Fun with the Hasselblad 907x

Godfrey said:
I designed it with a different purpose in mind ... The 907x Control Grip and OVF makes the 907x into an easily handle-able eye level camera with 21 to 45mm lenses, and I like using it that way some of the time. But I like the waist level viewpoint a lot, and found that the small 45mm lens with the stubby 907x body doesn't really give me enough body/lens for a good grip in that taking orientation, both for comfort and for stability. The standard control grip is too upright for that hold too, at least for me.

Also, this left hand grip has the added benefit of including an L-bracket on the camera, so if I switch to my tripod in the middle of a shooting spree, I just slide the grip off and can set the camera on the tripod in either landscape or portrait orientation easily.

So this grip serves different purposes. I first thought of making it before I had the Control Grip and OVF, and those accessories didn't change my thoughts about wanting this one too.

What remains to be seen is how much I use the one vs the other. Only time and actual use will reveal that. Same for how well it will work with longer lenses, like the 90mm due to arrive tomorrow, or the 135mm adapted lens that I've come to like on this camera so much. :)

G
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Or maybe get one of those old pistol grips that I modified :)
 
Vince Lupo said:
Or maybe get one of those old pistol grips that I modified :)
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:D

Well, pistol grips like that are very useful but mostly for eye-level use again, like the Control Grip but oriented differently. That setup on your camera reminds me of the Linhof 220 Professional ... picture attached ... which I always thought was a darn cool camera but just isn't how I generally like to hold a medium format camera.

Fun stuff. I'm going to try a short photo walk with the 907x and grip in the Japan town neighborhoow of San Jose this evening, will carry both 45 and 21 lenses.

G
 

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Not really a part of any set, this "door in an archway" came to my attention as I was walking back home after walking for two hours. I was tired, the light and the door looked very interesting, and I did everything wrong: didn't focus accurately, left the lens stopped down as it had been when shooting earlier, when the sun was much higher in the sky, and all that.

The lack of camera motion in the blurred details is obvious to my eye only when I examine the original exposure in detail at full 100% display mode. That says to me that my custom grip works properly ... being able to achieve that kind of stability with a 90mm lens at a half second exposure says I'm able to hold the camera very still.

When I scanned through the photos I'd made that day, this exposure popped out at me as being unique and different, pleasing in a completely different way. The lack of fine detail suggesting form and shape rather than articulating texture, the light was just right, and monochrome rendering was all that was needed.


Door in Arch - Santa Clara 2021
Hasselblad 907x + XCD 90mm f/3.2
ISO 1600 @ f/5.6 @ 0.5 sec​

It is more the archetype of a door in an archway than a specific door in an arch, a pattern brief rather than a documentary example.

Your thoughts, thank you!

G
 
On Wednesday evenings, my routine for some months now has been to go to the Japan town district in San Jose and pick up takeout Mexican food for dinner or eat in the outdoor dining area when that's been available (and it's warm enough!). Every time I've been there are the sun went down and the lights came up, I've said to myself, "I've got to get down here with a camera..."

So last Wednesday, I fitted the 907X with the XCD 21mm lens and drove down just before sunset. Well, I thought it would be just before sunset, but I was delayed and the sun had already set ... I was going to be testing out the custom grip I rigged up for the camera, but thankfully I had my PD Travel Tripod with me. :D

I only had time for a shortish walk, about a half hour or so, but I can see I need to go do this a few more times. Here are ten photos, all with the 21mm lens at about ISO 1600 and about f/5.6-f/6.8 ... I hope you enjoy them!

Japan Town - San Jose 2021
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Lantern, Lamp - San Jose 2021
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Omogari - San Jose 2021
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Haircut - San Jose 2021
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Taqueria Corona - San Jose 2021
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Open For Outdoor Dining - San Jose 2021
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Service At The Table - San Jose 2021
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Float Addicts - San Jose 2021
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They Watch The Corner - San Jose 2021
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The World War II Memorial - San Jose 2021
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This set (and higher resolution renderings) can be viewed on Flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmU95Yh5

Enjoy! G
 
This is a first little set of photos made with the XCD 90mm f/3.2 on my neighborhood walk in Santa Clara the other day. My custom grip setup really helps me hold the camera still, the lens is delightful to use as well!

Hedge
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Electrical Box
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Lock and Fence
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Cyclist
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Surreptitious Listening
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Fence Lines
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Pickets
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Bursting Out Greenery
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Feeder
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Flag
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Poppy
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Photos can be seen (at higher resolution) on Flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmUcnzJY
​

I hope you enjoy! Comments always appreciated. :)

G
 
Thanks Vince!

Ah, snow! It's been years since I lived where it snows. Snow can be so pretty and occasionally so fun. :)

Anyway, I decided to run a roll of film through the A16 back I acquired for my Hasselblad 500CM and, on a lark, I figured I'd carry the digital back (CFVII 50c) as well and trade off between them for a few photos to see the differences.

I'm only about half way through the roll of film so I'll finish that up another day, but of course I looked at the photos made on the digital back immediately. This one appealed to me...


Flamingo Hunt - Santa Clara 2021
Hasselblad 500CM + CFVII 50c + Planar 80mm f/2.8 T*
ISO 400 @ f/8 @ 1/60​

enjoy!
G
 
Vince,

I haven’t thought about Minor White since I started shooting and printing b/w decades ago when I saw that milky tone in his prints and thought I want mine to glow like that too. Your photos of the boulders made me think about Minor White but how can that be? They made me question the need for a monochrome camera at all. How much do you attribute the tonality, the “glow” to the large sensor or they were more about the result of post processing?
 
Rayt said:
Vince,

I haven’t thought about Minor White since I started shooting and printing b/w decades ago when I saw that milky tone in his prints and thought I want mine to glow like that too. Your photos of the boulders made me think about Minor White but how can that be? They made me question the need for a monochrome camera at all. How much do you attribute the tonality, the “glow” to the large sensor or they were more about the result of post processing?
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I think it’s a combination of both - the large sensor has a great dynamic range and not only captures a lot of information, but also enables one to ‘massage’ it in a number of different directions (I’m only using PhotoShop CC and Adobe Camera RAW). I think the same can be said for the Nikon Z7 and its sensor, as I find almost the same amount of flexibility with its files. Plus the resulting prints look more or less like the images on screen, so I don’t have to fight with them much at all.

I kinda wondered about the monochrome sensor too - I’ve had both the first Leica Monochrom and the 246 as well as the M-D, and I have to say that sometimes I was able to get almost as nice prints from the M-D as the 246. So for me the jury is still out, especially now after having made prints from both the 907x and the Z7. I’m a believer in the Ansel Adams school of thought: The negative is the score and the print the performance, so in a contemporary sense the digital file is the score and the post-production and resulting print is the performance. As it is, the 907x provides a great score from which to work.

As an aside, the one challenge I still have with the camera is how I want to handle it (and still getting used to a camera without a viewfinder). The accessory grip is nice, but oftentimes I find that it doesn’t necessarily help me keep things steady. The pistol grip I modified to fit works great and has the benefit of a thumb-actuated shutter release, but the grip itself can sometimes get in the way while the camera is hanging around my neck. I’ve almost settled going back to just the plain, unadorned camera (even without the optical viewfinder). Guess what they say is true - simpler is in fact better!
 
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