Hasselblad Flexbody Movements

[Ralph Porter]

I recently sold my Toyo Field 45A system but still have a Hasselblad 500CM with several lenses a 50mm Distagon, 80mm Planer, 150 and 250 Sonnar. I was wondering if anyone has experience with the Flexbody and its limited camera movements. I am specifically interested in using it for landscape work for enhancing depth of focus via front or rear tilt, macro work, and selective focus portrait work. Any personal experiences with the camera would be helpful. Thanks, Ralph Porter.

[Brian Ellis]

You probably would get more and better responses if you posted this question to rec.photo.equipment.medium-format. There are lots of Hasselblad experts there.

[Ralph Porter]

Brian thanks for the suggestion I try that as well. My thought is that camera movements are something that most medium format shooters don’t have experience with. I’m wondering do the Hasselblad lens really offer enough coverage for the tilts and shifts offered by this camera to be useful?

[Keith Laban]

Keith Laban Photography (http://www.keithlaban.co.uk)

Ralph, as a Hasselblad user I considered the FlexBody but eventually went with the ArcBody. The Flexbody simply didn't have enough rise for architectural work with the Hasselblad lenses though the movements may be sufficient for your purposes.

[Stan. Laurenson-Batten]

I have the FlexBody and often prefer to use it over the Hasselblad standard bodies. The drawback is that it takes longer to operate, no automation at all.
The limitations of this camera body used with Hasselblad or LF lenses are for a max 15 degree rise or fall at the film plane, with a rear tilt of 28 degrees.

I have found that the movements available on this body will cope with most situations where camera movements are required, around 10 degrees. Nevertheless, there are limitations in coverage but I have not encountered any myself.

As a bonus I can use the FlexBody with my Sinar P using a rear adaptor. This combination gives me the use of a wide range of LF lenses with their small apertures, it is the bees knees for
close up or work.

The rival to the FlexBody is the ArcBody that will not take Hasselblad lenses without a special adaptor.

The ArcBody uses lenses designed for this camera such as the Apo Grandagon. It has the advantage over the FlexBody in that it has more movement and lenses that more than cover the field when used at extreem movements.

The flexbody is the body to go for if you already have Hasselblad lenses. It is just as useful a tool in the studio or on location, it is light, trasportable and quick to set up.

[Ralph Porter]

Keith/Stan:

Thanks for your suggestions, I have decided to go with a Flexbody since I have four Hasselblad lenses.
Ralph