Hasselblad V system Digital Backs - what are the best choices overall ?

CameraQuest

CameraQuest

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Hasselblad V system Digital Backs - what are the best choices overall ?

There seems to be a lot of possible choices, many of them of outdated design and questionable reliability.

Balancing the many factors including Image Quality, Cost, Reliability, Ease of shooting -

What are your own Hassy V system digital back choices, and why ?
 
I think the 907x / CFV II 50c is a good choice -- 50mp 33x44 sensor (I think a full 58x58 is a ways off but admittedly that would be nice), very reliable (at least I haven't had any issues with mine), plus with the 907x 'body' you can use the nice XCD lenses as well as others with a host of adapters. Plus if you have a 'technical' camera like a Linhof or Cambo Actus, you can adapt it for use on those cameras or pretty much any camera that accepts a V-plate. The touch screen is great and overall the back is really quite easy and basic to use.

Two things though -- it's probably a good idea to get your film Hasselblad camera 'calibrated' to ensure that the focus is dead-on. Second, the only issue that I have had (and is a known 'issue' with the early ones) is the tendency for the black rubber coating to wear off the rear buttons prematurely. Hasselblad did offer free replacement of the buttons with an updated version of them, but I don't know if they still offer that service. It's come off the edges of the power/playback button on mine, but I haven't gotten around to sending the back to Hasselblad for the service.

Actually a third thing -- for proper 'cropping' in the viewfinder, the simplest and cheapest way is to use some thin black paper and cut a mask that can just sit on top of the ground glass. Second method (helpful if you're using a metered prism) is to mark the crop with a thin black Sharpie right on the ground glass.

I don't know much about the first CFV 50c back, but I think it's the same sensor as the current one.
 
Idle curiosity, since I couldn't afford one even if I really wanted one: Are the CFV II backs available on their own, or does one have to buy the whole 907x package? Every once in a while, I get a twinge of digital lust (easily suppressed), and the idea of shooting my 500C/M with a factory-authorized hacked back is fascinating.
I have the Hassy masks for a 16S back. I'll bet that with a little filing, you could make a good mask for the digital back. Vince's suggestion for using a Sharpie would work, of course, but the thought of taking a Sharpie to a $300.00 (at least) Acute Matte screen gives me the willies! But it would have the advantages of shooting with a rangefinder, and being able to see outside the frame lines.
See? I'm trying to convince myself that the digital back would be cool. Digital GAS is the worst...
 
Retro-Grouch said:
Idle curiosity, since I couldn't afford one even if I really wanted one: Are the CFV II backs available on their own, or does one have to buy the whole 907x package? Every once in a while, I get a twinge of digital lust (easily suppressed), and the idea of shooting my 500C/M with a factory-authorized hacked back is fascinating.
I have the Hassy masks for a 16S back. I'll bet that with a little filing, you could make a good mask for the digital back. Vince's suggestion for using a Sharpie would work, of course, but the thought of taking a Sharpie to a $300.00 (at least) Acute Matte screen gives me the willies! But it would have the advantages of shooting with a rangefinder, and being able to see outside the frame lines.
See? I'm trying to convince myself that the digital back would be cool. Digital GAS is the worst...
Click to expand...

I've asked that question a couple of months ago. Response was ....(nice try), must buy the back and the body. AFAIK that's the "way it is".
 
I tried in a Phase One IQ250 in a shop. Very heavy, quite bulky and the format was much less square than the 33 x 44 of the CFV 50II C. I passed on the weight especially and the loss of the square format and the desire to continue with film.
 
Broncolor Impaspot Impact 41 CFV16 60 Dist by Nokton48, on Flickr


Rebuilding an Olde Broncolor Impaspot; in fact I have two of them. And now a Visatec (Broncolor Wedding and Portrait Division) 1600B Monolight 1600J strobe. Hasselblad 500C/M 60mm F3.5 Zeiss Distagon C T* CFV16 Digital Back. An olde crusty Acetate Mask needs to be reprinted and made clean. But the effect of this olde mask is kind of cool IMO. Olde Broncolor strobe spotlights are fun to play with :)
Here I am firing a Broncolor Impaspot at a very large sheet of 1/4" Plexiglass (it came with my Broncolor Hazylight!), propped vertical on my FOBA Sweep Table. Kinda Kewl how the Impaspot lights the facets in the Plex. Flecks in the Plex! LOL Looks kinda Spacey.
 
I searched for a decent deal on the CFV16 for over ten years. It's initial cost in 2007 (introduced in Japan) was $17,000.00. I paid $2800 for this one, and it's a keeper! :) I wanted it as it was the back introduced to users of the Olde V System Cameras. Which are exactly what I have.
 
500mm Oberkochen 500ELM CFV16 EI 200 EV 14.5 by Nokton48, on Flickr

This is the first test of the 500mm F8 Oberkochen Opton Hasselblad lens. EL/M Body with Olde Hasselblad CDS Meter Prism indicated EV14.5. Set that on the lens, this is the result. Hasselblad CFV16 Digital Back set to Ei 200, camera/lens mounted on a Plaubel Peco 2 Way Head, attached to sturdy Manfrotto legs. The pretty new Magnolia tree is our yard was blowing visibly, the 500mm shutter seems to have frozen it, there was a lot of leaf movment in the breeze. It is fun to play with the new digital back and I am loving the saturated colors I'm getting. Hasselblad says it's the fat pixels, but also how much space is around each pixel. Anyways I'm loving the color right out of the camera. Shooting distance was 28 feet, the absolute minimum focus distance on the lens. So I will add extension tubes if needed.
 
50C ELM CFV16 EI 200 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Testing the CFV16 Hasselblad Digital Back. EI 200 CDS Meter Prism determines the EV to set on the lens, easy and intuitive. It plays Nice and easy to use, files look great right out of the camera. Kind of like the look of the Olde Kodachrome 25 Color and Saturation, I expect it's the fat pixels, and -the space- between the pixels, that determines the "look" I guess. Anyway I like it a lot!
 
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