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Trying to decide on three lens setup...

A

Altsir49

New Member
Hello all

Glad to see a dedicated MF forum!

I am transitioning from a lifetime of using Nikon cameras as a hobby, right now trading a D850 Df and Leica q3 plus 10 lenses in for a new set up.

Most of the stuff I do is Macro and portraits, some street, and occasionally landscape and wildlife. I got fed up with the bulky souless DSLR setup and decided I wanted something closer to my Leica Q3. I rented the m11 and it wasn't for me, so here I am after some considerable research and giving this some thought:

I just bought an Olympus OM1 with the exceptional 2:1 Macro 90mm and 80-800 pro lenses, the fact that micro four thirds doubles the reach makes it perfect for my uses in Macro and wildlife. That's covered.

The H2D 100c plus 3 lenses, a wide for landscapes, a medium for street, and very importantly a portrait lens which will allow me to have great separation between by subjects and the environment both in the field and in the studio.

Which 3 lenses aoykd you recomend? I am somewhat confused by the new XCD V lenses, does having an integrated shutter mean better focus? Is the bokeh enhanced?

For the landscape lens, I will only be using on a tripod and at a more open aperture, so speed and bokeh don't really matter. Quality and colour do.

For the portrait lens, I am looking for something that will make my subjects look as good as possible, I photograph finicky ladies... separation also important and quality of the bokeh out in the field.

For the street lens, really not sure what I am looking for here in the medium format world. I usualy shoot street with a 35 mm lens as I was taught but very open to trying new perspectives, what matters is the ability to go from shooting a scene to capturing people in a moment, having good auto focus is very important here, plus strong separatetion and great bokeh and colours.

Very much appreciate your thoughts on the 3 lenses! As well as an overview of what V and P stands for?
 
While a DSLR setup is indeed soulless, your X2D is going to be a lot bulkier and a LOOOOT slower than your nikon system. While it's possible to do street photos with one your hit ratio is going to be a fraction of what it is with a DSLR, so be prepared for that. The integrated shutter means you can use it with flash and you don't have to use the electronic shutter. The electronic shutter on the hasselblad is TERRIBLE, it takes about 1 second to save an image, so the camera and subject have to be rock steady for 1 second to keep the image from distorting. The integrated shutter is the real/official way to use the X model. It has nothing to do with focus or bokeh. The integrated shutter also means you can flash sync at any speed. (Wheeeee!!!)

For your portrait lens the 135mm f 1.7: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...d_cp_hb_00000383_01_xcd_135mm_f_2_8_lens.html is the thing you're talking about.

For your street lens the 45 f 3.5 will be your best bet: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1260273-REG/hasselblad_h_3025045_xcd_45mm_lens.html

For your landscape lens you could get away with using the electronic shutter and pick up an old Mamiya 645 wide angle lens for peanuts or you could get the hasselbad 28 which is a bargain: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...ad_cp_hb_00000830_01_28mm_f_4_0_xcd_lens.html

good luck!! Welcome!!!!
 
Thank you for your insight and suggestions!

I do realize the Hassy will be slow, although I am somewhat intimidated by the fact the system is designed for a far more experienced photographer with a lot more time to practice, I am willing to keep a fraction of my pictures. I currently have a Leica Q and a Nikon D850, on a trip I would end up with hundreds of D850 pictures but would only keep 10, and they would be so so, whearas with the Leica I would have tens, keep five, and the five would be very good. I suspect with the Hasselblad I might only end up with one usable picture that's in focus and as intended ( at least untill I get the hang of it) but I am hoping it will be stellar and worth it.
Sounds like learning to manual focus is a must with this system!


By the way, the official website claims that the integrated shutter in the lens is what guarantees " the Hasselblad six pointed bokeh"
 
The auto focus on the Hassy lenses is fine, you won't be able to manually focus faster, but your Leica and your Nikon probably focus twice as fast. (I've no idea who counts the edges of bokeh balls. I think as long as it's relatively smooth nobody who matters much cares. The real bonus of that leaf shutter is the flash which, if you do daylight balanced flash is ahhhamazing to have.)

Another thing you could do is rent an X from lensrentals.com for a week and try it out. Or see if there's someone on this group who lives near you -- if so someone will be delighted to go for a walk with you, let you take a bunch of photos, sip coffee and talk about camera nerd stuff they never get a chance to talk about otherwise. Your Q is probably pretty much top of the game as a street photo camera. The hasselblad shines in landscapes and in big portraits.
 
Like others here that I know, I’m a Nikon user too. Z8 and numerous z lenses.
However, I love using my X2D. It came with the adventure kit lenses, tne XCD 4/21 and XCD 45p.
i have sold the 45p in favour of the XCD 38v and XCD 55v. Superb lenses, and these two, with the 4/21 do allow me to shoot everything I need, bar animals, birds etc….anything fast or long, my Z8 handles.
 
KyleCassidy said:
The auto focus on the Hassy lenses is fine, you won't be able to manually focus faster, but your Leica and your Nikon probably focus twice as fast. (I've no idea who counts the edges of bokeh balls. I think as long as it's relatively smooth nobody who matters much cares. The real bonus of that leaf shutter is the flash which, if you do daylight balanced flash is ahhhamazing to have.)

Another thing you could do is rent an X from lensrentals.com for a week and try it out. Or see if there's someone on this group who lives near you -- if so someone will be delighted to go for a walk with you, let you take a bunch of photos, sip coffee and talk about camera nerd stuff they never get a chance to talk about otherwise. Your Q is probably pretty much top of the game as a street photo camera. The hasselblad shines in landscapes and in big portraits.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the insight
 
Oh, another thing about manual focus with hasselblad lenses, it's focus-by-wire so you can spin the X lenses as much as you want in either direction and not hit a stop, which makes manually focusing with them a pain because there's no distance scale and you can't find infinity by the stop. I'm sure there's a reason they did it but I don't know what it is.
 
Patrick said:
Like others here that I know, I’m a Nikon user too. Z8 and numerous z lenses.
However, I love using my X2D. It came with the adventure kit lenses, tne XCD 4/21 and XCD 45p.
i have sold the 45p in favour of the XCD 38v and XCD 55v. Superb lenses, and these two, with the 4/21 do allow me to shoot everything I need, bar animals, birds etc….anything fast or long, my Z8 handles.
Click to expand...
Sounds like you are in somewhat of a similar mindset as me.

My perfect target setup:

Hasselblad X2D with 21,and 55V

Olympus OM1 with the 90 micro and 100-400 pro lenses

Leica Q3 as a constant throw in daily bag camera

I would like to eventually get a Z8 with the 58mm 0.95 NOCT and the 85mm 1.2 instead of the portrait lens on the hasslebad. The convenience of Nikons AF for portraiture and the bokeh possibilities of the NOCT and a tripod are exciting. The added cost and loosing out on portraits on the Hassy is another thing.....


This is mostly gear lust more than actual photographic requirements, a good photographer could probably get more with an iPhone than I could with all of the above but who cares, you only live once
 
I get GAS a lot!
The Noct is awesome. Apparently the “best” lens Nikon have ever made. Of course that’s always debatable. However it‘s out of my price range.
Wait for the new Plena range….that’s exciting
 
KyleCassidy said:
Oh, another thing about manual focus with hasselblad lenses, it's focus-by-wire so you can spin the X lenses as much as you want in either direction and not hit a stop, which makes manually focusing with them a pain because there's no distance scale and you can't find infinity by the stop. I'm sure there's a reason they did it but I don't know what it is.
Click to expand...
leica did this with their SL lenses. The software controls the movement and the software just turns on with power, so the lens ring could be anywhere. Thus, the software resets the lenses and whereever the ring is, is now infinity or whatever setting. The leica S lenses were slower to focus but had real hardware connected focusing rings so there was a stop in either direction with a clutch that allowed it to turn more, but not change the focus. Presumably to prevent breaking the gears.

I like the hasselblad 38v and 55v because you can also set the f/stop ring to have another function. Note that the new v lenses (38v and 55v) pull out to manually focus and DO have a stop left and right along with a depth of field scale. Much better design.
 
I'm waiting on an X2D from a dealer, but I have the CFV II 50 and the 38v 55v and 28. I love the lens design and I am thinking about the 135 to get a longer reach for landscape (really want the 90v whenever they get the manufacturing process fixed). Anyone have experience with that lens for landscape work?
 
Altsir49 said:
Why use a long lens for landscape?
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A long lens can compress things and depending on what you want, be a totally different view. I take a lot on the coast, and sometimes I use a medium format 180 (on the Leica S) to pull the waves in with a colorful sunrise / sunset. Sometimes wide is just too wide.
 
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Thanks for the explanation. Way too advanced landscape work for me as I focus on portrait, macro, and wildlife but I am contemplating on trying my hand at landscape work. So far my Leica Q with its 28mm has been sufficient for what little casual landscapes I did and I thought getting a wide or ultra wide was in my near future, but might try to try pixel shift plus my trusted 70-200 and see how that goes.
 
Patrick said:
I get GAS a lot!
The Noct is awesome. Apparently the “best” lens Nikon have ever made. Of course that’s always debatable. However it‘s out of my price range.
Wait for the new Plena range….that’s exciting
Click to expand...
You know how I think man, I just put in an order for the Plena and the new Nikon Zf, I am very excited to use the Plena for portraits both in studio and more importantly out in the wild especially on vacation with the family at night, the ZF with its lower megapixel count will definitely yield better low light performance, I do hope. I get close enough to use that combination on a few wild animals during my next trip to Nofa Resort, the potential for wildlife will be rare but exceptional if the situation allows.


Back to medium format, has anyone used a Hasselblad or Fuji MF for wildlife? Tin Man Lee has stated he is experimenting but haven't seen anything yet
 
KyleCassidy said:
Oh, another thing about manual focus with hasselblad lenses, it's focus-by-wire so you can spin the X lenses as much as you want in either direction and not hit a stop, which makes manually focusing with them a pain because there's no distance scale and you can't find infinity by the stop. I'm sure there's a reason they did it but I don't know what it is.
Click to expand...
As a reasonably experienced photographer, you know where the infinity point approximately begins at every focal length. You can't focus in the 100% view, which is a lot easier. Focusing on this point using the viewfinder or the display should not be a special challenge.
 
With the X2D you will shoot a little differently and gravitate to using focal lengths that may be different from what you gravitate to in a smaller (or larger) format - at least that was my experience.
For me the ideal current XCD focal lengths would be 28mm, 38, 55 and 90 (or 80). My favourite portrait lenses are the 55 and 80. I have the 135mm and 21mm but never use them, but greatly enjoy the new 38 and 55mm lenses.
 
Just a note on the new Hasselblad 38v, 55v and 90v lenses. You push out the focus ring to manually focus and it has a depth of field scale as well as stops on both sides (infinity and close focus). However, the infinity allows for further focus for temperature differences.

On the X2D I focused using the eye viewfinder, clicking the back wheel took me to 100% and the lens is wide open, so picking a focus point and focusing is very, very easy. There is also a focus aid, a round circle with a triangle at the top. When the triangle is centered it turns green and the plus sign in the middle is in focus. It can be tricky in very low light (read 45seconds to 1 minute exposures at ISO 800). But overall has been pretty spot on.

Because the infinity adjustment may not be spot on, the depth of field scale I am using as a reference, but not for focus. I tried to zone focus and the infinity mark was off a few stops so I missed infinity. I probably just haven't learned the trick yet.

The f/stop ring is also customizable. I have mine set to adjust the f/stop! So after using manual lenses so long, it remains easy to switch back and forth.

This new generation of lenses is different than the older ones. I like it.
 
I’m SO tempted to get the 90v now that’s it’s started to ship. I’ve already got the 38v and 55v. As an amateur, I can’t readily justify it though.
i do love these lenses. One thing though that I don’t like is that when the X2D is set to manual focus, you can press the AF-D to initiate focus then rotate the focus ring in the lens to fine tune. When you shift the lens ring to go to manual focus, it disables this button. Such a shame. But whatever. I’ll get used to it
 
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