203FE Upgrade

[evanjoe610]

Carsten,

If I plan to use a digital back to get the most bang for my buck, I would probably look at the CF or the CF-MS back. I guess that's going to set me back a few pennies!! I believe that adapter plates are also available for the CF and CF-MS backs.


Evan

I think that the CFV is the only back for which the above-mentioned modification helps, and it will only fit Hasselblad V cameras. You will need a Phase, Leaf or Sinar back for use on these cameras. Probably the Sinar makes most sense here, since a Hasselblad cannot use Contax-mount backs and vice versa, to my knowledge. The Sinar uses user-changeable adapters.

 

[CarstenW]

Carsten,

If I plan to use a digital back to get the most bang for my buck, I would probably look at the CF or the CF-MS back. I guess that's going to set me back a few pennies!! I believe that adapter plates are also available for the CF and CF-MS backs.

True... but they are disproportionately expensive for their size and performance.

 

[jotloob]

True... but they are disproportionately expensive for their size and performance.

Carsten
True enough . I have the impression , that HASSELBLAD does not want to sell them and therefore keeps the price so high .

Jürgen

 

[Thomas73]

I'm thinking that I might upgrade my 503CW to a 203FE. I'll be using it with a CFV back. Does anyone know currently how much the data connector upgrade costs and how long it takes? I'm in the UK.

Hi Pete,

I hesitated to do the same move for my 203FE 2 years ago as it was sent to Hasselblad in Goteborg for repair (I live in France and the Hasselblad technical service here did not provide the upgrade : I was said it was performed in Sweden only).

The cost at that moment was 300€.

Finally, I did not take the upgrade because I did not want to lose the ISO setting transfer between E back & the body, which is one of the keypoints of the 200 series and I simply appreciate it.

Moreover, I wondered if the use of a digital back on a manual-focus body was appropriate... My Hasselblad dealer told me the focus needs to be absolutely perfect to get full performances from the digital back...

So, I still use films!

The day I will wish to go digital, either I go for a second V-series body (203FE or 503CW) and have it upgraded or I switch to the H system (H2 since it is the latest one that remains 'hydrid' with full compatibility with film & digital backs).

Regards.

 

[Pete_G]

Hi Pete,

I hesitated to do the same move for my 203FE 2 years ago as it was sent to Hasselblad in Goteborg for repair (I live in France and the Hasselblad technical service here did not provide the upgrade : I was said it was performed in Sweden only).

The cost at that moment was 300€.

Finally, I did not take the upgrade because I did not want to lose the ISO setting transfer between E back & the body, which is one of the keypoints of the 200 series and I simply appreciate it.

Moreover, I wondered if the use of a digital back on a manual-focus body was appropriate... My Hasselblad dealer told me the focus needs to be absolutely perfect to get full performances from the digital back...

So, I still use films!

The day I will wish to go digital, either I go for a second V-series body (203FE or 503CW) and have it upgraded or I switch to the H system (H2 since it is the latest one that remains 'hydrid' with full compatibility with film & digital backs).

Regards.

Thomas,

I think at the moment the costs involved in changing from my 503CW to the 203FE are just too much, it is probably something I will try to do a little later on. I use my CFV back almost exclusively, so the loss of data transfer between the body and the E back (which I don't have anyway) is not an issue for me. Many people are working quite happily with digital backs and the V series, so you should not be put off.

I find that manual focus is no problem with the CFV back; of course, inaccurate focussing is not recommended. I am not interested much in auto focus, preferring to do things manually, this is part of the process of taking photographs and a big reason why I'm using the V series rather than a more modern solution.

The main advantage, for me, of the 203FE is: an instant return mirror, shutter speed up to 2000th of a second and built in TTL metering, and the possibility of using FE lenses - none of these will necessarily improve my shots however, so I'm holding off on the expenditure for now.

 

[fotografz]

Just a few points of clarification.

Other digital backs with a V mount will work on a 200 series camera using the sync feature ... however, the shutter speeds are limited to 1/90th or slower.

Sinar and Hasselblad both make stand alone backs that use adapters to mount them on a broad range of MF cameras, as well as technical and view cameras.

They tend to be a bit pricey because there is less demand for them, and they aren't bundled with a camera. Hasselbald is not a camera company any longer ... its a digital back maker that also offers it's own camera system for reasons that are easy to figure out.