Attention XPAN users - which lens do you shoot with the most?

[noisycheese]

I have always wondered which lens other XPAN users shoot with the most in panoramic mode.

For me, I tend to gravitate to the 45mm as my most often used lens, with the 30mm coming in second and the 90mm being my least used lens.

The 45mm seems to show up alot in photos posted here, so I suspect it is the most frequently used lens for most XPAN users.

When you vote for your most often used XPAN lens, if you would be so kind as to take a minute to make a post and rank your lenses in order of frequency of use - learning that information would be great. It would give some insight into how others are shooting in panoramic mode.

Thanks! 😉

 

[MUEvans]

45mm--about 85% of the time and 90mm about 15% of the time, all for landscape shots.

 

[GaryLH]

When I was shooting the xpan it was mostly the 30 followed by the 45 and maybe the 90 less then 10% is the way I remember it.

Gary

 

[IanBiggar]

45 then 30 and least of all the 90
Ian

 

[didjiman]

YES 🙂

OK, 45/30/90 but I would not give up any of them.

 

[maddoc]

45mm but I only own that lens ...

 

[taemo]

i only own the 45mm, i've thought about getting the 90mm but I decided not to for now as I didn't find the need with most of my shots.

 

[aeturnum]

I've found my copy of the 90mm lens produces pretty poor results, but this may just be my bad luck.

I would love to use the 30mm lens, but it costs considerably more (2x as much?) than my X-Pan I and all the non-30mm lenses.

 

[noisycheese]

I've found my copy of the 90mm lens produces pretty poor results, but this may just be my bad luck.

I would love to use the 30mm lens, but it costs considerably more (2x as much?) than my X-Pan I and all the non-30mm lenses.

I got the Fuji branded version of the 30mm f/5.6 - it was used but clean and cost somewhere around 40% of what a new Hasselblad branded 30/5.6 would have cost.

The Fuji 30/5.6 was made for the Fuji TX-1 version of the XPAN; it is a chrome finish lens with a silver paint viewfinder that mounts over the hotshoe rather than over the camera's viewfinder window as does the Hasselblad branded 30mm viewfinder.

Both lenses were made by Fuji, with the TX-1 camera and lenses being sold in Japan and the Hasselblad XPAN being sold everywhere else. The Fuji branded 30/5.6 I have is top quality, just like the Hasselblad labeled 45mm and 90mm lenses are. All three of my XPAN lenses produce outstanding, razor sharp, contrasty chromes with accurate color rendition, as you would expect of any lens made by Fuji or any lens bearing the name of Hasselblad or Fuji.

If you can track down a used 30mm TX-1 lens & viewfinder on eBay or at a camera shop, you could lay hands on one for a much more reasonable price than the new lenses were selling for back when they were still in production.

 

[Vincent.G]

45mm for me as it is the only one I have.

 

[aeturnum]

I got the Fuji branded version of the 30mm f/5.6 - it was used but clean and cost somewhere around 40% of what a new Hasselblad branded 30/5.6 would have cost.

A quick scan of ebay finds one copy of the 30mm without hood / filter / viewfinder for $1600, which is cheaper than the other copy for $3200 and everything, but still isn't cheap. It may just be too valuable a lens for my tastes.

 

[Paul Jenkin]

Just bought an XPan + 45mm and 90mm lenses. 45mm likely to be main lens though I do like the look of the 90mm as well.

 

[noisycheese]

A quick scan of ebay finds one copy of the 30mm without hood / filter / viewfinder for $1600, which is cheaper than the other copy for $3200 and everything, but still isn't cheap. It may just be too valuable a lens for my tastes.

Yeah, $1600 isn't exactly an impulse buy for most of us here...

 

[Rangefinderfreak]

I will get an Nik/Xpan adapter and start using the Nikkor PC 28mm 3,5

 

[ljsegil]

Love the 30mm, widest lens in medium format, but composition does take some care and at f/5.6 (really another 1.5 stop slower with the center filter) need fast film or good daylight. 45mm would be next most used, still an excellent panoramic view and better with less light, can usually forgo the center filter for a true f/4, don't use the 90mm much, probably as often as a short tele for conventional 35mm format as I use it in panoramic mode.
LJS

 

[Rob-F]

When I had my XPAN, I used the 30mm the most. I like to emulate the wide-screen look of processes like Todd-AO and Ultra Panavision 70. I quit using the XPAN because of increasing difficulty in getting the proper glass slide mounts for the XPAN format. Now I use my Hasselblad with a 40mm lens, or else the 38mm Biogon. It is easy enough to mask a standard 645 mount down to the height I need. And besides, I find I prefer the groundglass viewing and framing to the XPAN's finder.

 

[chathaway]

shooting the 45 the most...but that's because I don't own the 30.......yet.

 

[Rob-F]

Actually I don't see the point of offering a 90mm lens on a camera that is supposed to be panoramic. Yes, I have seen some good photos done with the 90; but they just covered a small area, and could have been done with a variety of cameras.

If I had been in charge, I'd have skipped the 90, and provided a lens intermediate between the 30 and 45. The 38mm Biogon would be a good candidate for that, with perhaps an optical tweak to cover the wider image. That probably could have been done without the need for a center ND filter. And I'll bet the camera's finder could have been stretched enough to include the 38mm FOV. without the need for the accessory finder on top.

 

[filmtwit]

I have the 45 and 90.
The 45 get's used the most.
The 90 only when I can't get close enough or if I'm shooting a portrait.
As for the 30mm, who can afford that?
It's the costs of the camera + 45mm + 90mm after all!

 

[propellerhead]

I use the 45 most of the time then the 90 and the 30 is my favorite but its more work to set it up, so if I set it up it is for the entire day, often the 30 may be #2 and over time it might be my primary lens.