Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Hasselblad 205FCC

Hasselblad · Hasselblad V mount · 6×6cm on 120 (12 exposures with the E12CC, E12, A12TCC or any A12 magazine); 220 via the E24CC/E24/A24; 6×4.5 via the E16/A16. The instruction manual allows any standard Hasselblad magazine, including Polaroid backs, with the film speed entered by hand in the Pr5 function. · 1995

Also known as: Hasselblad 205FCC · Hasselblad 205 FCC · 205FCC · 205 FCC · Hasselblad 205-FCC · Hasselblad 205FCC body · Hasselblad 205FCC E12CC · Hasselblad 205FCC Planar 80mm FE · ハッセルブラッド 205FCC

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
205FCC, chrome Hasselblad V 1995–2004 — No factory figure is published. A dealer listing (Schouten Select) claimed 'about 800 pieces' made 1995–2002 without naming a source; every other source has production to 2004. Richard Nordin's Hasselblad Compendium (2011) is where a figure would be found and has not been consulted here.
205FCC, factory-modified for digital backs Hasselblad V — — —
  1. Years from Hasselblad Historical's V-system model table (1995–2004), agreeing with English and German Wikipedia and camera-wiki.org. A Schouten Select dealer listing gave 1995–2002; the Japanese Wikipedia product list gives only the release year 1995.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • '205FCC' on the front nameplate; two parallel blue lines on the left-hand side of the body and grip cushion — the mark carried by every databus item (body, FE lenses, E/ECC magazines, FCC finders)
  • Mode selector dial marked Pr, Ab, D, Z, M with the red-ringed AE-lock button at its centre — a 205TCC reads Pr, A, D, Z, M
  • Shutter-speed ring around the lens bayonet marked B, 1 to 1/2000 (half-step clicks, a flash symbol at 1/90) and a red C position; the ring locks at B and C with the lens-catch button
  • Four databus contacts on the lens bayonet plate and four more on the rear magazine interface; the manual warns not to touch them with fingers
  • Adjustment buttons, PC socket and six-pin dedicated flash connector under a cover, and a display-illumination button, on the left-side control panel; a flashing red self-timer lamp left of the lens mount
  • Battery cassette in the lower front corner of the left side for a 6 V PX28L (or PX28, UCAR 544, 4SR44, 4G-13)
  • Black textile curtains visible through the rear opening when the magazine is off, where the 2000-series bodies show corrugated titanium foil
  • Focusing hood with the display recess; earlier hoods and prisms without it do not fit
  • Quick-coupling plate with 1/4" and 3/8" tripod threads; rubber grip cushion along the lower right edge with a moulded film-plane index

205FCC, chrome:

  • Satin-chrome trim with black leatherette; '205FCC' on the front nameplate
  • Hasselblad part number 10588 — the manual's specification page says 'chrome finish only P/N 10588'
  • Mode selector dial on the left side reads Pr, Ab, D, Z, M — the 205TCC's A position is replaced by Ab (automatic bracketing)
  • Two parallel blue lines (the system mark) on the left-hand side of the body, the grip cushion and every databus-equipped accessory

205FCC, factory-modified for digital backs:

  • A small service label inside warning technicians of the modification, according to owners on mediumformatforum.com; no external marking
  • With an E or ECC film magazine fitted the body no longer reads the magazine's film-speed dial — the display defaults to ISO 100 and the speed must be set in Pr5

Serial-range notes

15 + two-letter date code + digits, e.g. 15ER10192 (1998)
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 205FCC's production years the letters read EC (1995), ET (1996), EU (1997), ER (1998), EE (1999), SS (2000), SV (2001), SH (2002), SP (2003) and SI (2004). The prefix 15 rests on a single dealer listing (fotohandel.de, serial 15ER10192, dated 1998) and has not been confirmed from a second body.

Specifications

Format
6×6cm on 120 (12 exposures with the E12CC, E12, A12TCC or any A12 magazine); 220 via the E24CC/E24/A24; 6×4.5 via the E16/A16. The instruction manual allows any standard Hasselblad magazine, including Polaroid backs, with the film speed entered by hand in the Pr5 function. · 12 on 120 (E12CC/E12); 16 at 6×4.5 (E16); 24 on 220 (E24CC/E24) exposures
Finder
waist-level, interchangeable (prism and meter-prism finders available)
Shutter
electronically controlled, mechanically powered horizontal focal-plane shutter with release solenoid and two textile (rubberised cloth) curtains — the manual gives a curtain transit time of 1/90 s; the C setting turns it into an auxiliary blind so a C or CF lens's leaf shutter can make the exposure · B, 1 s–1/2000 marked on the body ring with half-step clicks; in the Ab, D and Z modes the processor sets 90 s–1/2000 steplessly (1/12 EV steps to 16 s, 1/4 EV steps from 16¼ s to 90 s) regardless of the ring; in M the ring speeds apply, and pressing both adjustment buttons 'inverts' the markings for long exposures from 1 s to 2048 s (34 minutes); on B the display counts elapsed time to 60 minutes; C for leaf-shutter lenses (1 s–1/500 and B on the lens) · flash sync 1/90 s and slower through the body with the focal-plane shutter (dedicated units are inhibited and the speed display flashes at faster settings; the PC terminal is disconnected above 1/90); all speeds to 1/500 through a C/CF lens's leaf shutter in C mode. Centre-weighted TTL/OTF flash metering, ISO 25–1000, with the Proflash 4504 or SCA units via the SCA 390/590 adapters; fill-flash level −3 to +1 EV programmable in Pr2 · self-timer
Film advance
Folding crank — one full turn cocks the shutter, resets the mirror and advances the film; a double-exposure button in the crank hub allows re-cocking without advance; 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 12 steps in Pr1). The crank is removable and the hub takes the Hasselblad Winder for up to 1.3 frames/s
Back
interchangeable magazines — E12CC and E24CC (databus contacts, film-speed dial ISO 12–6400 in 1/3 steps, contrast dial N−4 to N+3 read in Zone mode), E12/E24/E16 (film-speed dial only) and the earlier A12TCC/A16TCC/A24TCC; ordinary A12/A16/A24, 70mm and Polaroid magazines fit, with the film speed entered in Pr5. The manual calls the CC magazines 'FCC magazines'
Meter
Built-in TTL spot meter, silicon photocell, reading a 6 mm circle — about 1% of the frame, roughly 4° with the 80mm, just under 7° with the 50mm and 1° with the 350mm (Appendix B tabulates every lens) — at full aperture with FE lenses and stopped-down with F, CF and C lenses; EV −1 to EV 20 at ISO 100 and f/2.8; film speed ISO 12–6400 from the magazine dial or Pr5. Modes on the left-side dial: Ab (aperture-priority automatic with bracketing in 0, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or 1 EV steps set in Pr3, alternating +/− for up to 21 frames), D (Differential — locks a reading and shows the deviation of later readings in 1/4 EV, with a programmable film-dynamics warning in Pr4), Z (Zone — places a reading on a user-set default zone, 1/4-zone steps, exposure corrected for the N−4 to N+3 development dialled into an FCC magazine), M (manual, meter shows deviation in 1/4 EV) and Pr (programming). ±5 EV compensation in 1/4 EV steps, AE-lock, 16 s auto-off
Motor drive
Hasselblad Winder F (called 'TCC Winder' in the 205FCC manual) — The winder bayonet under the crank is inherited from the 2000FCW/2003FCW. The manual quotes 'a maximum frame rate of 1,3 fps' and says the winder is 'strongly recommended' for the Ab mode, in which the camera runs as long as the release is held, shifting each frame by the preset bracket step until the film ends or 21 frames have been made.
Weight
745 g
Dimensions
185 × 117 × 110 with focusing hood, Planar FE 2.8/80 and E12 magazine (instruction manual); body-only dimensions are given there only as a drawing mm
Country
Sweden
Original price
no list price located; a Photrio forum thread is reported to put the body at about $8,000 (United States) when new, without a year, and Karen Nakamura's page gives about $7,000 for the 205TCC — neither has been checked against a dealer price list
Accessories
E12CC and E24CC magazines with film-speed and contrast dials on the databus ('FCC magazines' in the manual); E12, E24 and E16 magazines with the film-speed dial only · Prism and meter-prism finders with the display recess ('FCC viewfinders only acceptable' — manual); magnifying hood · Hasselblad Winder F ('TCC Winder' in the manual) — up to 1.3 frames/s; recommended for the Ab mode · Proflash 4504 dedicated TTL/OTF flash; SCA 390 and SCA 590 adapters for SCA-system units · E-type extension tubes with databus contacts; standard tubes and bellows usable with limitations · External battery cassette with extension cord, for keeping the cell warm in cold weather · Flashgun bracket 1 (Cat. No. 45072) and tripod quick coupling on the quick-coupling plate · Acute-Matte screen with spot-meter circle; other Hasselblad screens interchangeable; magnifier correction plates +3 to −4 dioptres

Folding focusing hood with a 4× magnifier (standard −1 dioptre plate, correction plates +3 to −4) over an Acute-Matte screen ('designed by MINOLTA' in the manual's footnote) carrying a hairline cross and a 6 mm circle of dots that marks the spot-meter field. An LCD above the top edge of the screen — eight 7-segment figures plus M, DIFF, ZONE, A, self-timer, flash-ready, battery, magazine and red warning-triangle symbols — reads reversed through the hood, and the processor re-orients the figures when a prism is fitted. The specification says 'FCC viewfinders only acceptable': hoods and prisms need the recess for the display, as on the 205TCC.

Where sources disagree

Last
  • 2004 — Hasselblad Historical's V-system model table ('production ceased in 2004' for the focal-plane line); English and German Wikipedia; camera-wiki.org
  • 2002 — a Schouten Select dealer listing ('made from 1995 until 2002'), no source given

Better supported: 2004 — Hasselblad Historical

Production
  • about 800 — Schouten Select dealer listing, no source given
  • no figure — Hasselblad Historical, Nakamura, Wikipedia (all silent)

The 800 figure circulates only through dealer copy and may derive from Nordin's Hasselblad Compendium, which has not been consulted

Finishes
  • chrome only, P/N 10588 — 205FCC instruction manual (© 1995), technical specifications
  • black bodies listed — KEH Camera and other dealers

Better supported: chrome only per the manual; no part number for a black 205FCC has been found

Original price
  • about $8,000 (United States) for the body — reported in a Photrio thread ('Why did the Hasselblad 205 series die out?'), no year
  • about $7,000 — Karen Nakamura, for the 205TCC at launch, not the 205FCC

No dealer price list or catalogue price has been located for the 205FCC

What reviewers say

History

The 205FCC is the 205TCC rebuilt around the electronics Hasselblad had developed for the 203FE. Hasselblad Historical’s V-system table gives it the years 1995–2004 and one line of description — ‘205 TCC with improved electronics’ — and the English instruction manual, copyright 1995, opens under the heading ‘the master improved’: ‘Following inputs from users, the Hasselblad 205TCC has been improved on a number of important functions.’ The Japanese Wikipedia product list, citing Hasselblad no Subete, puts it more narrowly as the 205TCC with an auto-bracketing function added. No source consulted names the fair or month of introduction; the 203FE, which shares its processor, had been on the market since 1994.

What changed is legible on the mode dial. The 205TCC’s positions read Pr, A, D, Z, M; the 205FCC’s read Pr, Ab, D, Z, M, the plain aperture-priority mode having become Automatic Bracketing. The manual describes it: with a bracket step of 0, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or 1 EV preset in the Pr3 function, the camera runs as long as the release is held — the winder is ‘strongly recommended’ — and shifts each frame alternately over and under the stored reading, out to ten steps either side, so that after 21 exposures the sequence flattens; with the step at 0 it is simply a 1.3 frames/s motor sequence. The automatic shutter range grew from the 205TCC’s 16 s to 90 s at the slow end, controlled in 1/12 EV steps to 16 s and 1/4 EV steps beyond, and in M mode pressing both adjustment buttons ‘inverts’ the ring markings so that 30 means 32 s and 2000 means 2048 s — 34 minutes — which is why Japanese sources quote 34 minutes to 1/2000. The Pr mode gained a programmable fill-flash level (−3 to +1 EV) and a programmable warning level for the D mode’s film-dynamics limits; the Zone mode gained a user-defined default zone in place of the fixed zone 5. The flash system was reworked so that, in the manual’s words, ‘you can use any metering mode to control the ambient light exposure, the flash will be controlled using the fill-in level set in the Pr-mode’, with centre-weighted TTL/OTF metering over ISO 25–1000 and the shutter inhibited above the 1/90 s sync speed.

The rest is the 205TCC. The spot meter still reads a 6 mm circle — about one per cent of the frame, roughly 4° with the 80mm and 1° with the 350mm, tabulated for every lens in the manual’s Appendix B — over EV −1 to EV 20 at ISO 100, at full aperture with FE lenses and stopped down with F, CF and C glass. The shutter is the same electronically timed, mechanically powered pair of textile curtains crossing in 1/90 s, with the C position handing exposure to a leaf-shutter lens; the manual adds a caution not to use the older C lenses below 0 °C. The body weighs 745 g alone and 1660 g with hood, Planar FE 2.8/80, E12 magazine and battery, and measures 185 × 117 × 110 mm so equipped. The blue twin lines mark everything on the databus. What had changed around the camera was the nomenclature: Karen Nakamura’s photoethnography.com page records the TCC lenses being renamed FE in 1994, and the manual speaks of ‘FCC- (or E-) magazines’ — the E12CC and E24CC, which the Japanese product list equates with the A12TCC and A24TCC, carrying both the film-speed dial and the N−4 to N+3 contrast dial that only the 205 bodies read. The FE lens’s aperture-ring push button, the EV interlock of the 2000-series F lenses, ‘has no function on the 205FCC’.

Identification is straightforward against its predecessor: the nameplate, the Ab on the dial, and the part number. The manual’s specification page is explicit that the body came in ‘chrome finish only P/N 10588’, where the 205TCC manual had listed chrome and black. Dealers have nonetheless offered black 205FCC bodies, and no catalogue page or part number for one has been found; a black body deserves a close look at the nameplate. Serials follow Hasselblad’s VHPICTURES code with the two-digit product prefix introduced in 1990 — a dealer listing of a chrome body numbered 15ER10192 and dated 1998 fits, ER reading as 1998 — but a single listing is not confirmation of the 15 prefix.

The 205FCC’s second life is as a digital body. Hasselblad Historical explains that the 203FE and 205FCC carry contacts on the back plate to pass the magazine’s ISO to the meter, and that the factory could re-purpose them to the function of the 555ELD’s contacts, signalling the shutter release to a digital back; Hasselblad’s CFV brochure states from the other side that ‘202FA / 203FE and 205FCC camera types need a minor camera modification to use F/FE lenses’. Owners on mediumformatforum.com report the work costing about €400 in 2007 and taking six weeks, and that afterwards an E magazine’s ISO dial is ignored and the speed defaults to 100 until set in Pr5. Modified bodies carry only an internal label.

What remains open is nearly everything numerical. No production figure is published; a dealer listing’s ‘about 800 pieces’ and its 1995–2002 dates stand alone against Hasselblad Historical’s 2004, and may or may not derive from Nordin’s Hasselblad Compendium, which has not been consulted. No list price has been found — a Photrio thread is reported to say about $8,000 (United States) for the body, without a year, and the page could not be read directly. Forum discussion attributes occasional erroneous viewfinder readings at intermediate shutter speeds and weak stop-down springs in some FE lenses to the 205 bodies, but no service bulletin has been located to confirm either. Whether the digital modification is reversible, how many bodies received it, and whether a black 205FCC was ever a catalogue item are questions this entry cannot yet answer.

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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

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Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $9,600 across 3 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-06 (middle half $9,200–$9,600). First day tracked.

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

Related: Hasselblad 205TCC · Hasselblad 203FE · Hasselblad 202FA · Hasselblad 201F · Hasselblad 2003FCW · Hasselblad 555ELD

Lenses for this body: Distagon 40mm f/4 · Distagon 50mm f/2.8 · Distagon 50mm f/4 · Distagon 60mm f/3.5 · F-Distagon 30mm f/3.5 · Hasselblad FE Zoom 60-120mm f/4.8 · Makro-Planar 120mm f/4 · Mirotar 1000mm f/5.6 · Planar 100mm f/3.5 · Planar 110mm f/2 · Planar 80mm f/2.8 · Sonnar 150mm f/2.8 · Sonnar 150mm f/4 · Sonnar 180mm f/4 · Sonnar 250mm f/5.6 · Sonnar Superachromat 250mm f/5.6 · Tele-Apotessar 500mm f/8 · Tele-Superachromat 300mm f/2.8 IF · Tele-Superachromat 350mm f/5.6 IF · Tele-Tessar 250mm f/4 · Tele-Tessar 350mm f/4 IF · Tele-Tessar 350mm f/5.6 · Tele-Tessar 500mm f/8 · Tessar 160mm f/4.8

Sources (19)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.