Advice on macro lens for Hasselblad H3D

[kasperbergholt]

Hello all,


I've wanted to work with the medium format for some time, but it's been out of reach economically speaking. Currently, I have a Pentax K-5, which is very close to breaking completely down (memory card slot not working, USB port not working), and a Nikon D3, but would like to experiment with taken images with two cameras at a time (out of curiosity and an amount of boredom

I've come across a Hasselblad H3D at a good price and thought that might an interesting road to go down on.

My next project is macro photography documenting vintage aúdio vacuum tubes for Wikipedia & Radiomuseum. Which, finally, leads to my question: What would be a in good macro lens for this? I've previously used a 35mm 2.8 limited from Pentax, which worked fine - but I'm in doubt as to how to translate medium format lenses into something comparable in terms of for example minimum focus distance. Some of my previous work can be seen here.

Lastly, are there any specific issues to look for when buying an older Hasselblad like this?

And lastly, do adaptors for Nikon F mount to Hasselblad's mount exist, so it would be possible, for example, to use the same lens for the project, for example a Zeiss 50mm f/2 Macro Milvus 2/50M?


Thanks in advance,

Kasper

[Bob Foster]

Hello Kasper,

The flange focal distance of the Nikon F mount is 46.5, the flange focal distance of the Hasselblad H mount is 61.63mm. To focus as designed the Milvus 50/2 would have to be inside of the mirror box of the H3D. A Canon mount would be slightly worse. The lens would not fit into the camera! If you were to cobble together an adapter to fit the Milvus 50/2 onto the outside of the H3D you'd have so much extension that the field of view and depth of field would, I suspect, not produce what you're looking for.. Also, the lens might work better reversed - that would put you even further away from the sensor. There's another issue- this lens does not have a built in shutter: see below.

If I recall correctly the H3D does not have what we today call an electronic shutter. Use of lenses without a built in shutter would, at best, be problematic. If you really wanted to do so, the digital back of the H3D can be used as a view camera with some Schneider (or other) lenses intended for this type of use. You'd need to purchase a view camera onto which you would fit the digital back and the lens of your choice. Also, you could look at a Hasselblad V series lens- the CF 120 Makro Planar or the CF 135mm Nakto Planar lenses. The 120 Would need an adapter, the 135 is strictly a bellows lens.

With the Hasselblad H3D the simplest option is the HC 120mm macro lens.  While optically a bit superior to the older version of this lens the newer version is considerably more expensive.

I saw your posts over on the Nikon Gear forum. Were I in your situation I'd purchase the 55mm f3.5 micro nikkor lens in the AI or AI retrofitted version. Use of a NON-AI lens on a D3 is likely to jam or break the aperture coupling tab. Purchase a copy that includes the M or M2 extension- this will give you full 1:1 capability. Old as this lens is it is fully capable of matching everything that the sensor in the D3 can offer.

Bob

[kasperbergholt]

Hello Kasper,

The flange focal distance of the Nikon F mount is 46.5, the flange focal distance of the Hasselblad H mount is 61.63mm. To focus as designed the Milvus 50/2 would have to be inside of the mirror box of the H3D. A Canon mount would be slightly worse. The lens would not fit into the camera! If you were to cobble together an adapter to fit the Milvus 50/2 onto the outside of the H3D you'd have so much extension that the field of view and depth of field would, I suspect, not produce what you're looking for.. Also, the lens might work better reversed - that would put you even further away from the sensor. There's another issue- this lens does not have a built in shutter: see below.

If I recall correctly the H3D does not have what we today call an electronic shutter. Use of lenses without a built in shutter would, at best, be problematic. If you really wanted to do so, the digital back of the H3D can be used as a view camera with some Schneider (or other) lenses intended for this type of use. You'd need to purchase a view camera onto which you would fit the digital back and the lens of your choice. Also, you could look at a Hasselblad V series lens- the CF 120 Makro Planar or the CF 135mm Nakto Planar lenses. The 120 Would need an adapter, the 135 is strictly a bellows lens.

With the Hasselblad H3D the simplest option is the HC 120mm macro lens.  While optically a bit superior to the older version of this lens the newer version is considerably more expensive.

I saw your posts over on the Nikon Gear forum. Were I in your situation I'd purchase the 55mm f3.5 micro nikkor lens in the AI or AI retrofitted version. Use of a NON-AI lens on a D3 is likely to jam or break the aperture coupling tab. Purchase a copy that includes the M or M2 extension- this will give you full 1:1 capability. Old as this lens is it is fully capable of matching everything that the sensor in the D3 can offer.

Bob

Thak you very much for the reply & analysis. A lot of things I can see I hadn't taken into consideration, so it could have ended up an expensive & failed project!

Regadring your last point, does this mean that the Zeiss Milvus 50mm 2.0 macro is non-AI?

[Bob Foster]

I do not own a 50mm f2 Milvus Makro. However the 360° view of this lens on the B&H website very clearly shows the characteristic AI cut in the aperture ring. All of the Zeiss lenses that I do have that are made for use on the Nikon F mount are AI compatible.

[kasperbergholt]

I do not own a 50mm f2 Milvus Makro. However the 360° view of this lens on the B&H website very clearly shows the characteristic AI cut in the aperture ring. All of the Zeiss lenses that I do have that are made for use on the Nikon F mount are AI compatible.

Thank you the reply & for looking up the Milvus. Does this mean that it'll work in full AI-mode with an appropriate converter ring? And more question - will this change the 55mm zoom factor or minimum focusing distance?

Thanks again,

Kasper

[Bob Foster]

Kasper,

The Zeiss Milvus 50mm f2 Macro lens will work splendidly on your Nikon D3. No adapter ring is needed there. Given the technology in the D3 I doubt that the Milvus will provide substantially superior results to a Nikon Micro Nikkor 55mm f3.5 that has been converted to AI configuration. This old Nikkor is available on the second hand market at far less than the Milvus.

Insofar as use of any Nikon F mount lens on a Hasselblad H3D goes almost all commercially available adapters are made to allow infinity focus; this isn't possible with any Nikon F mount lens on the H3D. If you were to find, make, or have made a minimum length conversion ring the distance from the lens flange to the sensor of the H3D (allowing 3 to 5mm thickness for the mounting of the lens to seat on) your flange focal distance would be roughly 68 to 70mm. If your H3D has the common 39Mp sensor I'd estimate a field of view of roughly 200 X 150mm with the lens focused at infinity.

Though the double Gauss/Planar lens design is relatively forgiving in image quality when used for close ups, it is a fact that all major manufacturers of macro lenses using the basic design have produced a variant specifically calculated for closeup and macro work. Given that the Milvus 50mm f2 macro is a very substantial revision of Clark's double Gauss and Rudolf's Planar I won't speculate on the image quality you might be able to obtain as the Milvus, unlike a true Planar design, is an internal focusing (floating element) lens. I will state that it is usually the case that internal focusing lenses perform best when used within the parameters that they were designed to work within- that's not the case here. As for the Micro Nikkor I tried it on my X2D. This is a unit focusing lens, that is it simply extends as you focus closer and closer to your subject. Granted, the sensor of the X2D is similar in size to the 31Mp version of the H3D, and smaller than the 39Mp version (X2D 32.9 X 43.8mm, H3D 31Mp 33.1Mp 33.1 X 44.2mm, and H3D 36.8 X 49.1mm). I observed minimal vignetting on the X2D with the aperture wide open, this disappeared entirely at f8 at approximately 1:3 reproduction ratio. With any unit focusing lens the farther the lens is from the image sensor (the closer it is to the subject) the image circle grows in size.

If I were to shoot your project with the cameras you have I'd consider the Micro Nikkor 55mm f3.5 (AI converted) for your Nikon D3 and an HC 120mm f4 Hasselblad Macro II lens for the H3D. There would be no point to purchasing the "orange dot" version of this lens for use with your H3D as the features incorporated in that version won't work on your H3D. Lenses of the HC 120mm f4 Macro II made prior to the introduction of the "orange dot" variant are optically identical, will function with your H3D, and are substantially less expensive. The first version of this lens (HC 120mm f4 Macro) - note that there is no "II"- has a significant chromatic aberration issue. With patience it should be possible to find very good used copies of the Micro Nikkor 55mm f3.5 and the Hasselblad HC 120 Macro II lenses for what you'd pay for a new Milvus.

Bob