Hasselblad 40mm

I was just looking over specs for the Hasselblad lenses.

Note the minimum focusing distances of each lens:

40mm C = 20 inches
50mm C = 20 inches
60mm C = 21 inches
80mm C = 36 inches
120mm C = 36 inches
150mm C = 60 inches
250mm C = 96 inches

I want to make sure my thinking is correct on something.

It's my understanding that a macro lens is defined as giving a 1:1 ratio

In other words just because a 50mm lens can focus on an object at 20 inches doesn't mean it's going to give a 1:1 ratio therefore it would be disqualified and incorrect to say that it is a macro lens....correct?

Can you get a 1:1 macro out of one of the wide angles...say...such as the 60mm listed above?

Many older macro lenses held the macro title while only giving 1:2 reproduction, so 1:1 isn't a necessity for a lens to be classified as a macro lens. I'm not familiar with medium format camera systems too much, but with 35mm SLRs you can simply reverse the lens on a reversal ring to get near macro performance. True macro lenses for MF tend to be very expensive products, moreso than with 35mm.

Focal length doesn't have much to do with macro capabilities. Some lengths are probably nearly impossible to refine to such levels, hence the reason most macros fall between 50-200mm for 35mm film (and probably some corresponding number for MF).

1:1 simply means that if you take a picture of a coin at the highest magnification level and develop the frame and put the coin ontop of the frame of film, the real coin will match the size of the portrayed coin in the negative exactly.

Just as a reference, the Hasselblad 120mm f/4 HC Macro lens has a minimum focusing distance of 15 inches, doing 1:1 at that distance.

2008-02-23 20:25:23 by TheGoodFight

ebay Auktion Hasselblad Distagon 4/40mm