Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/01/26

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Subject: [Leica] finally got my R9/DMR back-yesterday
From: mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)
Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2013 18:31:22 -0500

Super duper shot!
I got my Zeiss 100mm Planar f3.5 T* Cfi  in July of 2002 a year before I got
my first digital camera a D100.
It seemed obvious to me that if this digital thing hit it would be
Hasselblad that would be riding  high as all you gotta do is put a digital
back on the darned thing and its good to go right?
Right for 40 grand.
Hasselblad was the first to go.
Mine sat for years I did take it out a few times this year and getting going
as I get my scanners going again having moved to NY.

There is a cornucopia of back options as when a back comes out its usually a
"medium format back" and fits most the medium format cameras. They even fit
the so called large format cameras and there is a real gray area between it
seems medium and large format digital.

The "crop factor" a term not used so much in digital medium format with the
Hasselblad when I checked once was 1.5x on a common back.  A number I'd
grown quite familiar with multiplying.

Hasselblad stuff got real cheap real fast then and soon after and I got all
kinds of dream Hassy goodies on top of glass. Bellows, finders and backs.
I got an A16S back  for 99 bucks which is 45x45mm and found it a nice thing
to use.
16 on a roll my 100 became the 150mm I'd used exclusively for years for
portraiture and fashion and it was like a frame line I could work in and out
of like I'd gotten used to on my Leica which I started using instead of
Nikon since 1993.
Gotta love those frame lines!
So shooting digital I imagine would be similar to using the super slide back
which I just mentioned. And works out great. Though my widest lens is a 50
at this point and I think getting  the 40 would be quite an investment on
top of the back.



On 1/26/13 5:59 PM, "Gary Benson" <bensonga at gmail.com> wrote:

> *Cedric Agie* wrote:
>> As I said before the same story goes for the many Hasselblad owners among
> us.
>> When will we see a decent digital back for our beloved 500 500CM, SWC, ELM
> etc?
>> Without having to sell everything for an even more expensive composite
> body with Fujy lenses?
>> Again it's IMACON who makes the digital backs for Hasselblad. I hope
> newcomers will appear soon.
>> I recently saw a digital back made in China or the US compatible with
> Hasselblad bodies.
>> But it is hard to find and still expensive. Again wait and see, technology
> will improve and prices will go down.
> 
> Hasselblad has made dedicated digital backs for the V-system cameras since
> at least 2006 (release of the 503CWD-16), including the the CFV-16, CFV-39
> and the latest CFV-50 (50 megapixel 6x4.5 format sensor).  I own a CFV-16 
> v2
> back and it works perfectly with my 501CM, 553EXL, 503CXi and 503CW bodies.
> Yes, I wish it was a full frame 6x6cm square sensor.....but the market for
> that is so small, I don't think we will ever see one.
> 
> So unlike Leica which dropped the R series all together, I think Hasselblad
> deserves some credit for continuing to offer a digital solution for it's
> legacy V-system owners.  I had thought about buying a DMR for my Leica R8,
> but was concerned about even getting usable batteries for the camera.  By
> contrast, my Hasselblad CFV-16 digital back uses a readily available Sony
> battery which is used on many Sony video cameras.
> 
> Phase One and Leaf also make digital backs which can be used on the 
> Hasselblad
> V-system cameras.  I have a friend who is currently using a Leaf Aptus II
> (22 megapixel, 6x4.5 format) digital back on his 501CM and getting 
> beautiful
> results.  16-22 megapixel digital backs from Phase One and Leaf can be
> found on the used market for ~$4,000 now.  My friend paid $4,500 for his
> Leaf Aptus II and it had less than 200 shots on the back.....absolutely
> perfect condition.
> 
> Here's shot from my 503CW with the CFV-16II and a 100mm f3.5 CFi lens.
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/bensonga/A0000065+Grafitti+Rocks+XXL.jpg.html
> 
> Gary Benson
> Eagle River, Alaska
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information




-- 
Mark William Rabiner
Photography
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/




Replies: Reply from afirkin at afirkin.com (afirkin at afirkin.com) ([Leica] finally got my R9/DMR back-yesterday)
In reply to: Message from bensonga at gmail.com (Gary Benson) ([Leica] finally got my R9/DMR back-yesterday)