Hasselblad CFI f/4 120mm Reviews

Rating
Reviewed by: Karl Winkler
(Expert)

Review Date
February 10, 2003

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
4 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Review 1 of 7

Price Paid: $0.00

Summary:

I mainly purchased this lens (CFi version) for portrait work and macro photography with my 503cw, but I've found that it is a SUPERB short telephoto. No question that it is incredibly sharp at focal distances much farther than I'd originally thought. The textural quality of the images, the color rendition, the lack of distortion and the even illumination all spell "classic Zeiss". This is a great lens, no doubt.

Strengths:

Image quality, construction, long-term value.

Weaknesses:

Doesn't focus as closely as I'd hoped, even with 55mm extension tube. Expensive.

Similar Products Used:

Olympus 50mm f/3.5 macro lens, 85mm f/2.8 portrait lens, Zeiss 90mm f/2.8 "G" lens.

Customer Service:

Not yet used.

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Rating
Reviewed by: Payam Rahimian
(Professional)

Review Date
March 6, 2002

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Review 2 of 7

Price Paid: $1300.00 from Samy''s

Summary:

Yeeeah BABY...this is such an amazing lens. As you can determine I have high regards for this sharp and ultra versatile lens. My work is primarily portrait centered and this lens is used 90% of the time as the angle of view and its capability for close focusing make it my choice.

Strengths:

Razor Sharp...watch out "MOCH 3" Light and easy to use

Weaknesses:

Umm...I BEG YOUR PARDON ????

Similar Products Used:

cfi 50 cb 80

Customer Service:

N/A

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Rating
Reviewed by: Joss Gerard
(Professional)

Review Date
April 15, 2001

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
1 votes

Review 3 of 7

Price Paid: $2600.00 from Dinkel foto, munich

Summary:

As a proff. fashion also doing a lot of close up beauty/portrait pictures I came to the ultimate conclusion towards H´blad lenses, this lens beats all of them in the same angle of vw. catagory.. sorry! but..! Put a 11x14 print shot with a 135mm macro 67 pentax or other and a 120 H`blad next to eachother and SEE the difference.You´ll even drive a cab in NY to get the extra cash for the H´Blad lens. Forget about the 150 CFI good; but not as good as .., buy the 120 instead, then go for the 180 and the 50 CFI lenses, and you´ll own the best of the rest. Owwwh Yeah the CFi were talking about here.NOT the old 120 ies...

Strengths:

Super sharp, super angle(in 6x6) for most studio, beauty and fashion work

Weaknesses:

excuse me??

Similar Products Used:

Pentax 67 & 645, Mamiya RZ and Contax 645 AF.

Customer Service:

good

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Rating
Reviewed by: Nathan Wong
(Professional)

Review Date
August 3, 2000

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Review 4 of 7

Summary:

An excellent lens whether it's your first lens or your last. The versitility is second to none and the sharpness is fantastic. It's definitely as sharp as my 85mm Nikkor lens and medium format lenses aren't suppose to be as sharp as 35mm.

Strengths:

Very sharp from 1:1 with extension tubes to infinity. I own the CF version (essentially the same as the CFE) and it isn't optimized for infinity, but I shot a rooftop scene and I was able to pick out individual bricks in a building that was more than a mile away. The close focusing ability is second to none.

Weaknesses:

Relatively slow (f/4 is slow to me).

Similar Products Used:

60mm

Customer Service:

When my blades got messed up, Hasselblad fixed them up within a week.

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Rating
Reviewed by: armando conti
(Expert)

Review Date
April 26, 2000

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Visitors rate this review
4.50 of 5,
2 votes

Review 5 of 7

Model Reviewed:
CFI f/4 120mm

Summary:

The macro name may mislead some folks, this is not a high magnification lens. It is simply optimized for closer use, but the 135 should be used for maximum sharpness of true macro work, 1 to 1 or greater.

This lens is amazing at portraiture, and is still fantastic at distances of 20 or 30 feet.

Anything I have ever taken at 3 to 20 feet has simply stunned me. The sharpness and uniformity of image is wonderful. There are some lenses that look sharp, but not natural. This lens looks incredibly sharp at close distances, yet very natural.

The background blur is also beautiful. Natural, not edgy. If you shoot at the above mentioned distances and the field of view of a 120 would be good for you, you would love this lens.

Strengths:

Nice close focusing distance.

Weaknesses:

Not super sharp at infinity, which is not really a weakness but a characteristic of a lens optimized for closer use.

Similar Products Used:

Hass 50, 80, 100,150, 180, 250, 250 SA lenses.

Customer Service:

Never used.

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