THE HASSELBLAD 110MM PLANAR ARRIVES

The pictures in this entry are the first quick snaps with the Hasselblad 110mm F2 Planar on the Canon 1Ds Mark III to get a feel for the lens. The lens should be used on a medium format set-up to show off its expanded FOV and shallow DOF, but I know the Contax 100mm F2 Planar very well and it is a good frame of reference to start with. Looking at these first images I cannot say if the Hasselblad is any better than the Contax 100mm F2 Planar. The Hasselblad seems as capable. This is the Hasselblad 110mm F2 Fifth Generation and they sell for $2000-$3,000 in the secondhand market. A mint condition Contax 100mm F2 Planar is $1,000, so I am wondering what the extra money buys. On the medium format side, it buys an F2 aperture and fast aperture medium format lenses are a rarity (or a bit of a novelty depending on who you ask).

SOME DIFFERENCES

Compared to the Contax 100mm F2 Planar (which is for Contax / Yashica 35mm SLRs), the Hasselblad 110mm Planar lens is bigger with about 20% more length and 20% more weight. The Hasselblad’s aperture ring turns in the opposite direction (stopping down is counter-clockwise), but there is an aperture preset button. The lens is set to the desired aperture, and then before taking the picture a button is pushed / slid and the lens stops down to the preset aperture. It is a a pretty slick feature. Some other manual lenses have this feature as well (Olympus I think). The Hasselblad 110mm still works in regular stop down fashion like a Contax C/Y lens, so either method works.

The focus ring has about 2X more travel (throw) compared to the Contax 100mm Planar, so fine tuning focus on the Hasselblad is easier. But the flip side of that is - getting from infinity to portrait distances takes some steering. The focus ring is nicely dampened and gushes German build quality. The whole lens gushes der German uber build quality - and it should considering the price. Hasselblad lenses tend to have stiffer focus rings, in part because these are moving a big chunk of optical mass. But some of these lenses are getting older and in need of CLA’s.

I feel the Contax 100mm Planar is a bit sharper wide open, but that can be a red herring sometimes. F2 seldom has enough depth of field for the subject to fully develop into a large test / comparison area. In the case of portraits, one eye may be in focus while the other eye is not. With the Contax 100mm Planar I have been learning that with careful composition I can shoot F4 to F5.6, have plenty of DOF for the subject and still have a nicely blurred the background to varying degrees. F2 is always a temptation. While the Contax 100mm may have the edge wide open in terms of sharpness, F2 does come with a fair amount of light fall off in the corners. The Hasselblad being a 645 lens has a much larger image circle with essentially no light fall off on the 1Ds3. The sample images on this page had vignetting added in via Photoshop.

The Hasselblad 110mm Planar renders pleasing gradients. Its color palette is slightly different than the Contax 100mm F2 Planar. The color seems perhaps a bit more neutral. There is a nice balance between red-green-blue. At F2 the lens is reasonably sharp, but I am not particularly blown away by its performance. There is alot of internet hype surrounding this lens, so I am wondering how much the performance is really there vs forum chatter.

THE LONG TERM PLAN

The Hasselblad 110mm F2 Planar was part of a medium format plan with the Phase One P25, so I do not know if I will  keep it over the Contax 100/2 Planar. The Mamiya 645AFD II plus the Phase One P25 plus the Hasselblad 110mm Planar combine to make an absolutely gigantic camera. This does seem like a kit I to walk around with for pleasure. With the Phase One P25’s base ISO of 50, finding enough light is difficult. To offset for the reduced ISO, I bought a lens with a faster aperture. But I know see that all the added weight will complicate matters - such as increase lens / camera shake. Also, the quality of the Chinese-made Hasselblad / Mamiya adapter (purchased via Ebay) is not reassuring.

The Contax 100mm Planar has been a stellar lens and I am perfectly happy to continue using it on the Canon 1Ds Mark III. There is a showdown of sorts. Mentally I am leaning towards selling the Phase One kit. With the 1Ds Mark III here, something has to go. Either the 1Ds Mark III gets returned, or the Phase One P25 gets sold. That said, the Hasselblad will get its fair chance. I am alittle worried that I might find some reasons to keep the Phase One P25 and that would create one big pickle of a problem. Financially I cannot justify having both the Canon 1Ds Mark III and Phase One P25 set-up.