Few lenses can match the presence of the Kodak 178mm f2.5 Aero Ektar. Not only imposing in its size and weight (or radioactivity!), the Aero Ektar renders out-of-focus areas as shimmering swirls of light. This can be used to dramatic effect in portraiture, as seen in these portraits of friends of Blue Moon Franchesca and Christopher, and staff members Gabriel and Ashley. 

The Kodak 178mm f2.5 Aero Ektar is a WWII-era military lens designed for aerial surveillance. Today, it is prized for a quality quite different than its original application -- the enchanting, dream-like swirl of its bokeh. The Aero Ektar renders very circular bokeh with faint edge outlining, creating a "soap bubble" effect that, combined with the razor-thin depth-of-field at f2.5, dramatically separates subject and background. 

Aero Ektar lenses can be found mounted in their original flight housings, or pre-converted for use on medium and large format cameras. This particular example has been converted for Hasselblad 1000f mount to make use of the focal plane shutter with 1/1000 top speed. 

Nora, an old heart of Blue Moon Camera. She has seen lifetimes in color negatives.

Taken with: Hasselblad 1000f, Kodak 80mm f2.8 Ektar, Ilford XP2

The 80mm f2.8 Ektar throws backgrounds into a shimmer of bubbles. It also produces a distinct glow, especially visible here when blowing out the highlights wide-open in daylight. 

The Kodak 80mm f2.8 Ektar was the premium standard lens option for the discerning Hasselblad 1000f customer, costing more than the "budget" Zeiss optic. Today these lenses are quite uncommon. The Ektars have a spectacular out-of-focus rendering -- the bokeh is defined by dramatic "soap bubbles" that challenge even the much-vaunted Meyer Trioplan for character. 

There were a number of ways that the early Hasselblad 1000F cameras differed from the later 500C models. Today we are focusing on the early cameras' use of Kodak Ektar lenses.  From the beginning of the Hasselblad system, it was Kodak optics that graced the cameras, which may come as a surprise to some photographers who have only ever known these cameras paired with Carl Zeiss lenses.  While Carl Zeiss has a very long reputation for superb optics, in the 1940s and 50s, Kodak was making some pretty incredible lenses of their own.  The early lenses on the Hasselblad system were some of the best optics for their time.  When Hasselblad did eventually switch over to using Carl Zeiss lenses, our research indicates that it wasn't for better quality, but rather for lower costs.  Of course, Carl Zeiss lenses went on to become better and better (as well as more expensive).

Anyhow, when this Hasselblad 1000f passed through our shop in good working condition, with a Kodak Ektar lens on it, we were really curious to see how different this lens looked.  So we took it out with a roll of Rollei RPX 400 film and gave it a test.  The Ektar definitely renders bokeh in a very different fashion from the later Planars, and it also has quite a glow to it.  But hey, why describe it when we could simply show you!

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Much attention gets paid to the 500 series Hasselblad camera, but many don't realize there was a camera before the 500C. This camera, the 1000F, is the one that really gave birth to the Hasselblad reputation. And yes, there was the 1600F before that, and the HK-7 before that, but the 1000F is where so much of what we consider good about Hasselblad really came of age.⁠

⁠In 1952 Hasselblad unveiled the 1000F to succeed the 1600F, refining the earlier camera to make it more reliable and durable. There is a famous story of Modern Photography Magazine taking a new 1000F out to field test it by putting 500 rolls through the camera and intentionally dropping it twice (who is the monster that intentionally drops a Hasselblad?!). The camera held up, continuing to work flawlessly, and from there, the Hasselblad legend grew.⁠

⁠To hold a 1000F in your hands will be a familiar experience to any Hasselblad user. They look and feel much like a 500C, but there are some distinct differences. The largest difference is that the 1000F, and the 1600F before it, use a focal plane shutter. The name of the model is derived from the top shutter speed, much like the later 500 and 2000 cameras. Instead of setting the shutter speed on the lens, the body itself had the shutter dial. The lenses meanwhile were simple barrel lenses with aperture diaphragms. The lens mount on the 1600F/1000F was also different, being sort of a thread mount system that locked into place. Those early Hasselblad 1000F lenses are not compatible with the later 500 or 2000 bodies.⁠

⁠This 1000F is sadly not functioning, though we really wish it were. We'd love to take it for a spin ourselves and use this particular piece of history a bit. The focal plane shutter is shot, a common issue with these cameras these days. Oh well. It is still beautiful and noteworthy and well-deserving of a feature on here.

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