Specifically aimed at those high-end 35mm DSLR users who are increasingly looking to buy in to the superior quality offered by a Hasselblad H3DII DSLR - now available at a far more attractive price point - Hasselblad today launches its HCD 4-5.6/35-90mm Aspherical zoom lens. Complementing Hasselblad’s existing HC 3.5-4.5/50-110mm zoom lens, the new HCD 35-90mm lens offers a wider angle of view to provide new Hasselblad users with a range corresponding to a 25-70mm zoom on a 35mm DSLR.

The HCD 3.5-4.5/35-90mm Aspherical, which can be used with all H3D camera systems, is also the first HC/HCD lens to employ glass elements with aspherical surfaces, allowing more compact designs with fewer lens elements. Compared with the HC 3.5-4.5/50-110mm lens, not only does it provide a wider angle of view, but it is also thinner and about one third lighter, while still delivering an image quality far superior to a zoom lens on a 35mm DSLR, without any loss in the flexibility.

To achieve its compact form, the light projection of the lens has been designed for the ‘48mm full format’ sensor of the H3DII-39 and H3DII-50. At the wide-angle setting, in particular, Hasselblad’s designers have balanced improvements in lens performance with a slightly greater distortion and vignetting as these are eliminated by Hasselblad’s Digital APO Correction (DAC) without any compromise on quality. The outcome is a powerful tool that zooms from an impressive 83 degree, wide-angle to just beyond the fringes of a normal lens.

Christian Poulsen, Hasselblad’s Chief Executive Officer, comments, “As well as providing existing customers with the finest photographic instruments to create the finest digital photographs, we’re also obviously eager to help new customers, who feel they are reaching the limit of the image quality of 35mm DSLRs, to move up to a Hasselblad and experience the full range of additional benefits provided by the medium format DSLR. We’ve therefore significantly reduced the prices of our H3DII camera systems to make them more attractive and financially viable propositions and are introducing accessories, such as the new zoom lens, to appeal to the high-end 35mm user.”

“Like all HC/HCD lenses,” he continues, “the new HCD 4-5.6/35-90mm Aspherical zoom lens has been designed to generate the highest optical quality, but the use of aspherically surfaced glass elements has, for the first time, also allowed us to design a lighter and more compact lens. The zoom range of the lens also lends itself to universal usage to such an extent that photographers may well find that it covers all their needs - we like to think of it as the Swiss Army knife of zoom lenses!”

The Hasselblad HCD 4-5.6/35-90mm Aspherical zoom lens is priced at €4,990/$6996/£4,050 excluding tax and will be available from January 2009.