Hasselblad 202FA

Hasselblad · Hasselblad V mount · 6×6cm on 120 (12 exposures with the E12 or any A12); 220 via A24/E24-type magazines; 6×4.5 via A16-type magazines; 70mm perforated film and Polaroid backs also listed in the instruction manual's specification. E-type and TCC magazines pass the film speed to the body over the databus; ordinary A magazines work with the speed keyed in through the Pr1 function. · 1998

Also known as: Hasselblad 202FA · Hasselblad 202 FA · 202FA · 202 FA · Hasselblad 202-FA · Hasselblad 202FA body · Hasselblad 202FA E12 · Hasselblad 202FA Planar 80mm FE · ハッセルブラッド 202FA

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
202FA, chrome	Hasselblad V	1998–2002	—	—
202FA, black	Hasselblad V	1998–2002	—	—

Years from Hasselblad Historical's V-system model table (1998–2002), agreeing with English Wikipedia and camera-wiki.org; the Japanese Wikipedia product list gives only the release year 1998. Focal-plane body production as a whole ended in 2004 per the same table.

How to tell them apart (expand)

'202FA' on the front nameplate; two parallel blue lines — the TCC/FE system mark — on the left-hand side of the body, the lenses, the E magazines and the winder
No shutter-speed ring around the lens bayonet: the manual's 78-item parts list names none, the specification calls the speed lock 'electronic', and manual speeds are set with the adjustment buttons and read in the display. The M-mode text nonetheless refers once to 'the shutter speed ring', a sentence that reads as carried over from the 203FE manual
Mode selector dial on the left side marked Pr, A, D, M and ML, with the red-ringed AE-lock button at its centre; two adjustment buttons, a PC socket and a 6-pin dedicated flash connector under a cover, and a display-illumination button alongside
Four databus contacts on the lens bayonet plate and four more on the rear magazine interface; the manual warns not to touch them
Battery cassette for a 6 V PX28L lithium cell in the lower front corner of the left side; an external battery cassette with extension cord was catalogued for cold weather
Black textile blinds visible through the rear opening when the magazine is off — the 2000-series bodies show corrugated titanium foil
Acute-Matte D screen with a dotted 28mm metering circle; LCD above the screen with a red warning triangle, green flash-ready symbol, battery and magazine symbols
Self-timer indicator lamp to the left of the lens mount; rubber grip cushion along the lower right edge with a moulded film-plane index
Listing trap: dealers describe the 202FA as 'compatible with CF lenses' — true only at the F setting with the leaf shutter locked open; C and CB lenses, which have no F setting, cannot be used at all

202FA, chrome:

Satin-chrome trim with black leatherette; '202FA' on the front nameplate
Hasselblad part number 10542 for the body (instruction manual, equipment list; also quoted by Kamerastore)
Chrome focusing hood E, part number 42317, supplied with the body

202FA, black:

Black-finished body; '202FA' on the front nameplate
Hasselblad part number 10546 (instruction manual: '202FA camera body, black 10546, supplied as 10542 above, but equipped with black focusing hood')

202FA, chrome: The standard finish. The instruction manual lists the chrome body as P/N 10542, supplied with winding crank E (44096), chrome focusing hood E (42317), Acute-Matte D screen (42210), standard strap (59110), front protective cover (51438) and the Rear cover MultiControl (51020). The same page describes a complete outfit of chrome body, Zeiss Planar FE 2.8/80 and chrome E12 magazine; the two outfit numbers printed beside the descriptions read 11099 and 11101 in the scan, and which is chrome and which black cannot be told from the OCR. No factory production figure has been published for either finish.
202FA, black: Attested by the instruction manual's equipment list, which gives the black body its own part number and a black focusing hood E (the hood number reads 42325 in the scan). A black outfit with black Planar FE 2.8/80 and black E12 is described on the same page. No production split is published and Hasselblad Historical's table says nothing about finishes.

Serial-range notes

two-digit product prefix + two-letter date code + digits, e.g. 14SS…, ??ER…, ??EE…, ??SV…, ??SH…: Hasselblad bodies carry a two-letter year code read with VHPICTURES (V=1 H=2 P=3 I=4 C=5 T=6 U=7 R=8 E=9 S=0), preceded from 1990 by a two-digit product prefix that Q.G. de Bakker's dating page on Hasselblad Historical says is for factory records only. For the 202FA's production years the letters read ER (1998), EE (1999), SS (2000), SV (2001) and SH (2002). A single dealer listing quoted on vintagetechnologyarchive.com gives a chrome body as '14SS11083, produced in 2000', which would make 14 the 202FA's product prefix — one serial from one listing, not confirmed by any other source. No serial has been examined for this entry.

Specifications

Format: 6×6cm on 120 (12 exposures with the E12 or any A12); 220 via A24/E24-type magazines; 6×4.5 via A16-type magazines; 70mm perforated film and Polaroid backs also listed in the instruction manual's specification. E-type and TCC magazines pass the film speed to the body over the databus; ordinary A magazines work with the speed keyed in through the Pr1 function. · 12 on 120 (E12/A12); 16 at 6×4.5 (A16); 24 on 220 (A24/E24) exposures
Finder: waist-level, interchangeable (prism and meter-prism finders available)
Shutter: mechanically powered, electronically controlled focal-plane shutter with two textile blinds running left to right — the manual gives a running time of 1/90 s; one blind is always exposed in the opening when the magazine is off. No C position: the leaf shutters of C and CF lenses cannot be used · 34 min–1/1000 s and B; in the A and D modes the processor sets 90 s–1/1000 in 1/12 EV steps from 1/1000 to 16 s and 1/4 EV steps from 16 s to 90 s, with the display rounded to half steps; in M and ML the speed is set in half-stop increments with the adjustment buttons and shown in the display · flash sync 1/90 s and slower (dedicated 6-pin TTL/OTF connector and a PC socket; at faster speeds the PC terminal is disconnected and no flash fires). Flash film-speed range ISO 25–1000, with a −3 to +1 EV flash adjustment in the Pr3 function · self-timer
Film advance: Folding crank — one full turn cocks the shutter, resets the mirror and advances the film; a pre-release lever lifts the mirror ahead of exposure and a second press starts the self-timer (default 10 s, programmable 2–60 s in 13 steps in the Pr2 function). A double-exposure button in the crank hub rewinds the shutter without advancing the film. The crank is removable and the hub takes the Hasselblad Winder F
Back: interchangeable magazines — E12 (supplied in the outfit), E24 and the earlier A12TCC/A24TCC with four databus contacts and a film-speed dial (ISO 12–6400 in 1/3 steps) read by the body; ordinary A12/A16/A24, 70mm and Polaroid magazines fit, with the film speed entered in the Pr1 function and a magazine symbol shown in the display. Supplied with the Rear cover MultiControl to protect the blinds
Meter: Built-in TTL centre-weighted selective meter reading a 28mm circle — about 20% of the image area — at full aperture with FE lenses and stopped-down with F, CF and CFE lenses; range EV 0.5 to about EV 21.5 at ISO 100 and f/2.8 (the specification page's upper figure is partly illegible in the scan); film speed ISO 12–6400 from an E/TCC magazine dial or the Pr1 function. Mode selector on the left side: Pr (programming — film speed, self-timer delay, flash adjustment), A (aperture-priority automatic with AE-lock at the release pressure point), D (Differential — locks a reading and displays the deviation of subsequent readings), M (manual, with the deviation from the metered value displayed) and ML (manual with the shutter speed locked). ±5 EV compensation; 16 s auto-off with settings retained; eight 7-segment figures in the display with one or two dashes for third-steps
Motor drive: Hasselblad Winder F — The winder bayonet under the crank is inherited from the 2000FCW/2003FCW and the other 200-series bodies. The manual quotes 'a maximum frame rate of 1.3 frames per second'.
Weight: 750 g
Dimensions: 88 × 117 × 110 body only (instruction manual, length × width × height); 185 × 117 × 110 with focusing hood, Planar FE 2.8/80 and E12 magazine. Kamerastore gives 119 × 99 × 87, without saying what is included mm
Country: Sweden
Accessories: E12 and E24 magazines with film-speed dial on the databus (A12TCC/A24TCC equivalents also read); A-type, 70mm and Polaroid magazines with the speed keyed in · Prism finders 90° and 45°, with and without meter, and magnifying hood — TCC-system finders with the display recess · Hasselblad Winder F — up to 1.3 frames/s · D-Flash 40 dedicated TTL/OTF flash; SCA 390 and SCA 590 adapters for SCA-system units · Converter 1.4XE, Teleconverter 2XE and PC-Mutar 1.4× shift converter; E-type extension tubes with databus connections · External battery cassette with extension cord for cold-weather use · Tripod quick-coupling S and Snap-lock flash grip on the quick-coupling plate; 1/4-inch tripod thread

Folding focusing hood E over an Acute-Matte D screen ('designed by MINOLTA' in the manual's footnote) carrying a circle of dots 28mm across that marks the metering field. The manual calls the hood's magnifier 4× in one section and 4.5× in another and on the specification page; correction plates from +3 to −4 dioptres are listed. An LCD sits above the top edge of the screen behind a daylight-illumination window in front of the 'Hasselblad' sign; it reads reversed through the hood and the processor re-orients the figures when a prism is fitted. The manual specifies the hood as interchangeable with 90° and 45° prism finders, with or without meter, and the magnifying hood — the finders 'within the TCC system' that carry the display recess.

Where sources disagree

Meter (manual mode)

'No manual mode' — Hasselblad Historical's V-system model table; 'kein Bracketing' and the same list of omissions in German Wikipedia; vintagetechnologyarchive.com 'no manual exposure mode'
M and ML modes with 'completely manually controlled exposure' and 'manual shutter speed setting in half stop increments' — 202FA instruction manual, operating modes and specification

Better supported: the manual; what the 202FA lacks is a mechanical shutter-speed ring and any speed without battery power, not a manual mode as such

The table's one-line summaries compress features; the manual's M mode sets speeds electronically with the adjustment buttons and displays the deviation from the metered value

Weight (grams)

750 g body alone; 1630 g with hood, Planar FE 2.8/80, E12 and battery — 202FA instruction manual, specification
637 g — Kamerastore product page (configuration not stated)

Better supported: 750 g — the manufacturer's manual

Dimensions (mm)

88 × 117 × 110 mm body only — 202FA instruction manual
119 × 99 × 87 mm — Kamerastore product page

Better supported: the manual; Kamerastore's figures match no configuration the manual describes

Historical significance (basis model)

'Like 203 FE' — Hasselblad Historical; 'based on 203FE with some features removed' — Nakamura; 'based on the 203 FE' — vintagetechnologyarchive.com; '203FEと201Fの中間版' (between the 203FE and 201F) — Japanese Wikipedia
'a follow-up to the 205FCC with a few features removed' — Kamerastore

Better supported: the 203FE — every other source, and the 202FA's mode set (Pr, A, D, M, ML) is the 203FE's without bracketing rather than the 205FCC's Zone mode

What reviewers say

Karen Nakamura, photoethnography.com (blog) — Tabulates the 202FA as a 203FE with features removed — centre-weighted automatic exposure kept, but only its own focal-plane shutter, no C lenses at all, no CF/CFE leaf shutters and a 1/1000 top speed — and records it as 'voted "Most Disliked Camera" in the 200 series', recommending the 203FE as the series' workhorse instead.
Hasselblad Expert (YouTube) (video) — A 2020 field test with 120mm, 135mm-plus-variable-tube and 180mm lenses on 17-year-expired Kodak 400VC; finds the metering accurate and the body convenient and versatile hand-held, with no complaint about the missing C mode.

History

Why this camera matters

The last new body in Hasselblad's focal-plane line and the only one without a C mode. Hasselblad Historical's table describes it as 'Like 203 FE, shortest shutterspeed 1/1000 s. No manual mode, no bracketing, not compatible with C-Planar and CB lenses' — a 203FE stripped for price, sold from 1998 to 2002, while the 203FE and 205FCC continued to 2004. Its instruction manual is the clearest statement of Hasselblad's late-1990s FE system: the six FE lenses (50, 80, 110, 150, 250, 350), the CFE 5.6/350 Superachromat, the 60–120 zoom and the E-series converters and tubes, with every CF and CFE lens from 30 to 500mm usable only at the F setting. Because it lacks the C position, Hasselblad Historical judges it 'unsuited for use with digital backs'; Hasselblad's own marketing channel nevertheless published footage shot on a 202FA with the CFV 100C in 2025 and 2026.

The 202FA is the body Hasselblad added at the bottom of its metered focal-plane range in 1998, and the last new model the 200-series received. Hasselblad Historical’s V-system table gives it four years on the market, 1998 to 2002, and describes it in a single line as ‘Like 203 FE, shortest shutterspeed 1/1000 s. No manual mode, no bracketing, not compatible with C-Planar and CB lenses’. English and German Wikipedia, camera-wiki and Karen Nakamura’s photoethnography.com table agree on the dates, and the Japanese Wikipedia product list — citing Kikan Classic Camera No. 5 and Yamagata Toshinori’s memoir of used-camera collecting — places it ‘between the 203FE and the 201F’. No source names the show at which it appeared.

What was kept is most of the 203FE. The instruction manual describes a mechanically powered, electronically controlled shutter with two textile blinds crossing the gate in 1/90 s, speeds from 34 minutes to 1/1000 and B, and a selective centre-weighted meter reading a 28mm circle — about a fifth of the frame — at full aperture with FE lenses and stopped down with anything else. The mode dial carries Pr, A, D, M and ML: programming, aperture-priority automatic, the Differential mode that stores one reading and displays every later deviation from it, manual with the deviation shown, and manual with the speed locked. Film speed comes over the databus from an E or TCC magazine, ISO 12–6400, or is keyed in through Pr1 for ordinary A backs; the self-timer delay and a −3 to +1 EV flash correction are the other programmable values. Flash is TTL/OTF through a six-pin dedicated connector, with the D-Flash 40 or an SCA 390 adapter, at 1/90 and slower.

What was removed is the point of the camera, and the sources describe it in different words. The top speed fell from the 203FE’s 1/2000 to 1/1000. The bracketing function went. There is no shutter-speed ring around the bayonet — the manual’s 78-item parts list names none and the specification calls the speed lock ‘electronic’, although one sentence in the M-mode text still refers to ‘the shutter speed ring’, which reads as carried over from the 203FE manual. Most consequentially, the ring’s C position went with it: the manual states flatly that ‘the built-in leaf shutters of C and CF lenses cannot be used when fitted to a 202FA’ and that ‘CF lenses can only be used at the F-setting’. C lenses and the 1997 CB lenses have no F setting and so cannot be mounted usefully at all, which is what Hasselblad Historical’s ‘not compatible with C-Planar and CB lenses’ means. Hasselblad Historical’s ‘no manual mode’ should be read against the manual’s M and ML modes: what the 202FA lacks is a mechanical speed setting and any exposure without a battery, not a manual mode as such.

The lens list in the manual is the FE system as it stood in 1998: FE 50, 80, 110, 150, 250 and 350, the CFE 5.6/350 Tele-Superachromat, the 60–120 zoom, the 1.4XE and 2XE converters and the PC-Mutar, plus ‘all CF and CFE lenses (at F-setting only) from 30 to 500 mm’. F lenses from the 2000-series work the same way but show two dashes instead of an aperture in the display. The body is a one-piece aluminium casting weighing 750 g, 1630 g with the Planar FE 2.8/80, hood, E12 and PX28L battery, and measures 88 × 117 × 110 mm alone; two finishes were catalogued, chrome as P/N 10542 and black as 10546, each also sold as an outfit with an 80mm Planar FE and an E12.

The camera’s reputation was fixed early. Nakamura’s table records it as ‘voted “Most Disliked Camera” in the 200 series’ and steers readers to the 203FE as the workhorse; the same limitation is what leads Hasselblad Historical to call it ‘unsuited for use with digital backs’, since a back on a 202FA is confined to speeds of 1/90 and slower with no leaf shutter to fall back on. That has not stopped Hasselblad’s own channel publishing two films in 2025 and 2026 shot on a 202FA with the CFV 100C, which is the most attention the model has had from its maker since 2002.

What remains open is nearly everything a collector would want. No list price in any currency has been found; Kamerastore’s 637 g and 119 × 99 × 87 mm contradict the manual’s figures and match no configuration it describes; Kamerastore alone derives the 202FA from the 205FCC rather than the 203FE. The product prefix rests on a single dealer serial, 14SS11083, quoted second-hand. No production figure has been published for either finish, and Richard Nordin’s Hasselblad Compendium (2011), where one would look, has not been consulted for this entry. Nor has any source been found for the month of launch or for the reason the model was dropped two years before the 203FE and 205FCC.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

More sample photos elsewhere

Flickr — photos tagged 202fa

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Live listings

Asking price, EUR: a median of €3,900 across 6 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-06 (middle half €3,000–€4,200). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Hasselblad 202FA Gehäuse Body Chrom mit Lichtschachtsucher — €2,490.00 · eBay
Hasselblad 202FA + Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm f/2.8 FE, Rare Collectors Camera — €2,999.00 · eBay
Hasselblad 202FA+Planar CFE 2,8/80mm +Magazin A24 — €3,900.00 · eBay
[Top NEUWERTIG] Hasselblad 202FA PM90 Kamera CFE 80mm f2.8 E12 Film... — €4,225.67 · eBay
Hasselblad 202FA mit Zeiss Planar CFE 2,8/80 T* Lens & E12 Magazin 6x6 SET — €4,490.00 · eBay
Hasselblad 202FA mit Planar CFE 2,8/80 T* Carl Zeiss Lens & E12 Magazin 6x6 SET — €4,690.00 · eBay
Hasselblad 202FA Film Camera + 80mm f/2.8 T* F Lens + PM90 Finder + E12 Back — A$6,997.00 · eBay
[Top MINT] Hasselblad 202FA PM90 camera CFE 80mm f2.8 E12 Film Back From JAPAN — £3,613.69 · eBay
[Top MINT] Hasselblad 202FA PM90 camera CFE 80mm f2.8 E12 Film Back From JAPAN — $4,699.99 · eBay

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Listings updated 2026-09-05. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.