Vintage lenses

[Dennersten]

I was a Leica collector for 25 years and enjoyed a lot to take the Leica I and II:s out occasionally to get the distinct 30.s or 40:s look. I am all into Hasselblad these days. I have X1D II and a 907X, i just bought myself a 500 C with two contemporary lenses (50 and 150mm).
But for me the result don't feel vintage enough.

Are there any solutions?? Converters to Hasselblad 1000/1600F lenses?? Kiev? Pentacon?

And at the same time i am lazy. I don't want to scan. I want to use the CFV.

[ramarren]

I was a Leica collector for 25 years and enjoyed a lot to take the Leica I and II:s out occasionally to get the distinct 30.s or 40:s look. I am all into Hasselblad these days. I have X1D II and a 907X, i just bought myself a 500 C with two contemporary lenses (50 and 150mm).
But for me the result don't feel vintage enough.

Are there any solutions?? Converters to Hasselblad 1000/1600F lenses?? Kiev? Pentacon?

And at the same time i am lazy. I don't want to scan. I want to use the CFV.

Well, Hasselblads weren't invented until after WWII and things like lens coatings and modern lens formulations were already available when even the first Hasselblad cameras were available. The 500C was introduced in 1957. And Hasselblad lenses were always spec'ed to be akin to the most premium Zeiss formulations. So if the "pre-WWII uncoated lens" look, with all its attendant flare and coma, is what you're after, I doubt that any Hasselblad lens that can work on a 500C is going to give you that. Even my pre-T* multicoated Sonnar 150mm f/4 is an outstanding, modern performer in every way I can imagine as significant, if not up to the very latest XCD 135 or 120 Macro.

Example of my "vintage" (according to Rockwell; LOL!) 1967 Sonnar 150mm f/4 imaging: Just a quick snap on a tripod, rendered with the Moon as primary subject, and then cropped to the pixelation limit using the CFVII 50c back as the recording medium:

This is the original capture so you see what you're up against with respect to a "vintage" lens:

You can't use Hasselblad 1000F/1600F lenses on the 500C V system cameras ... they're barrel lenses with just focus and aperture because the 1000F and 1600F had focal plane shutters. The results with them mounted on original bodies and film capture don't look particularly "vintage" in the sense I read in your note to my eye either.

So ... My take is that if you want a vintage, 1930s to 1940s look, you're going to have to learn how to simulate it in rendering, rather than capture.

G

[ramarren]

Thanks, Dicky!

If that's the look Dennersten is after, it's achievable with nearly any Hasselblad lens and suitable rendering work. Might need a Zeiss Softar filter to take the high resolution edges off, but otherwise very doable.

G

[Oldwino]

You can shoot some of your old Leica lenses on the X1D/907 as well. They vignette to some extent, requiring a crop to 6x7 or 6x6, and you can only use the electronic shutter. I particularly like my 1935 50mm Summar.







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[Dennersten]

Some very interesting reviews + info on Vintage Hasselblad Lenses 
https://www.kenrockwell.com/hasselblad/index.htm#lenses

V system prime lens is the Hasselblad Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm lens  - did you consider trying a 'standard-lens' to give you a different look?
Either the late-edition C80 or CF80 versions are very nicely made with leaded-glass!

Superb to shoot results with on CCD digital-backs with the V system 

Best wishes

p.s

If i correctly recall, the 500C body doesnt have an interchangable focusing-screen, its old-type 'standard-screen' - which is nowhere near as bright as the interchangable Acute-Matte Focusing screens, this could prove-difficult in critical-focusing for digital-captures!

Great link thanks!

I actually bought a C80 at an online auction which i am eagerly waiting at. Will be extremly interesting to see how it's rendering.

And i discovered the hard way that 500C is not easy to focus. But i got it cheap. So i guess i use it for a while to see if i get stuck in V-system photography. So Acute-Matte is the way to go? 

[Dennersten]

Well, Hasselblads weren't invented until after WWII and things like lens coatings and modern lens formulations were already available when even the first Hasselblad cameras were available. The 500C was introduced in 1957. And Hasselblad lenses were always spec'ed to be akin to the most premium Zeiss formulations. So if the "pre-WWII uncoated lens" look, with all its attendant flare and coma, is what you're after, I doubt that any Hasselblad lens that can work on a 500C is going to give you that. Even my pre-T* multicoated Sonnar 150mm f/4 is an outstanding, modern performer in every way I can imagine as significant, if not up to the very latest XCD 135 or 120 Macro.

Example of my "vintage" (according to Rockwell; LOL!) 1967 Sonnar 150mm f/4 imaging: Just a quick snap on a tripod, rendered with the Moon as primary subject, and then cropped to the pixelation limit using the CFVII 50c back as the recording medium:


You can't use Hasselblad 1000F/1600F lenses on the 500C V system cameras ... they're barrel lenses with just focus and aperture because the 1000F and 1600F had focal plane shutters. The results with them mounted on original bodies and film capture don't look particularly "vintage" in the sense I read in your note to my eye either.

So ... My take is that if you want a vintage, 1930s to 1940s look, you're going to have to learn how to simulate it in rendering, rather than capture.

G

Wow thanks for the moon picture, that is impressing.

I guess it makes more sense to do some old style in post processing.

I bought four C lenses for the half price of one XCD lens. It will be really exiting to see what it can do. 

[Dennersten]

You can shoot some of your old Leica lenses on the X1D/907 as well. They vignette to some extent, requiring a crop to 6x7 or 6x6, and you can only use the electronic shutter. I particularly like my 1935 50mm Summar.

Wow, thanks that's exactly what i am looking for. Could you please give me a link to you adapter.

Nice pictures.

This is done with my Summar.




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[ramarren]

You can shoot some of your old Leica lenses on the X1D/907 as well. They vignette to some extent, requiring a crop to 6x7 or 6x6, and you can only use the electronic shutter. I particularly like my 1935 50mm Summar.

Yes, that's likely the way to go ... just use the Hasselblad as the capture engine and don't worry about covering the whole sensor.
Most Leica lenses will cover about a square crop on the sensor well, some cover more of it. 

G

[ramarren]

You can shoot some of your old Leica lenses on the X1D/907 as well. They vignette to some extent, requiring a crop to 6x7 or 6x6, and you can only use the electronic shutter. I particularly like my 1935 50mm Summar.

Wow, thanks that's exactly what i am looking for. Could you please give me a link to you adapter.

Nice pictures.

This is done with my Summar.
...

Lovely photo!

I have the Fotodiox Pro Leica M to Hasselblad X adapter. Another (possibly even better quality) adapter is the Novoflex HAX/LEM. Both are easily available from BH Photo and other suppliers.

G

[Dennersten]

I tried to make some oldfashioned pictures in Post. It's not the same thing? Is it? What do you think?



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[Dennersten]

You can shoot some of your old Leica lenses on the X1D/907 as well. They vignette to some extent, requiring a crop to 6x7 or 6x6, and you can only use the electronic shutter. I particularly like my 1935 50mm Summar.

Wow, thanks that's exactly what i am looking for. Could you please give me a link to you adapter.

Nice pictures.

Thanks! Will order one!

This is done with my Summar.
...

Lovely photo!

I have the Fotodiox Pro Leica M to Hasselblad X adapter. Another (possibly even better quality) adapter is the Novoflex HAX/LEM. Both are easily available from BH Photo and other suppliers.

G

[ramarren]

I tried to make some oldfashioned pictures in Post. It's not the same thing? Is it? What do you think?

LOL! Well, it's a cool photo ... whether it's "the same thing" as what you're after, I cannot judge.

G

[Oldwino]

You can shoot some of your old Leica lenses on the X1D/907 as well. They vignette to some extent, requiring a crop to 6x7 or 6x6, and you can only use the electronic shutter. I particularly like my 1935 50mm Summar.

Wow, thanks that's exactly what i am looking for. Could you please give me a link to you adapter.

Nice pictures.

This is done with my Summar.

Fotodiox Pro. Reasonably priced. Reasonable quality.

[Dennersten]

I tried to make some oldfashioned pictures in Post. It's not the same thing? Is it? What do you think?

LOL! Well, it's a cool photo ... whether it's "the same thing" as what you're after, I cannot judge.

G

Thanks 😊

Yeah i kind of like it....

[dece]

Yes, recent lenses - to me - seem a little bit "clinical" (I mean XCD compared to Zeiss lenses for the V system).
It's a highly subjective subject  to me images with my XCD were missing something, I wasn't completely happy ... I tried to find what gave (old) zeiss/leica lenses their "magic"/ glow ... I read about residual spherical aberration etc...

So I tried the "modern" look with just a hint of fake spherical aberration in some highlights:

To do that I now add "glow" over my images (I mean on some parts: like faces) just with the ~classic PS cloned layer with Gaussian blur blended by "soft light".
"Soft light" blending mode dodge or burns underneath pixels based on layer luminance; as the layer is blurred, its highlights will dodge underneath pixels over a larger region than the "initial" underneath highlights, giving a slight glow.
All this basically increases contrast & saturation with a slight glow (in fact within highlights it decreases contrast, but increases it between highlights vs shadows regions); with extra post adjustments (lowering saturation, +clarity over eyes) and applied locally (masks, or via history brush) over "toned-down" images (mainly over faces), to me it brings back some "magic"
Like I said, all this is highly subjective, but at least personally, this brought me back satisfaction!