It has been stated that the Hasselblad HT/5 1.5 is not compatible with the H to S adapter.
I looked in the Leica instructions and the HT/S 1.5 was not listed under the excluded items.
It didn’t make sense to me anyway … why wouldn’t it work? it’s a simple device and everything matches up.
So I decided to try it. Went on and off smoothly. Checked everything to see if there was any scuffing or anything … nothing.
Mounted the HC100/2.2 Turned on the S2 and everything activated just like usual.
Set up a little test with three staggered S lenses set 14″ front to back, rotated the HT/S for horizonal tilt. Selected f/5.6. Shot one with zero tilt focusing on the lettering of the middle lens, then another with full tilt focused in the same place. Very narrow DOF at Zero, and almost full DOF with tilt. f/8 would have made it perfect and still avoided de-fraction.
No get this … the AF was fully active! With the HT/S on the H4D camera, AF is disabled. Not that one would be using AF for this type work, but I used it anyway : -)
Tried some shift and got vignetting at max shift … but that also happens on the H4D. To use this for product work, I think I’d just use a RRS sliding plate to readjust framing when employing maximum tilts like this.
No color cast difference between zero and max tilt.
The difference is that the S2 meta data just lists the 100/2.2, When used on the H4D, it is listed it as 150/3.8 (1.5X).
I’m sure there are some other corrections missing, but if it is visible like it probably would be with the HCD/28mm, it can be corrected manually. The 100/2.2 is already pretty well corrected.
Can anyone think of a reason why we should exclude this very valuable accessory on the S2?
I can’t. It turns the 28, 35, 50, 80 and 100mm Hasselblad lenses into T/S on the S2.
-Marc
Marc,
Thanks for doing this test!
It’s awesome that the HTS works on the S2 in spite of what Leica has stated. I’m pretty sure that when the HTS is used on an H body, the amount of tilt in degrees and shift in mm is passed through into the metadata and there is some kind of auto correction going on. Obviously, this isn’t happening on the S2.
I’d be extremely curious how the HTS and the 28 HCD work on the S2. Wanna give it a whirl for us? 😉
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store MiamiHi David.
I can’t figure out why, but probably it is the corrections issues.
I will try the 28 and 50 this weekend if I get a minute. I’ll also experiment with using the Hasselblad canned corrections in LR to see what happens.
At any rate, this solves my product photography DOF issues with the S2.
-Marc
Now I wonder about the 1.7x extender? Marc, thanks for the test with the HTS, eagerly await more tests with the other lenses.
I have the 1.7X and wonder the same thing. However, it IS listed as incompatible in the instruction manual, so I would tread cautiously.
Frankly, I think it is Leica adhering to certain very high standards of image quality associated with the S2, and they may feel some combinations don’t meet those standards.
My main use of the 1.7X has been on the 100/2.2, 150n/3.2 because they retain full AF speed. Oddly, so does the 210/4, but I’ve never tried it in lower light and would guess 210 + 1.7X AF would be hunting like crazy, and difficult to manually focus with such a dim max aperture.
The 1.7X disables AF on the HC 300/4.5 … which becomes an effective 510mm. I DO wonder if the AF is disabled on the HC 300 + 1.7X when mounted on the S2? It wasn’t disabled on the HT/S, so it may work in really bright ambient.
My main use of the HT/S has been to overcome the narrower DOF of MFD when shooting table top, and occasionally to control areas of focus placement for portraits.
It’ll be interesting to see if HT/S retention of AF on the S2 will be an aid when shooting portraits. It is a bear to do it manually with the H4D and often hit or miss … but I have to admit that my eyes have become rather poor for manually focussing anything lately.
More to come my friends, this is an exciting discovery so far.
-Marc
Okay, had a few minutes to myself and tried the HT/S and 28 on the S2.
It works fine but does not retain AF … all it does is hunt. f/4 X 1.5X is probably the reason … to small of a maximum aperture … to dim especially with movements applied. Same for the 50/3.5 … although it would occasionally grab focus.
No matter, the good thing is that it does work, and the Profiles also work … especially important for the 28mm.
I didn’t have access to any tall buildings to correct, but I don’t use the HTS for that anyway … mostly use it for creatively controlling area of focus.
For example, table top DOF like the shots of lenses above, or like the WA shot below to throw part of the image OOF that otherwise would be difficult to achieve with the 28mm even if shot wide open.
Here is a sample of that, and a three part image showing field of view covered by the 28 alone on the S2, the S-35, and then the 28 on the HTS/1.5 … it is still pretty wide @ 40mm … but nothing like a 23mm on a view camera etc.
Marc
Correction …
I tried the HTS with 100/2.2 again and this time it didn’t AF, so it is not a feature to count on.
However, it did provide focus confirmation this time, but again I don’t think it is a reliable feature unless the light is bright enough or the movement on the HTS not too severe.
Guess I’ll have to get a split microprism screen if I plan using the HTS on the S2 a lot.
-Marc
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