hasselblad digital back for 500?

Question

Whats the cheapest solution for putting a digital back on a hasselblad 500?

Is a low pixel count really an issue?

Answer 1

Looking at KEH.com, I see that they have a couple of Imacon Ixpress 16 MP backs available for right at $8000. These have, I believe, a 37mm square sensor.

There's also a Kodak back of about the same vintage and with about the same resolution that sells for the same price or maybe a little bit less.

I personally wouldn't get too terribly caught up on the megapixel rating. The obvious comparison to the above backs would be Canon's 1Ds MKII, at 16.7 megapixels and about the same price.

Although I haven't personally done the comparison, two things come to mind that would point in favor of the Imacon-
1. On the Imacon back, the same number of pixels are spread out over a greater area. This means that any given pixel on the Imacon back is going to be physically larger than in the Canon back. As you probably know, larger pixels are better able to grab light, and, thus, for a given sensitivity, will generally have a lot less noise. This means that the Imacon files should look a lot cleaner.

2. By all accounts, the 1Ds MkII is very taxing of the lenses in use, only achieving the top resolution when using excellent lenses mounted on a tripod and all the other usual precautions. Since the Imacon has a lower pixel density(about the same as that of a 5mp APS-C DSLR), it's going to be a lot less demanding of the lens in use, and therefore quite easy to get the full resolution out of. This should be especially true when using the excellent Carl Zeiss lenses on the Hasselblad.