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1600F + Tessar 80mm lens - first impressions

Hello Ulrik,

That is an excellent idea.
Lets pick a location half way between Europe and Australia.

My knowledge if topography is quite limited but the Cote d'Azur or the Italian Riviera seem good suggestions.

Paul
 
Paul,
half way is more something like India, Pakistan or Oman. Reminds me of a book in my shelf, "In the footsteps of the Camel" by Eleanor Nicholson. It describes a journey in Eastern Saudi Arabia. A trip untertaken with the very finest British cars (Landrovers) und documented with Sweden's finest camera (Hasselblad 1600F). Would suit me well!

Ulrik
 
Hallo Ulrik,

I knew I could count on FUC members who have spent a few more days at school than I have.
Come to think of it I spent quite a lot of time there.
I had a very thorough education; I doubled all my classes!

The writer of the book " In the footsteps of the camel" must have been a confused person.
How can you follow a camel while driving a mundane vehicle like a Landrover?

Now I have to find a three sided coin to determine the place for the next meeting.
India, Pakistan or Oman do not sound very attractive in these days of unstable relations.

Maybe we better wait for the hoods. All that bright sunlight is certainly going to be a problem without proper hoods.

Paul
 
Calling my vehicle "mundane" is certainly the killer joke for those who know it.

Waiting for the hoods is an excellent plan!

Ulrik
 
Hm.. the good thing about taking an early HB with a Landrover into the sticks is that at least you can use one item out of your toolkit for both: the small plastic hammer. :z04_Flucht:

(Yes, they really used plastic hammers to align the camera bodies in Gothenburg)

Hmm. But maybe a proper sledgehammer would fit the Laro better after all.


Wilko
 
It does not surprise me that tools from a Landrover come in handy with early Hasselblads that give trouble.
Victor found his early staff in a workshop for clock repairs. He also had a few car mechanics on the first payroll.

Keep in mind David Knapman, senior repairman and trainer of many good Hasselblad technicians, also services his own cars.
It is a one way system though: do not take your camera to a garage to be serviced.
Chances are they will put an automatic gearbox in, but the camera can not be used anymore to take pictures with.
 
Latest news concerning the hoods . I could aquire a KODAK seriesVII original hood . It seems to be for the EKTAR 2,8/80 mm lens .
I dont have one . So there are two chances : either one of you , who has that EKTAR lens sells it to me or I give my hood to the national trust . Pollution !!
 
Hope that I'm not too late to partcipate in this new hood development plan. I would like to add on a request for lenshood for the 80mm, 135mm, and the 250mmF5.6 lens.

Speaking about 3rd party lenses adapted for the 1600/1000F, I have a CZJ 180mm Pre-Set Olympia Sonnar, 52mm Kalimar, 135mm Meyer, and a Schneider 105mmF3.5.

I can try to take a digital photo of the lenses and post it here for all to view.
 
Jürgen,
I am the representative of the National Trust in this area. So you can send the hood to me. In exchange I could offer the hood for the Zeiss 135 mm lens. At the moment I have only one 80 mm Ektar here. A second will come after it has received a comprehensive CLA. But I am afraid, I had no plans of selling it (1000F cameras with Tessar lenses are in good supply though). But I would be willing to lend it to you so that you can test/enjoy using it .

Gentlemen, the tools needed for my old Landrover are a spray can of WD40 oil, an assortment of spanners with a long lever, rivet pliers and a really heavy hammer. You may use them on Ukrainian cameras but certainly not on a Hasselblad.

Automatic gearbox in a 1600F sounds tempting, maybe I can find some spare parts for the ill 1600F in the Range Rover wreck that I produced.

Ulrik
 
Ulrik

Do you know , that people who own more than one EKTAR 2,8/80 are either forced to sell that lens or that they have to pay 1000 € into the FUC fond .
So you should make up your mind .:z04_2171:

Yes , I am willing to exchange the hood . I will send you a PM . O.K. ?

Regards Jürgen .
 
Gentlemen, the tools needed for my old Landrover are a spray can of WD40 oil, an assortment of spanners with a long lever, rivet pliers and a really heavy hammer. You may use them on Ukrainian cameras but certainly not on a Hasselblad.

Automatic gearbox in a 1600F sounds tempting, maybe I can find some spare parts for the ill 1600F in the Range Rover wreck that I produced.

Ulrik

Hello Ulrik,

I always wondered what those heavy tools in the camera workshop were meant for.
The mystery is explained they are suitable for K... cameras and Landrovers.
I imagine a spraycan of WD 40 may be a great help too with K... cameras.

Paul
 
Hello Evan,

No problem to put you on the list. Please state which hood(s) you are interested in.
Production has yet to start for the hoods.

If all is going according plan there will be two hoods:
One for the 60-80 mm lenses, the other for the 135-250 mm.
It is tempting to produce a special hood for the 250 as the 135 is obviously too short to do its work effectively.

The same situation exists for the current range of hoods:
Only one hood for 100-250 mm lenses.
For now only exact copies of original hoods are planned.

Paul
 
Gentlemen another example of the Tessar 80mm f2.8 lens' nice imaging:

The late afternoon I shaw this I instantly ran for the 1600F - says something doesn't it?

I am now seeing that this lens has excellent colour attributes as well - between the lens and NPH the colour is exactly as I saw it.

This was shot with Fujifilm NPH 400 at 1/100 sec @ f5.6 with the 1600F and the Tessar 80mm f2.8.
 

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Simon, you sure are getting used to your 1600F camera.
Nice shot that shows these older cameras can still produce excellent images.

Latest acquisition: a near mint 135 mm Sonnar with hood.
The hood is not the correct one for the 135 mm lens it is for the 60-80 CZ lenses.
Found at a small camera fair that I visited in Antwerp.
It is the first original hood for these early lenses I found in years.
The lens is welcome too of course.

One of the visitors managed to upset a punter by trying to fit an ugly Chinese
repro hood to a beautiful 50 mm CF FLE lens to check fitting.
It turned out all right. He bought some gear but did not understand lenses are
for sale and not to be used as test objects for Chinese junk.

Paul
 
Paul,

I will take (1) lens hood for the 80mm Tessar, (1) lenshood for the 135mm Sonnar, and (1) lenshood for the 250mmF5.6 Sonnar.

I have a Series 7 lenshood (not sure if its the correct one) that I'm currently using on my 1000F. I will try to shot ajpeg of it this weekend and post it.
 
Thanks Paul. Around that time until late last week we had the most amazing and beautiful skies leading up to sunset. While driving home in a westerly direction I saw the best "fire-ball" sun I have ever seen - crimson/orange colours that burst all over the sky. I'm lucky because my apartment is on the 12th floor with an unobscured view down the river to the western horizon. So I see every pre-sunset, sunset and post sunset burst.

Back to the 1600F, yes I have been intensively using it ever since she arrived from Saint Nikolaus during his German stop-over! :) I feel I am getting to know her very well and am DELIGHTED with her performance.

In fact I have formed the view that the Tessar 80mm has excellent overall performance measuring up to more modern current 80mm lenses - I say this in the full knowledge that the Tessar may not "technically" have the same performance in all areas of optical design, glass and coatings. BUT TO MY EYES in a print or on a light box, what I can see is every bit as good as others available now.

So, I actually wonder what it is about the Planar design in the current CZ
Planar CFE 80mm lens that too the 80mm lens to new heights?

Maybe my slide test of both lenses side by side will gave me some answers! :)

My first time user report on the 1600F and its parts (especially the Tessar) is turning into a book!!! Oh well, its interesting to me at least. So I plan to post it on my web site and just put a link in this thread for those who are interested.

Actually I will be interested to hear from you long time 1600F "lovers" what you think of my comments and if you agree.
 
@ Evan,

I know it is a confusing business also due to the fact that Hasselblad combines hoods for several focal lenghts.
As is the case now for hoods only one hood is available for both the 135 and the 250 mm lenses.
For the current CFE/CFi lenses ranging from 100 till 250 mm Hasselblad only supplies one hood.

The other hood is for the 60mm Distagon and the 80 mm Tessar lenses.
I have thought about having a longer hood reproduced for the 250 Tessar lens.
I think it is not very sensible to leave the path Hasselblad has laid down and actually still follows.
To cover the range from 60mm till 250 mm only two hoods are necessary.
As soon as a price for the reprohoods is available I will announce the news.

@ Simon,

The Tessar is a very decent lens that is still capable to produce good pictures.
When used with full aperture the Planar will probably beat the Tessar lens.
To me that is not an important consideration.
I like to old fashioned look these older lenses give when used wide open.
The early Sonnar 135 is not very different in this respect from the later 150.

It is a pleasure to read your comments about the trip you are making back in time to enjoy early Hasselblad cameras.
To feel a sample of this important piece of camera history in your hands and to take pictures with it is quite special.
I am glad after an initially unsure start with the 1600F Hasselblad released the 1000F camera.
Most 1000F cameras can be put right with a lot of TLC and will function quite well.
I bought one for spares. This camera was dismantled and spend more then ten years in a gardenshed.
I delivered this box of parts to my tech to look for any parts that could improve my other 1000F cameras.
Two weeks later I got the message the box of parts had become a rather handsome camera again.
Only a couple of small screws were missing.
No matter how bad these 1000Fs look, how badly they were treated most wil happily start a new life after they have been serviced.

Paul
 
Thanks Paul. I also endorse your comments. 2 things struck me in regard to "vintage cameras":

1. When I first bought one or two classic models (mainly because I thought their industrial design was superb) I naturally enough cleaned them up and decided to take them out an use them. This awakened me to the fact that theses were very good cameras - nice to use and produced good images.

From that day on I became very keen on the "old folks" but not for the same reason of sitting on shelves as a nice object - rather to actually use them. My purpose changed significantly from that experience.

2. So when Jurgen so kindly enabled me to "get my hands around" the 1600F, my purpose was to enjoy using it. But having used it and seen the image quality etc., I realised that not only was the 1600F better in use than just to sit on a shelf; but, I was privileged to be using a wonderful piece of photographic industry. The camera model where it all began - where the brilliant concept Victor Hasselblad invented started; the very beginning of one of the great brands in commerce.

So, since I first bought (for $20) and used an old classic camera I moved from thinking of them as an "ornament" to seeing them as capable user cameras. And now I have a great piece of industrial design; I have the most revered original MF camera; I have an iconic piece of history in many ways - the 1600F.

Funnily, where you mention the box of parts, I was reminded that one of my favourite old classics is a pre-WWII Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 6x9 with a Zeiss Lens. It looks like a bomb was dropped on it; but, the 6x9 images are a joy.
 
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