I made the switch to medium format late 2007 using a Phase
One P30+ digital back attached to a Mamiya AFD camera body. Among the lenses I was using at the time was
a 45mm Hartblei Super-Rotator made in Kiev, Ukraine which taking a huge leap of
faith I bought off E-Bay. After waiting
almost 30-days the lens arrived and boy was I impressed. The lens is heavy and well made with little
to no plastic with the setting numbers engraved and painted.
3-shot image 12mm left/right and center on tripod
f/11 1/320 ISO 64 (full spectrum)
I ended up using the lens in shots in the Redwoods and
Sequoia's among other locations with great success. The Super-Rotator is a unique design that
allows a tilt-shift capable of tilting in any axis. That's the good news; the
bad is that it is slow to use and requires deliberate thought. Manual focus and aperture ring allows the
lens to be used on multiple camera bodies with the proper adaptor (more on this
later). Set at zero the lens can be
shifted 12mm left, then rotating the lens to 180° it shifts 12mm right.
Likewise with the lens set at zero you can tilt the lens upwards then
rotating to 270° lower
it. You can also rotate in-between
shifting and using tilt to suit your needs.
The best way for me to describe this is to point to the website showing
the instructions which are found here. It can be confusing at first but like anything
after a little practice it becomes clear.
Lens attached to the Phase One DF
Adaptor for the Sony
Hartblei attached to the Sony A7r
Sadly I sold the lens shortly after getting my Cambo WRS
technical camera as I had (at that time) no need for a tilt/shift lens. Fast-forward to now. I've continued using the WRS as my main
landscape camera and am using a Phase One DF 645 camera body as well. I've also added the new Sony A7r after having
it converted first to shoot 665nm infrared and just recently having it
re-converted to capture full spectrum (more on this later).
Sunbeam Rest Area I-8 California
Handheld with slight amount of rise
830nm IR
Another example of slight rise (tilt)
Lens centered and handheld
I found that I wanted/needed a lens capable of tilt/shift
for the 7r. I could have added a Canon
tilt/shift lens however I wanted a lens that could be used on the 7r or
the DF body and instantly thought of the Hartblei. The added benefit of using the 45mm Hartblei
was the ability to use additional filters as well as my placing it on the 7r it
captures the "sweet-spot" of the medium format lens as well as making
it into a wide 28mm. Best of both
worlds.
Two classic examples of not thinking it thru. I had originally wanted to see what a square
image would look like however instead of shooting the required 9-files I only
shot 7. At least I did get a good pano
as evidenced of the first image shows.
Then there's this one. As I was returning home I came across a small cattle drive. Not having much time to switch lenses or add filters I made sure the lens was centered and captured this in full spectrum. The file was later processed using a combination of Capture One 8 and Photoshop CC and Nik Software.
f/11 1/320 ISO 64
Placing any medium format lens on the 7r works well as the
35mm sensor works with the center of the lens which is the sweet spot of just
about all lens. I've written about this before and won't go into it again. Placing a tilt/shift lens on a mirrorless camera
is a great idea. With any lens on a
mirrorless camera you are seeing what the sensor sees which aids in shutter
speed and aperture. Adding a tilt/shit
lens adds to the experience as you instantly see what the changes are as you
make them in live view. Again, using
this or any tilt/shift lens requires deliberate thought as to what effect you
are looking for (I'll address more later).
In short, I'm extremely pleased with the lens and look forward to using
it for years to come.
This will become a two-part series addressing/showing how
the Hartblie Super-Rotator works first on the Sony A7r then on the Phase One DF
with an IQ160 digital.
As always, let me know if you have any questions that I can
answer.
Don
Hi, thanks for posting this! There isn't much info about these lenses on the web, so any user experience is very valuable. BUT, as far as I know the internet site of the Hartblei lens producer is www.hartbleilens.com or www.hartblei.de and NOT www.hartblei.com!
ReplyDeleteHartblei.com is a sort of a scam, a former employee owns the site you provided the link to (www.hartblei.com) and he does not produce any lenses, notice that he has never have them in stock. You can contact Stefan Steib at www.hartblei.de to verify this.
Thank you for the comment. I had written to Stefan off of getdpi.com who told me to get the lens off eBay.
ReplyDeleteHi Guys,
ReplyDeleteI recently purchased the latest version of this lens to use on my Mamiya 645DF fitted with an IQ260 digital back. However, so far my results from using this lens have been very disappointing. Either using front tilt or not the outer edges of the image are very soft whilst the central portion is tack sharp. Your images seem to be sharp across the whole frame, any ideas where I may be going wrong ?.
Regards, Chris
Chrissy, thank you for your question. The images posted here where all taken using a Sony A7r using an adaptor to mount the medium format lens to a 35mm body. I have also used the lens on my Phase One DF/IQ180 with great success.
DeleteA couple things of note using this lens. It's a beast no matter what camera you have it mounted on and focusing can be troublesome. The best practice I found in focusing is to open the lens up wide open; the additional light should help in the focusing. Once you have the focus set then stop down to where you want to capture the image. Don
Hi Thanks for this.
ReplyDeleteHave bought the lens spurred on by this review. Have a 645DF and Apus 10 MK2 back and a Sony A7r MK2
Same set as your self. I don't expect it to be at the same level as the Schneider glass I have on the 645 DF ( but hoping to be surprised ) but expecting great things from it on the Sony. Will let you know. I am looking forward to more from you on this. Thanks again.
Lee - It’s a decent enough lens while giving you movements on whatever you mount it on; just don’t expect miracles. Since writing this I’ve gone through a major change up in my gear selling almost all my prime lenses for my MF and scaling back on the IR camera. My major lens for the IR is a super wide 12mm (will be writing about this shortly) while keeping the 24-50 and 50 f/.95.
DeleteThe biggest change is what I’m now doing with medium format – again I’ll be writing about this shortly.
Best of luck
Don
Hi Nice review. Where did you get that adapter as the one I have Fotodiox Pro will not fit
ReplyDeleteLee, I got mine from B&H Photo (please use our link to visit)
DeleteDon
Hello. I had the version of PhaseOne before and I was really disappointed for the distortion of that lens. I don’t know exactly how the distortion controlled of this version of Hartblei 45/3.5. Any one knows the difference between the Old version of this super-rotator and this new version? There is the difference in the price on their website. Thanks.
ReplyDelete