Hotwire-Digital :: Get the Best from the Experts

Finally, after much anticipation we were able to get up close and personal with the popular Hasselblad HTS 1.5 tilt/shift lens adaptor from Hasselblad. This represents another tool for the medium-format photographer to produce imagery that is not easily replicated by other methods and is not limited to digital users; H1 and H2 film shooters can use the HTS as well as other medium-format digital back H-system owners.

This lens adaptor extends the ability of 5 HC lenses; 28mm f/4, 35mm f/3.5 , 50mm f/3.5, 80mm f/2.8, and the 100mm f/2.2. The 120macro will not meet the mechanical clearance necessary and the remaining prime lenses (150mm f/3.2, 210mm f/4.0, 300mm f/4.5) are not officially supported at this time.

The 1.5 in the product name refers to the 1.5 lens coverage (i.e. multiply your prime focal length by 1.5 to get the effective focal length) but in exchange, you get to cover a larger portion of the sensor area by moving the HTS from one shift position to the other. The HTS will rotate 90 degrees without removing from the lens mount (watch those fingers!) so you can quickly change from landscape to portrait orientation. This is ideal for architectural and landscape stitched panoramic capture and the readouts are easy to jot down from the LCD grip menu (H3D and H3DII automatically embeds this data in the 3F RAW file.)

Product and tabletop implementations can benefit from live video in tethered operation, including lens focusing using the keyboard. It is important to note that the auto-focus capability of the lens is not available while mounted to the Hasselblad HTS, so remote focusing at 100% can be a real timesaver for studio use.

I found equal ease using the Hasselblad waist level viewfinder to focus and compose as the digital viewfinder. We had several prints of a beautiful blue Fender Strat in focus from the tuning knobs, down the neck, to the volume and tone controls. The opposite is true too, selective focus among several focal points is similar to the modern video styles that are favored among contemporary videographers.

Tilt (or swing) is +/- 10 degrees and Shift is +/- 18mm.

Ultimately, we determined that our hunch was correct - this is a must have for our equipment arsenal.

Add to cart