Apo-Grandagon 45mm f/4.5 (ArcBody)
Rodenstock · Hasselblad V · 1997 · Apo-Grandagon (quasi-symmetrical wide-angle)
Also known as: Rodenstock Apo-Grandagon 45mm f/4.5 · Apo-Grandagon 45mm · Hasselblad ArcBody 45mm
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 | 8TER10168 — the only numbered ArcBody 45mm 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, one unnumbered prototype 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 27045; 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
Serial-range notes
- the two letters that follow the 8T 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 — 8TER10168. 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 8T prefix
- The prefix identifies the focal length, not the date. The one outfit whose three lenses are recorded together carries 8T on the 45mm, 8S on the 35mm 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.
- 8TER10168
- An Apo-Grandagon 4.5/45mm 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 35mm (8SER13052) and the 75mm (8UER13565) in the same case share the ER code.
- no number at all
- The pre-production lenses were not numbered. Leitz Photographica auction 16 sold an ArcBody engraved PROTOTYPE 03 on the back, fitted with an Apo-Grandagon 4.5/45mm described as without number and in a plain Copal No. 0 shutter — the large-format cell, before the ArcBody barrel and the Hasselblad serial existed.
Specifications
- Formula
- Apo-Grandagon (quasi-symmetrical wide-angle)
- Construction
- 8 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4.5–f/32
- Shutter
- Copal-type leaf shutter in the lens, 1s–1/500 and B
- Min. focus
- 0.4 m
- Weight
- 350 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 middle lens of the ArcBody’s three, and the one Hasselblad’s manual uses to illustrate the controls. It shares its optical family with the 35mm — eight elements in four groups, apochromatically corrected with extra-low-dispersion glass, distortion below 0.5 percent — and Rodenstock prints a single cross-section for the whole Apo-Grandagon line, so the drawing here belongs to the family rather than to this focal length alone.
At 110° the field is narrower than the 35mm’s and the image circle larger at 131mm, which leaves more room for movement: Rodenstock’s table gives 31mm of shift on 6×6 at f/16, again beyond the 28mm the ArcBody can apply. The aperture range runs to f/32, a stop further than the 35mm.
The name is worth stating plainly, because dealers are not consistent about it. Hasselblad’s own manual and every kit listing call this lens an Apo-Grandagon, catalogue number 27045; Rodenstock’s f/4.5 Grandagon-N range covers 65, 75 and 90mm and contains no 45. A listing that offers a Grandagon 45 is describing this lens loosely.
The shutter, focusing helical and accessory mount are as on the 35mm — manual cocking, 1s to 1/500 and B, sync at all speeds, and the same M77 centre filter that Hasselblad says should always be fitted to the two wider lenses. Rodenstock quotes 350g for the large-format cell with its Copal 0 shutter; no ArcBody-specific weight, price or production figure has been published.
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 45mm f/4.5 (ArcBody)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
Asking price, USD: a median of $1,100 across 4 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-06 (middle half $1,000–$1,600). First day tracked.
Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.
- Rare [MINT] Rodenstock APO Grandagon 45mm f4.5 110° Large Format Lens From Japan
- Rare! [Top MINT] Rodenstock APO Grandagon 45mm f4.5 110° Large Format Lens Japan
- [EXELLENT+] RODENSTOC Apo-Grandagon 45mm F4.5 110° COPAL No.0 from Japan
- Hasselblad Arcbody Kit With Rodenstock Apo-Grandagon 45mm f/4.5
- Rare [MINT] Rodenstock APO Grandagon 45mm f4.5 110° Large Format Lens From Japan
- Hasselblad Arcbody Kit With Rodenstock Apo-Grandagon 45mm f/4.5
- Seltenes [NEUWERTIG] Rodenstock APO Grandagon 45mm f4.5 110° Großformat Objek...
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Listings updated 2026-09-05. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.