop-down mechanism and the focusing mount since the XV Adapter does not include anything to operate the lens shutter with. You always work with the eshutter in the body and the aperture on the lens.

My old Sonnar 150mm has a split collar in the focusing helicoid, for instance, and if I want to use it on the 500CM frequently, it needs a major service and overhaul. That would be too expensive now, parts are a problem, and a much newer CF version of the same lens is probably about the same price or less. So I'll probably pick up a CF Sonnar 150mm f/4 sometime soon... or the 180mm (another very fine lens) to give myself a longer focal length option for both 500CM and 907x.

It's hard to go wrong, really.

G

[JCM-Photos]

Even the best V system lenses have less contrast and are weaker on the edges compared to XCD lenses.

For some type of pictures it can be an advantage, for others not, it's up to you.

The main advantage of the 907x over the X1D is that you can use V system lenses with flash and leaf shutter when mounted on a V system body and it would be nonsense buying a 907x and use V lenses with e-shutter.

[Dennersten]

https://petapixel.com/2020/10/10/hasselblad-907x-50c-review-plus-vintage-camera-and-lens-test/

[ramarren]

Even the best V system lenses have less contrast and are weaker on the edges compared to XCD lenses.

For some type of pictures it can be an advantage, for others not, it's up to you.

The main advantage of the 907x over the X1D is that you can use V system lenses with flash and leaf shutter when mounted on a V system body and it would be nonsense buying a 907x and use V lenses with e-shutter.

I don't know why it "would be nonsense" to use my 907x and V system lenses to do this:

It is a kinda funny looking rig, however:

Hasselblad 907x + XV Adapter and tripod mount + three V system extension tubes + Planar 80mm f/2.8 T*

Much less vibration, more easily, at this magnification than operating an 500CM...

G

[sailronin]

Very well done G.

[Bashir Lunat]

Some usful info about V system and lenses here>>>
https://mintcamera.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Hasselblad-V-Catalogue-2005.pdf

[JCM-Photos]

I have pretty good results with the CFVII 50c on 903x and CF 50 FLE, CF 80 2,8 and CF 180

The nice thing is that Phocus has really good profiles for these lenses, with vignetting, distorsion and chromatic aberrations corrections