Apo-Grandagon 35mm f/4.5 (ArcBody)
Rodenstock · Hasselblad V · 1997 · Apo-Grandagon (quasi-symmetrical wide-angle)
Also known as: Rodenstock Apo-Grandagon 35mm f/4.5 · Apo-Grandagon 35mm · Hasselblad ArcBody 35mm
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hasselblad ArcBody mount · Manually cocked leaf shutter, 1s–1/500 and B, flash sync at all speeds | Hasselblad ArcBody (its own bayonet — not the V-system lens mount) | 1997–2001 | 8SER13052 — the only ArcBody 35mm serial on public record, from the outfit sold at Leitz Photographica auction 28; its ER date code reads 1998 | — |
- Rodenstock published a serial list of its own. The table issued by Rodenstock Photo Optics — later Qioptiq Photonics — gives the highest serial number reached in each year: 11,358,165 at the end of 1996, then 11,407,513 for 1997, 11,468,541 for 1998, 11,521,123 for 1999, 11,588,264 for 2000 and 11,649,679 for 2001. It dates the large-format Apo-Grandagon in its Copal shutter; no ArcBody-mounted example has been recorded carrying a number from it, so the table is set down here for the optical cell rather than for this lens.
- No serial block and no production total has been published for the ArcBody lenses in either mount. What is recorded above is one dated outfit and a documented coding scheme, not a list.
How to tell them apart
- The optical cell is Rodenstock's large-format lens of the same name; what is particular to the ArcBody version is the mount, the helical and the shutter
Hasselblad ArcBody mount:
- Hasselblad catalogue number 27035; engraved Rodenstock, not Zeiss
- Built-in leaf shutter with its own cocking lever, speed ring, open/close preview lever and flash terminal — the ArcBody body has no shutter of its own
- Helical focusing ring on the lens mount, with a depth-of-field scale beside it
- On the 35mm the focusing ring carries an extension lever, and the manual warns that the lens must be attached and removed with the cable release out of the way
Serial-range notes
- the two letters that follow the 8S prefix
- The rule for dating one. These lenses are numbered by Hasselblad, not by Rodenstock: the serial reads as a product-type prefix, then two letters that encode the year, then a five-digit sequence — 8SER13052. The letters are decoded with Hasselblad's key word VHPICTURES, in which V is 1, H 2, P 3, I 4, C 5, T 6, U 7, R 8, E 9 and S 0. ER is therefore 98, and that lens was made in 1998. Applied across the four years the ArcBody was sold, the codes read EU for 1997, ER for 1998, EE for 1999, SS for 2000 and SV for 2001.
- the 8S prefix
- The prefix identifies the focal length, not the date. The one outfit whose three lenses are recorded together carries 8S on the 35mm, 8T on the 45mm and 8U on the 75mm, all with the same ER year code. Hasselblad Historical describes the prefix added to serial numbers from 1990 onward as a product-type code that tells the owner nothing.
- 8SER13052
- An Apo-Grandagon 4.5/35mm carrying this number sold at Leitz Photographica auction 28, in a near-mint ArcBody outfit whose body, 452ER1248, the auction house dated to 1998. The 45mm (8TER10168) and the 75mm (8UER13565) in the same case share the ER code.
Specifications
- Formula
- Apo-Grandagon (quasi-symmetrical wide-angle)
- Construction
- 8 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4.5–f/22
- Shutter
- Copal-type leaf shutter in the lens, 1s–1/500 and B
- Min. focus
- 0.3 m
- Weight
- 300 g
- Filter
- 67 mm
- Country
- Germany
What reviewers say
- Michael Reichmann (Luminous Landscape), ArcBody with all three Rodenstocks (blog) — Exceptional optics with coverage to spare for the ArcBody's movements, in a kit small enough to scout handheld before the tripod comes out. The mandatory centre filter turns ISO 100 into 25 and puts wind into the foliage, the finder does not sit at 90°, and he dislikes focusing cloths and upside-down ground glass.
Optical formula — Apo-Grandagon (quasi-symmetrical wide-angle)
History
The widest of the three lenses Hasselblad offered for the ArcBody, and the reason the camera existed. Rodenstock’s data sheet gives eight elements in four groups — two cemented pairs on each side of the shutter, near-symmetric about it — and states that the correction is apochromatic, achieved with extra-low-dispersion glass. The claimed distortion is below 0.5 percent, which for a 120° lens is the specification that matters: the ArcBody was sold to architectural and technical photographers who needed straight lines to stay straight while the standard was shifted.
The image circle is 125mm at f/11, against the 79mm diagonal of a 6×6 frame, and that surplus is what the movements consume. Rodenstock’s own table gives 29mm of usable shift on 6×6 at f/16, comfortably past the 28mm the ArcBody body can actually apply.
Because the ArcBody has no shutter, the lens carries one: a manually cocked leaf shutter running 1s to 1/500 and B, with its own speed ring, cocking lever, open-and-close preview lever and flash terminal, synchronising at every speed. Focusing is by a helical on the mount rather than by moving the body, and on the 35mm that ring carries an extension lever, because at this focal length the barrel leaves little room for fingers.
Hasselblad’s manual is firm that the M77 centre filter should be fitted at all times on the 35mm and the 45mm — a 120° field falls off toward the corners by more than any coating can correct — and it costs two stops. Weight is quoted as 300g for the large-format version with its Copal 0 shutter; Hasselblad published no separate figure for the ArcBody-mounted lens, nor a price, nor a production total. The camera it was made for was sold for four years and is scarce; the lens is scarcer.
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.
Example photos
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Apo-Grandagon 35mm f/4.5 (ArcBody)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
Asking price, USD: a median of $1,900 across 4 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $1,600–$2,000). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $1,900.
By day
| Date | Median | Middle half | Listings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-11 | $1,900 | $1,600–$2,000 | 4 |
| 2026-09-06 | $1,900 | $1,600–$2,000 | 4 |
Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.
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- Rodenstock APO-GRANDAGON 35mm f4.5 Ultraweitwinkelobjektiv für Großformat...
- *Mint* Rodenstock 120° Apo Grandagon 35mm F/4.5 Ultra Wide Lens Recessed Board
- Rodenstock Apo Grandagon 35mm F4.5 Lens in Copal #0 Shutter #1455 + box
- Rodenstock APO-GRANDAGON 35MM F4.5 120° A 626623
- Rodenstock APO-GRANDAGON 35mm f4.5 Ultra-Wide Lens for Large Format Used
- Rodenstock 35mm f4.5 Apo-Grandagon w/ center spot
- Rodenstock APO-GRANDAGON 35mm f4.5 Ultra-Wide Lens for Large Format Used
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Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.