Medium Format Lenses (Vintage)

[RJ_Ortiz]

Hey Everyone,

I'm curious about medium format lenses and not sure where to start. I've seen some posts and mentions of Hasselblad, Mamiya, and Pentax lenses. I enjoy the character of some vintage lenses (Contax Zeiss, Leica R, and the Tokina (Angie) Zoom) and wondered if there were medium format lenses with similar character. I've been shooting on Monstro for a little while now and use modern lenses with it. It'd be nice to find some interesting lenses that will be useful on the Monstro and beyond. A little searching revealed some Contax 645 lenses, but I wasn't sure if they were in the same vein as the Contax Zeiss still lenses.

I guess I'm really asking what medium format lenses I should be considering for use on the Monstro and possibly Alexa LF.

Thanks!

 

[Nick Morrison]

Hey Everyone,

I'm curious about medium format lenses and not sure where to start. I've seen some posts and mentions of Hasselblad, Mamiya, and Pentax lenses. I enjoy the character of some vintage lenses (Contax Zeiss, Leica R, and the Tokina (Angie) Zoom) and wondered if there were medium format lenses with similar character. I've been shooting on Monstro for a little while now and use modern lenses with it. It'd be nice to find some interesting lenses that will be useful on the Monstro and beyond. A little searching revealed some Contax 645 lenses, but I wasn't sure if they were in the same vein as the Contax Zeiss still lenses.

I guess I'm really asking what medium format lenses I should be considering for use on the Monstro and possibly Alexa LF.

Thanks!

Older Hasselblads have very similar character to Contax. From what I can tell they've been rehoused quite a bit for Imax and also Alexa 65/LF, etc. The mechanics are easier too than Contax 645 which are autofocus, etc.

 

[RJ_Ortiz]

Older Hasselblads have very similar character to Contax. They've been rehoused a lot for Alexa LF/65 and Imax, etc. The mechanics are easier too than Contax 645 which are autofocus, etc.

I almost straight-up PM'd you for recommendations. I'm just in the research phase though. Any Hasselblads in particular? Definitely going to look into them. Thanks!

 

[John Brennick]

Also interested in this. Thanks for any input you have Nick! You're a wealth of knowledge in this forum.

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

Also look at Bronica lenses. An alternative would be to use 35mm SLR lenses with TCs.

 

[Thai Christen]

I still have a complete Hasselblad CF lens set from my photography days. They are built like a tank and have nice mechanics with good focus throw. I haven't tested them on Monstro, but on my Helium (with Hassy-EF adapter) image has plenty of vintage character similar to Contax, Leica-R.

However, 38mm is the widest you can go (don't bother about the 30mm which is a fisheye lens). For 6x6 format 38mm is wide enough. Not so for Monstro, S35.
Iris only has 5 blades.
And you have to use Bay 60 filters or Mattebox.

 

[Nick Morrison]

I still have a complete Hasselblad CF lens set from my photography days. They are built like a tank and have nice mechanics with good focus throw. I haven't tested them on Monstro, but on my Helium (with Hassy-EF adapter) image has plenty of vintage character similar to Contax, Leica-R.

However, 38mm is the widest you can go (don't bother about the 30mm which is a fisheye lens). For 6x6 format 38mm is wide enough. Not so for Monstro, S35.
Iris only has 5 blades.
And you have to use Bay 60 filters or Mattebox.

Yup Hasselblad CFs and regular F series lenses are the way to go.

And yeah they don't go wider than a 30mm fisheye, cuz on medium format a 50mm = 18mm in Super35!!!

 

[Thai Christen]

And yeah they don't go wider than a 30mm fisheye, cuz on medium format a 50mm = 18mm in Super35!!!

It is a little bit more complicated because of 6x6 format but you are right
http://www.hasselbladhistorical.eu/HW/HWequifoc.aspx

Although note, if you put a Medium Format 50mm on Monstro/S35, FOV stays 50mm.

 

[kevinjoelson]

I've recently modified several Mamiya 645 Sekor-C lenses to use with my Monstro. They have been converted to PL mount by Duclos. Unfortunately all of the projects I've used them on are still unreleased, otherwise, I'd post frames.

Most of the lenses in my set are the older non-N versions and behave a lot like uncoated or no-coat lenses. The older coatings cause them to flare and do unusual things. I love that they're a bit unpredictable, but are totally tameable at the same time. They are super sharp with a lovely organic falloff that makes images melt like butter. I've found that these lenses are great for lifestyle work.

I've started gathering more non-N lenses to replace a couple of N models I do have. I'll probably end up with both non-N and N variants in the focal lengths I use most. The N's do have a more modern coating that suppresses the flares and creates more contrast, which is definitely useful in the right situation.

My current Sekor-C lineup:

35mm 3.5
45mm 2.8
55mm 2.8
70mm 2.8
80mm 2.8
80mm 1.9
80mm Macro
110mm 2.8
150mm 3.5
210mm 4.0
300mm 5.6

55-110mm 4.5

 

[Nick Morrison]

Although note, if you put a Medium Format 50mm on Monstro/S35, FOV stays 50mm.

Well yeah, a 50 is always a 50.

However as Thai was pointing out, because of how large a format medium format is, it's hard to find Hasselblads wider than 40mm that aren't fisheye.

So there are challenges when trying to use these lenses on smaller formats like VV...

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

What's the strongest focal length reducer that exists for medium format lenses?

 

[Nick Morrison]

What's the strongest focal length reducer that exists for medium format lenses?

I believe it's 0.7, like most speedbosters yeah?

 

[Ilya O.]

(secret piece of advice))

Buy USSR medium format glass before it gets really high in cost.

The lens line is brilliant, well built, proper sized bodies, and cinema-mod friendly. The prices are extremely low now, in the area of a PL lens cap cost ahhahah

Search for Kiev-88 (prod dates 1980-200x) and Salyut bodies' lenses.

Details here, with the lens list
https://translate.googleusercontent...700242&usg=ALkJrhg9PnMydd2hMuFS-E9t1W6RG4kVHw

If you wanna go even more vintage, try lenses for Salyut body (was in production from 1957 to 1972):
https://translate.googleusercontent...700242&usg=ALkJrhgbiFS8PZRkZwGjgc5wXSu2COy5Xg

Usual problem is iris stuck and dry grease, that is easily solved by a basic service.

Best test ever (still film shootout) is found here where the soviets are placed against Zeiss and show nice performance, The Mother of All Lens Tests :
http://www.rickdenney.com/mother_lens_test.htm

 

[Sean Keen]

I have a set of 70 mm LOMO lenses starting from 28 mm to 100 mm plus 200-300, all made in 1960s, kinda vintage i think
cinema lenses , not photo)

 

[Ilya O.]

Exactly

Beside still lenses, there were USSR cine lenses for 70/65mm film, including some f1.4 ones and some Zooms!

I made a huge thread about it here, plz enjoy

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showth...m-format-lenses-other-65mm-70mm-format-lenses

 

[Tristan Pemberton]

(secret piece of advice))

Buy USSR medium format glass before it gets really high in cost.

The lens line is brilliant, well built, proper sized bodies, and cinema-mod friendly. The prices are extremely low now, in the area of a PL lens cap cost ahhahah

Search for Kiev-88 (prod dates 1980-200x) and Salyut bodies' lenses.

Usual problem is iris stuck and dry grease, that is easily solved by a basic service.

But can you adapt these to PL easily? Is there an adaptor, or would maybe c7Adaptors make a PL mount (replacement or adaptor) for them?

 

[Gabriel Bemerghi]

Im building some sets of Kowa six lenses, they are really incredible. Mostly lenses are dark but its not a problem considering an average 2.8-4 . The most commom are 55/85/150 but the full set goes from 19 to 500 mm. They are cheap and really beatyfull, you should try the 85mm. Its around usd 150 at ebay ( not the rare ones ) and an adapter sold there can be used at PL cameras.
Thats Kowa six to PL adapter ( or kowa super 66 to pl adapter )

 

[Andrei Savchuk]

Mamiya Secor 45mm with kipon speed booster and Kineinity Mavo LF.
With speedbooster 45mm medium format work as 32mm full frame.

 

[Marian Munteanu]

Exactly

Beside still lenses, there were USSR cine lenses for 70/65mm film, including some f1.4 ones and some Zooms!

I made a huge thread about it here, plz enjoy

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showth...m-format-lenses-other-65mm-70mm-format-lenses

Ilya, do you think those lenses can cover 54mm frame?

 

[Andrei Savchuk]

Pentax67 105mm 2.4 lens on kinefinity mavo of with kipon
speedbooster