120mm f4 macro v1 vs v2

[ghoonk]

I recently acquired a H4D-31 and have been very impressed with the performance over my previous MFD system, an AFD II with Aptus 65 back.

I've been looking at the 120mm f/4 macro lens and have found that there are two versions, with the newer one having just launched last year.

Aside from the usually press releases, I haven't actually found any discussions between the two, and am contemplating the purchase of a version 1 lens for USD2.2k.

Does anyone in this forum have any experience with the two, and given that I shoot only semi-professionally, how much difference is there between the two versions?

 

[fotografz]

The new HC120/4-II is touted to be more of a tweak than a major redesign of the already very good HC120/4. Slightly better in the corners from reports I've encountered.

I seriously doubt that the difference will be obvious when using a 31 meg digital back ...because it is a crop frame sensor, so the corners are not to the edge of the lens coverage.

Some of the older Hasselblad lenses have been redesigned or tweaked in order to match the more stringent demands of the newer 50MS and 60 meg digital backs ... especially the H4D/60 which is just a hair shy of a full 645 sized senor, so corner performance of lenses becomes more critical.

The aging HC150 was the first to be tweaked, and is now called HC150N. The HC50 was more than a tweak and the HC50-II is considerably improved.

Hasselblad needs to address their older HC35 to round out the lens improvements.

The newer lenses like the HCD/28 and HCD35-90 perform very well on all the backs because they were NOT throw overs from the film age, but instead new ground up designs for digital capture.

-Marc

 

[ghoonk]

One of the benefits of a crop frame sensor, I guess - getting to use the sweet spot of the lens.

Given my H4D-31, I'd venture a guess that corner sharpness with a 28 wouldn't be much of a problem either since approx 30% of the corners are lost from the crop factor anyway

 

[Thomas73]

Any other experiences? I have the opportunity to get a nice used v1 but am still wondering if I should not get the latest one in order to be up-to-date for future digital bodies (even though I am still using a H1 but will surely take the plunge into digital someday!).

 

[fotografz]

Any other experiences? I have the opportunity to get a nice used v1 but am still wondering if I should not get the latest one in order to be up-to-date for future digital bodies (even though I am still using a H1 but will surely take the plunge into digital someday!).

Well, I use a H4D/60 with the 120/4 Macro version One and it is razor sharp so I'm not sure how much gain there may be ... I suppose if I used a H4D/200 MS there may be some benefit.

Sometimes lenses get redesigned because of component changes and new suppliers ... who knows. I think if you are buying new, then why not get the newer version? However, the price difference between a used version 1 and a new version 2 may not be worth it.

-Marc