"C" lenses are sought after by someone who claims, that they have lower contrast, and so are rendering B&W better. - I cannot confirm that, but otherwise they will suffer from all the "old age" problems, like stiff focusing, lower flare resistance and above all, the issue with aging shutter springs. These lenses are all silver. Then there are the "C T*" lenses, which have better coatings, but the same mechanical issues. Both these types have coupled shutter/aperture levers (EV values) and are somewhat a PITA yo operate fast, but have a self timer, which could be handy at times.
Then you have the CF lenses, which are newer, have prontor shutters that age much better than the compur shutters of the older ones, have independent f stop and shutter setting rings ( but which you can couple by pressing a tab), and while the older lenses mainly use BAY 50 or series 7 filter sizes, these use BAY 60 filters except for the very wide and very long end. Then there are the CFI/CFE lenses, that are the latest batch, with updated coatings and better internal coatings, that should reduce flare. These often use BAY 70 filters. The CB line, comprising the 60, 80 and 160mm are the "cheap" lenses, but optically are the same ( 160mm is a Tessar - separate design) - the only drawback is that I believe you cannot use them on F Hasselblad bodies, like all C, CF or CFE versions. Then there is an orphan 80 "C", which I think is in reality a CF lens, that came in a bundle with the 501 C/M. A separate line are the F and FE lenses - without the central shutter and usable only on the F series bodies. These lenses, apart from the 80mm, are all different designs, 50/2.8, 110/2, 150/2.8, 250/4 and 350/4 - designed to be faster than the C series (thanks to absence of central shutter).
The design of 80/2.8 C only changed at the very beginning, and then the optical scheme remained the same throughout the years. The 100/3.5, 150/4 and 180/4 have never been updated. The 40 has been updated 3 or 4 times, with the latest CFI IF version being the last Hasselblad V lens design made ( on purpose for the first digital backs), the 50 has been updated to CF and then FLE version, the 60 started as 60/4 I believe, then has been updated to 3.5, the 120 macro has been updated from 5.6 to 4.0, the 250 has had the Superachromat version, the 350 and 500 have also been updated. Ah. I forgot about the latest run of Hasselblad ZV lenses, which if I'm not mistaken, were mainly a marketing gimmick destined to sell out the last lenses left at the factory. A useful place to make comparisons between versions is here:
http://www.zeiss.com/camera-lenses/en_de/service/download_center.html
I have never used the latest CFI/CFE versions, but have settled on the CF version instead, which in my opinion is the best bang for the buck, while still being serviceable without problems. If you are starting out, I would recommend to stick to the CF line, and think if you really need a 50mm, because a great combination to begin with would be a 60mm and a 100.
