The Best of Both Worlds: Hasselblad/Nikon

[Pirate]

Zeiss to be more specific...

Got an adapter today to put Hasselblad lenses on Nikon bodies. Everything is in manual mode, but that's the way I shoot my Leicas and Hasselblads anyway. Now if I could just put that 38mm from my SWC on the Nikon.....
I did a couple test shots with my 150mm F/4 lens and the pictures were great. Because it's made for a medium format and square format, I'm getting more of the center and should have darn near zero barrel distortion.

 

[david.elliott]

Cool stuff. So let's see some samples please?

 

[Pirate]

Two quick shots with the 150mm Sonnar F/4 lens:

 

[Pirate]

Those were shot through the living room window, which is quite dirty.

As soon as I get my power transformer in the mail I'll hook up my strobes and be testing in the basement studio. I have a model shoot in a couple weeks and intend to use these Zeiss lenses as much as possible because I like their look, I just have to practice up on the Flash Systems since I shoot more with available light than I do with flash units.

 

[Colin Corneau]

What would be the difference between going this (pretty interesting) route, and using Zeiss lenses made for 35mm?

 

[chrishayton]

I have this adapter and picked up a 150 f2.8 F lens very cheaply, worked great but was sold in a recently slimming down of stuff.

 

[filmtwit]

I did the same a while back, but Mamiya and Canon. 80mm f1.9 Mamiya on the 50D = near perfect portrait lens.

 

[Pirate]

Using this adapter with these lenses vs. a Zeiss 35mm lens would mean less barrel distortion because the lens is made to cover a bigger area. #2, for those who have a Hassy system already, it's saving thousands in buying new Zeiss lenses when we can use the ones we already have.

 

[Pirate]

I did the same a while back, but Mamiya and Canon. 80mm f1.9 Mamiya on the 50D = near perfect portrait lens.

That's Gorgeous!!!

 

[nikon_sam]

I've looked but done nothing as yet to put the Mamiya 645 lenses on the Nikons...
Will these adapters allow for focusing at infinity...

 

[urs0polar]

Yeah the Mamiya 645 + Canon and Mamiya 645 + Nikon will allow focusing at infinity... probably the same for Hasselblads on Nikon since these medium format SLR lenses have to clear a bigger mirror.

This is awesome (I do it myself with Mamiya 645 and Canon), but unless you have a full-frame DSLR, you are hopelessly zoomed-in on everything. In my case, it made me sell my Nikon D50 to buy a Canon 5D. So, the 55mm 2.8 is great, as is the 80mm. But, it doesn't get much wider than that, and the 35mm or whatever is still expensive.

So, for normal (or barely normal with the 35mm on a crop body) to portrait to tele range, it's great. But nothing much shorter than that. Remember, 80mm is normal for 645 and 6x6 medium format.

Also, I have the fotodiox adapter with the dandelion focus confirmation chip. The fotodiox adapter is very solid, looks good, and highly recommended... the dandelion chip is so horrible that I basically rate it as a borderline scam -- the focus confirmation lights up maybe once every ten (twenty) shots, if at all, and when it does light up, it's not always perfectly in focus. Plus, the stupid chip tells the camera it's a f/1.4, and the camera does some sort of ISO adjustment or something, so in aperture priority mode, I have to add +2 or a little less to my exposure compensation all the time. Since I only have +2 as a max, I can't overexpose if I want. I might just break the flimsy cheap-a$$ tape/glue that attaches the chip to the adapter and get rid of it (not worth the double shipping of sending it back for the lesser one, which is exactly the same minus the stupid chip). I've also heard they can get loose inside and break the mirror / scratch the sensor.

But, all of that headache disappears when you see the colors and contrast out of the Mamiya 645 lenses. Pretty awesome. Haven't had the 5D for long but I think the M645 gets more pleasing colors to my eyes with the Nikon, at least out of the box. Oh well.

 

[Pirate]

I'm pretty sure you are supposed to use full manual mode. That's what I do and it all works perfectly. I do have to add +2 exposure though. No chip, no focus confirmation, nothing. But that's the way I shoot with the Hasselblad and Leicas anyway, so I'm used to it. I love thing. I've always loved my Zeiss glass, and now I can use it all the time. I have a 60mm, 80mm, and 150mm.

 

[Steve M.]

It's a shame the software is keeping you from shooting in A mode. My film Nikons meter perfectly w/ non Nikon lenses on adapters using stop down metering. Well, my N6006 and N8008s meter in A. I had an N80 that would only meter manually .

 

[Pirate]

I was just rechecking some things. Earlier I had to +2 on the exposure, but I didn't just now. I was using my light meter to check against now but wasn't earlier. I'll have to recheck this tomorrow if there's any sun light.

Also, I put on my Zeiss 60mm lens and checked it agains a standard Nikkor 50mm lens. Seems my Zeiss 60 is right about at 60mm. It's a little closer than my 50mm. Have to check the 80 and 150 agains my other Nikkor glass to see if they are the same too. Doesn't make sense that it would be like this. Have to do some more thinking.

 

[Pirate]

Yes, it would be nice to use something simple like A mode, but it's not bad. Just have to remember to stop-down the lens before each shot and I'm ok.

 

[Pirate]

Ok, a couple more shots in the kitchen and I see that.... I only need to +1 and things look right. Have to check this again tomorrow in the daylight.

Also noticed now that my focus confirmation is working just fine! I though it should as I use old Nkkor glass that doesn't have any electronics in it too and the confirmation works fine with those. Don't know what the heck was going on earlier today but I must have been really off.

 

[Pirate]

More test shots, with Sunshine.

Nikon D700, Zeiss Distagon 60mm, 1/500s, 400 ISO, F16, cropped from 100%

Nikon D700, Zeiss Distagon 60mm, 1/500s, 400 ISO, F11, cropped from 100%

Nikon D700, Zeiss Distagon 60mm, 1/500s, 400 ISO, F8, cropped from 100%

Nikon D700, Zeiss Distagon 60mm, 1/500s, 400 ISO, F16

Nikon D700, Zeiss Distagon 60mm, 1/500s, 400 ISO, F16

 

[Kirbot]

I know it's an old thread, but it anybody else using one of these adapters?
I've got an 80mm C and a 50mm CF, so I want to pick one up sometime.