Shooting with the Hasselblad SWC

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david b

film shooter
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I just got a Hasselblad 905 SWC and absolutely love shooting with it.

It's a bit slower than my other Hasselblads but I don't mind.

Anyone else here shooting with a SWC ?
 
I got one I only recently.
I really like using it but as with all of my medium format camera's (I think that they're all over 40 years old) I do find them much slower to use. That is for a number of reasons (apart from me being cheap with the film), perhaps the main one being lack of practise.
Focus confirmation would be super but I used to use a Rollei 35 a lot so that's not such a big issue. It would be nice though...
I find the viewfinder a bit small, particularly for the size of the camera.
It certainly gets a "wow what an amazing camera" reaction from anyone you point it at.

I desperately need to find some sort of strap for it.
 
With some practice it is very easy to scale focus with the SWC for anything beyond 2 meters. Anything closer will be a challenge. I can actually live with the SWC as my only camera.
 
Congrats. Give it a little time to get comfortable with it and you will be blazing fast with it. It is the Howitzer of point and shoots 🙂
 
monochromejrnl said:
i use one - mostly as a travel camera... best wide angle lens/camera I've used... i find it faster to use than the 500CM i once owned... pre-focus the SWC and I can use it as a P&S... quite versatile but it's Achillies heel is the lack of focus confirmation...

some of my stuff taken with my SWC

http://flickr.com/search/?q=SWC&w=46197855@N00
Click to expand...

It was your Morocco photos that made me want to try one. I don't know if I'd take it over the Mamiya 7 with 43mm lens when traveling, it's a lot easier to use the Mamiya, and lighter too.
 
Tarzak said:
I got one I only recently. ... I desperately need to find some sort of strap for it.
Click to expand...

Nice! Jealous! You might consider the Op/Tech Pro strap with their system connectors. I got a set for the Pentax LX which has a similar stud/post attachment for the strap, which also fits my 500 c/m.

My favourite strap for the Hassy is the thin leather strap made by Hasselblad.
 
The magical part to me is the 38/5.5 Biogon, one of the most remarkable lenses ever built. I have the same lens on an Alpa, where I find it even more amazing: easier to hold still and level, and the 66x44 format which I find more useful than 6x6cm-- though I keep thinking of having a mask made 46x65mm (DIN A-series shape).

Cheers,

R.
 
ChrisN said:
Nice! Jealous! You might consider the Op/Tech Pro strap with their system connectors. I got a set for the Pentax LX which has a similar stud/post attachment for the strap, which also fits my 500 c/m.

My favourite strap for the Hassy is the thin leather strap made by Hasselblad.
Click to expand...

I got it by accident. I was looking for an Xpan (at the Sydney Camera Market) and there weren't any but there was the SWC. I thought; "well I can crop it to panorama if I need to".

I'll check out op/tech but I have an idea for a bent wire clip that can take a normal webbing strap.
 
maelswarm said:
It was your Morocco photos that made me want to try one. I don't know if I'd take it over the Mamiya 7 with 43mm lens when traveling, it's a lot easier to use the Mamiya, and lighter too.
Click to expand...

interchangeable backs makes the SWC a superior travel camera over the Mamiya 7 for me.. while in Morocco I had three backs, one for B&W slow speed film (PanF typically), one with B&W iso400 (HP5+) and one with colour slide ... with the Mamiya7 you'd gave to carry at least two bodies
 
monochromejrnl said:
interchangeable backs makes the SWC a superior travel camera over the Mamiya 7 for me.. while in Morocco I had three backs, one for B&W slow speed film (PanF typically), one with B&W iso400 (HP5+) and one with colour slide ... with the Mamiya7 you'd gave to carry at least two bodies
Click to expand...

I appreciate that Ken, I really do, but that adds added weight to the kit and they're quite bulky. It's easier to change film in the Mamiya than it is in an SWC. It has a fairly accurate meter if you choose the right point to meter at. You'd have to carry an extra hand-held meter with the SWC. You can actually frame fairly accurately vs. the SWC. Versatility in lenses - a 43, 65 and 150 would make a much more versatile kit than just the 38 Biogon. The 43mm lens seems, to me anyway, to be less flare prone than the Biogon.

I'm not too concerned about switching films. It is a hassle sometimes, but I could also just stick to one film type until it's time to change.

Who knows, maybe I'll change my mind after seeing some SWC vs. Mamiya 7 prints side by side.
 
Maelswarm - i doubt you'll see much difference in IQ between the M7/43mm combo and the SWC unless you're printing really big... although the SWC isn't as versatile the size and weight and bulk of two M7 bodies with three lenses isn't enough of an advantage over a SWC with three backs and a Leica M kit for other focal lengths... but this is largely a matter of personal preference so i'll leave it at that...

i know you had an M7 kit you were selling a while back, did you change your mind?
 
I don't know about the size and weight issue... though I haven't actually measured/weighed it out myself yet.

I calculated it just for kicks:

Hasselblad 903 SWC + 3 A12 backs: 2225 gm + lightmeter.

Mamiya 7II + 43mm lens and viewfinder, 65mm lens, 150mm lens: 2284 gm.

This Mamiya kit will fit nicely into 3/4 of the main compartment of my Billingham 445, with two lenses going into the two-segment divider.

Either system would be excellent, and I can definitely see the benefit of having multiple films ready to be used. However, the Mamiya was just dead easy to use. I guess I could've used an SWC in the same way -- meter and zone focus. But I wouldn't have been able to get a meter reading as quickly and the focus confirmation for closer subjects/wider apertures is easier with a RF.

I'm still going to sell the M7 kit, includes all three lenses.
 
Interestingly, this thread has been moved by some over-zealous moderator to the "Evil SLRs" forum. The SWC, like some other ill-fated non-RF medium format cameras is not an SLR, neither a rangefinder or a folder, so it doesn't belong to any forum here... except maybe the infamous Point-N-Shoot forum 🙁.

Cheers!

Abbazz
 
My MF RF kit is:
bronica rf 645 with 45,65 & 100mm
903SWC with 1X a12 and 1X a16 backs
metz 40 mz 2 flash
a jessop bracket
a gossen digisix meter
is a compact,light kit!😎
 
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