Hasselblad SWC

Chicago With The Hasselblad SWC

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I’ve been taking semi frequent excersions to Chicago lately on business trips so of course it was only a matter of time before I brought a camera to make some photographs around the city while I had some downtime. I’ve quickly discovered that from a street photography perspective, Chicago is quite an amazing place. The Hasselblad SWC is an obvious choice for this city because the incredibly wide angle lens native to the camera allowed me to just take it all in. The architecture in Chicago is just gorgeous! I could easily burn through twenty rolls of film in a single afternoon if given the opportunity. One of these days I’d like to take a week long trip to Chicago with nothing to do but walk around and take pictures.

Photographed with a Hasselblad SWC and Ilford FP4 120 film.

Unfortunately I noticed when I got home and started developing some rolls of film that the back I use with my Hasselblad SWC had a light leak. What a bummer! The tall buildings in Chicago block out a lot of light so only certain rolls had a leak that was visible, but it did sadly ruin quite a few shots I would have otherwise liked. Oh well. A quick repair kit that cost me $15 has since corrected the issue (seriously, repairing light leaks on a Hasselblad back is incredibly easy), but I’m still bummed I had to discover the problem after it was too late. The challenges of working with film sometimes…

Photographed with a Hasselblad SWC and Ilford FP4 120 film.

Traveling with film these days can unfortunately be a bit of a logistical nightmare. Modern airport security scans will ruin your film. Though technically you can request a hand check from the TSA so your film doesn’t go through a scanner, I have found this to be hit or miss. Sometimes a friendly TSA agent is cooperative about this, sometimes they aren’t. So I’ve gotten in the habit of shipping my film to my hotel ahead of me and shipping it home before I leave. It’s not the most convenient thing, and it does come at a cost, but it is worth it to ensure that my film isn’t fogged or damaged when I go to develop it later. If I’m going to invest the time to make images on film I don’t want that time wasted thanks to airport security.

Photographed with a Hasselblad SWC and Ilford FP4 120 film.

Doing street photography with the Hasselblad SWC is quite easy though. It’s one of the reasons I really like this camera as it is not nearly as complicated as it would maybe first appear. For exposures I just use the sunny 16 rule and the depth of field is so long with the wide angle lens that I really don’t have to worry about critical focus all that much. So more or less the camera just becomes a point a shoot. Given the “open shade” of the tall buildings in Chicago most of the frames on this day where photographed at f/8 with focus set to infinity. Super easy.

It’s hard to argue with a point and shoot with a fantastic Zeiss lens and a big 6x6 negative. Plus, for a medium format camera the SWC is fairly compact. Not at all a problem to carry around on foot over long distances.

Using the Hasselblad SWC In Small Spaces

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I’ve mentioned before on this blog how much I really like using the Hasselblad SWC. The 38mm Biogon lens is an absolute marvel and I very much appreciate the almost point and shoot nature of working with the SWC. Set your focus distance, meter the scene, and you are good to go just pointing and clicking to your hearts content.

Photograph of a nude model made with a Hasselblad SWC and Ilford Pan F ISO 50 film.

I’ve noticed a lot of camera reviewers making hay about having to “guess” the focus distance with this camera but in real world use I have found this to be a complete non-issue. Even at a wide open aperture, the depth of field is so wide I never miss out on focus.

There is one scenario where the Hasselblad SWC can be a bit of a challenging tool - working in tight spaces. To be fair, I’m not sure the SWC was really meant for small rooms. This is a landscape camera through and through. However, I’ve never been one to be contend with using a camera purely in the situations it was designed for. I recently used the Hasselblad SWC on a balcony overlooking downtown Portland that was about four feet wide and only about three feet deep. It was tight quarters for sure, but I think the Hasselblad SWC is perhaps the only camera I own that could have pulled off some good images at all.

Photograph of a nude model made with a Hasselblad SWC and Ilford Pan F ISO 50 film.

The challenge to using the SWC in small spaces is the fact that the closer you get to your subject, the more the viewfinder on the top of the camera becomes “off”. The fancy term for this would be Parallax Error. In other words, what I’m framing with the viewfinder on the top of the camera isn’t the same thing the lens is seeing just below it. When your subject is far away, the difference is minuscule and practically undetectable. The closer one gets to the subject, the more dramatic the difference is. On a tiny balcony I was forced to be only a few feet from the model meaning I was guessing my adjustments big time.

Thankfully practice can make perfect. Or as perfect as visual art can be anyway.

3 Frames with the Hasselblad SWC

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A little over a year ago I purchased a Hasselblad SWC on a bit of a whim. It’s one of those cameras I’ve always wanted but I wasn’t sure how much I would actually use it and prices for them tend to be on the high end. However one afternoon while browsing around Facebook Marketplace I found a listing for a copy at a price I was willing to pay. It was advertised as a camera that had been well used but was fully functional with clean glass so I jumped at it. COVID was in full swing at the time and I was looking for an excuse to get outside with my camera so ultimately it seemed like fate was falling right at my feet.

Photographed with a Hasselblad SWC and Kodak Tmax 400 medium format film.

For those who aren’t aware of the Hasselblad SWC, it is basically a traditional Hasselblad built around a fixed and very wide angle lens. The 38mm f/4.5 Biogon to be specific. In the world of medium format that is an incredibly wide focal length. Ken Rockwell has a good overview of the system and goes into more detail about it than I need to so if you are interested in reading up on the technical specks I recommend his page dedicated to the subject.

The example that I purchased is technically a Hasselblad SWC/M with the “M” indicating the camera was “Modified” from its original version. Basically it was modified to fit a Polaroid back which I do not own and will never use. Despite a few upgrades to the viewfinder and coating on the lenses, all Hasselblad SWC cameras are more or less the same in operation and performance.

Photographed with a Hasselblad SWC and Kodak Tmax 400 medium format film.

The images in this post are all from my very first test roll with the Hasselblad SWC. Clearly I was fascinated with looking up into the trees on my first outing with the camera. I couldn’t help it. The field of view with the Hasselblad SWC is wide. Almost shockingly wide. When you are a photographer that just enjoys looking through a quality viewfinder working with the SWC for the first time is a thrilling experience. The whole world opens up! In fact it is a more than a little intimidating to figure out what to do with all that information that will inevitably be in your frame.

I’ve used a lot of cameras in my life, but the Hasselblad SWC feels like something entirely different, new, and has opened up a lot of creative possibilities I never even considered before. After exposing only a few frames I quickly found myself asking why I waited so long to purchase one.

Photographed with a Hasselblad SWC and Kodak Tmax 400 medium format film.

I’ve been surprised by the Hasselblad SWC in practice in the sense that it operates a lot like a point and shoot camera. A little bigger and boxer perhaps then most cameras one would use in a point and shoot style You compose your shot through a viewfinder on the top of the camera and focus by guessing the distance. That may sound imprecise and difficult on paper but in the real world it is incredibly easy. The field of view is so wide and the depth of field so long that you have to work pretty hard to get an image out of focus. This is especially true when working outdoors and with a slightly faster film where apertures in the f/8 to f/16 range are the norm. Using the sunny 16 rule for exposure I just point the camera and click and I don’t think all that hard about it. Most of my frames have come out incredible.

The 38mm Biogon is practically distortion free with no vignetting at all. Most extremely wide angle lens I’ve seen and used have darkness and soft corners but not the Biogon. Leave it to Zeiss I suppose to deliver when it comes to lens quality. I’ve posted a few other images on this blog using the SWC with more serious work, but I thought it would be fun to post a few frames from my very first roll. I suppose just looking up at the sky and at nearby tree limps isn’t the most exciting use of the Hasselblad SWC, but hey, you’ve got to test a new camera out on something right?