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Hasselblad SWC

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 10:38 am
by drmoss_ca
The SWC, or Super Wide Camera, is a strange beast. A fixed Zeiss Biogon 38mm lens, with a maximum aperture of f4.5, and the mirror box found in the middle of a Hassie is gone. It takes the usual film holders on the back end. You set your exposure on the lens in the usual fashion - it has a built-in leaf shutter, guess the focus, relying somewhat on the large depth of field of such a wide angle lens (38mm is about 21mm in 135 terms; roughly a 90ยบ view) and frame with a separate finder mounted on top.

Not mine, but similar:
Image

Results on home developed FujiPro400H:
Image

Pleasingly sharp. If only the sun would come out I'd go for a walk with it.

C.

Re: Hasselblad SWC

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 11:38 am
by CMur12
Being a fan of square format and something of a purist, I have always coveted this Hasselblad. With no mirror box and greatly reduced back-focus, you know it's a true wide-angle and not a retro-focus design. I suppose one could use an auxiliary rangefinder for exact focus, though there might not be another accessory shoe to attach it directly to the camera.

- Murray

Re: Hasselblad SWC

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 12:59 pm
by drmoss_ca
If you have enough light to use f16, the hyperfocal method gives you something like 3ft to infinity. I had to zone focus for the shot above as it was dull and I was using f8/30th sec. I believe a ground glass back was made for it (take of the film back and attach the GG, focus and swap for film back). OK if using a tripod and working as for LF. I think I'll be happy to rely on some guesswork and the DOF to keep me out of trouble.

I remember my father having a little auxiliary rangefinder in a leather case that had a foot to go in a shoe. About 3" base, and the distance to be read off a dial on the back. It might have been this one, although I think it had round objective windows rather than the rectangular ones of this model Telex.

Image

Chris

Re: Hasselblad SWC

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 2:11 pm
by brothers
drmoss_ca wrote: . . . the hyperfocal method gives you something like 3ft to infinity . . . Image
Chris
This would be my favorite, as I know very little about all of the alternatives, other than some apparently require focusing on specific zones and leaving the remainder out of focus, near and far.

Re: Hasselblad SWC

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:07 pm
by drmoss_ca
Gary,
Many photographers love selective focus, where the depth of field of acceptable sharpness is quite narrow. Longer focal length lenses and larger apertures help to attain this look. View cameras, where the board upon which the lens is mounted and the back into which a sheet or plate of film is inserted, even allow you to do insane things with that narrow plane of focus by radically altering the distance of each side, or top and bottom, of the lens from the film plane. Read all about the Scheimpflug Principle and you'll understand all. But that isn't what this camera is about. A very wide angle lens and a modest aperture ensure that focussing will be acceptable even by pure guesswork. It's for landscapes, and perhaps for imaginative uses in other areas such as portraits. This interests me, as with this wide a lens you have to get close to your subject, and getting close to a face means distorting things. It can be done and I will try to learn.
This isn't my photo (credit: srw on getdpi.com), but isn't it spectacular?
Image

C.

Re: Hasselblad SWC

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2015 7:13 am
by drmoss_ca
Image
Bridge in snow by chrism229, on Flickr

Image
Caboose by chrism229, on Flickr

Didn't get the contrast right - I shouldn't have believed the meter which was influenced by snow and bright skies.

C.

Re: Hasselblad SWC

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2015 6:35 pm
by brothers
drmoss_ca wrote:Gary,
Many photographers love selective focus, where the depth of field of acceptable sharpness is quite narrow. Longer focal length lenses and larger apertures help to attain this look. View cameras, where the board upon which the lens is mounted and the back into which a sheet or plate of film is inserted, even allow you to do insane things with that narrow plane of focus by radically altering the distance of each side, or top and bottom, of the lens from the film plane. Read all about the Scheimpflug Principle and you'll understand all. But that isn't what this camera is about. A very wide angle lens and a modest aperture ensure that focussing will be acceptable even by pure guesswork. It's for landscapes, and perhaps for imaginative uses in other areas such as portraits. This interests me, as with this wide a lens you have to get close to your subject, and getting close to a face means distorting things. It can be done and I will try to learn.
This isn't my photo (credit: srw on getdpi.com), but isn't it spectacular?
Image

C.
Yes, spectacular indeed!

Re: Hasselblad SWC

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 4:09 pm
by drmoss_ca
Here's a pretty one - the sea had been rough and churned up all the red sand, making it look maroon. Then the red spray had frozen on the rocks covering them with pink ice:

Image
Cape John 3 by chrism229, on Flickr
Hasselblad SWC, Portra 400, Unicolor presskit, Nikon 9000 scan.

Chris