Hasselblad Camera's Column

Different between CFi, CFE and CB Lenses

Lens By Carl Zeiss

Equivalent Focal Lengths for Different Film Formats

Different between CFi, CFE and CB Lenses

CF lenses constitute the main series with focal lengths from 30mm to 500mm and can be used on both the 500 and the 200 series cameras as well as on the FlexBody.  They have built-in leaf shutters with shutter speeds up to 1/500 s and flash sync on all speeds.

All but one lens in this series are manufactured by Carl Zeiss to Hasselblad's high standards.  The zoom lens Varigon CF 5.6/140-280 mm, is made by Schneider, Germany.

Three different designations separate the CF lenses.  The designation CF stands for the basic version, while CFi and CFE indicate that the lens design is further improved to provide even higher image quality, long-lasting reliability and convenient operation.

The improvements include:

• New internal design and new anti-relection materials enhancing the image contrast even more.
• Improved design and a new main spring made of NIVAROX, which prolongs the life expectancy and increases the lasting precision of the leaf shutter.
• The new PC-socket with a positive lock, which secures the flash contact even better.
• The redesigned focusing mechanism, which runs even smoother.
• The new reinforced and integrated rear bayonet plate providing even more rigidity.
• The new front bayonet in a durable non-metallic material, which withstands wear substantially better than previous designs.
• The new external design providing increased handling comfort and is styled to fit the Hasselblad cameras even more pleasingly.

In addition to all these improvements, the CFE lenses also feature databus connections which transmit lens data to the metering systems of the 200 series cameras.

CB Lens Series

A lens series with four lenses of 60, 80, 120 and 160 mm focal lengths, all offering superb image quality.  The CB lenses are similar to the CFi and CFE lenses as to the built-in leaf shutter and the improvements over the basic CF lenses.  They can be used with all Hasselblad camera except the 202FA and ArcBody models.

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Lens By Carl Zeiss

Distagon

The Distagon retrofocus design was specially developed to enable the use of extreme wide-angle lenses on SLR cameras.  As the back focal distance can be made considerably longer than the lens focal length, it allows the motion of the reflex finder mirror in the free space between the last lens element and the film plane.  The Distagon lenses - characterized by extraordinary speed and angle of view - provide remarkably good correction of all aberrations and thus excellent image quality.  Through the use of floating lens element (FLE) it has been possible to achieve high image quality and field flatness even in the close focusing range.  The Distagon CFi 30mm/3.5 fisheye lens features the widest diagonal of view in medium formati - 180^o

Biogon

An almost symmetric lens design of surprising compactness, featuring extremely well controlled distortion, colour correction and image field flatness.  The solitary lens in the Hasselblad system with this design is the Biogon CF 38mm/4.5.  Since the last lens vertex is located only 18.8mm away from the film plane, no viewfinder/mirror can be placed between the lens and the film, thus it cannot be used as an interchangeable lens on the Hasselblad SLR camera bodies.  However, the performance of the Biogon 38mm was considered so outstanding, that the lens is permanently attached to a camera body of its own: the Hasselblad 903SWC.

Planar and Makro-Planar

The Planar is one of the most successful camera lens designs ever created.  It provides the lens designer with the ideal basis for high-performance lenses with excellent anastigmatic flatness of the image field, outstanding correction of chromatic aberration, high speed and low distortion.  The optical performance is remarkably constant over a wide range of imaging ratios, enabling such a versatile lens variety as the Makro-Planar lenses, optimized for close range photography.  The Planar design is the basis for nearly all professional standard and medium focal length lenses and also for the fastest lens ever created.  In the Hasselblad range the fastest lens is consequently a Planar: the Planar FE 110mm/2.

Sonnar

The Sonnar design with relatively few glass to air surfaces is ideal for compact high-performance medium telephoto lenses.  It allows apertures up to f/2.8, very elaborate correction of lens errors and even illumination of the image field.  In the extreme case of the Sonnar Superchromat CFi 250mm, sophisticated optical glass types are being used for achieving the extraordinary correction of chromatic aberration and even corner-to-corner illumination.

Tessar, Tele-Tessar and Tele-Apotessar

The lenses forming the Tessar group are characterized by a low number of lens elements and a relatively long distance between a collective front group and a dispersive rear group.  The high performance of these lenses is achieved by using high refractive glass qualities with particularly suitable optical properties.  As the Tessar design leads to compact and lightweight lenses, it is the perfect approach for telephoto lenses of 350mm focal length and beyond.  The longest telephoto lens in the Hasselblad range is a Tessar: the Tele-Apotessar CF 500mm/8.

Superachromat

The superachromatic lenses are the top-of-the-line Zeiss lenses.  They incorporate special optical materials and are extremely difficult to produce.  The chromatic correction within the entire spectral range between approx. 400-1000nm is so perfect, that colour fringing has been eliminated.  Even when working within the infrared spectral range, the focusing can be done on the focusing screen - no special index or further focusing adjustment is needed.

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Equivalent Focal Lengths for Different Film Formats

Source:

• Hasselblad Lens Catalogue 1999
• The Hasselblad Manual, 5th Ed, Ernst Wildi

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