Hasselblad 205 TCC (1991–1995)

The 205 TCC answered a complaint that had trailed the V system for decades. It put a built-in TTL selective meter in the Hasselblad body, so photographers no longer had to clip a meter onto the side of the camera. Hasselblad built it in 1991 as the flagship of the V system line, for serious shooters who wanted the classic 6×6 square format with modern exposure control. "TCC" stands for Tone and Contrast Control. It lets you fine-tune how the meter interprets a scene, which was advanced thinking at the time.

Mechanically, it breaks with the leaf-shutter tradition of the 500 series. The 205 TCC uses an electronically controlled focal plane shutter with horizontally running textile curtains. Speeds run from 16 seconds down to 1/2000 plus bulb, a much wider range than the leaf-shutter cameras could manage. There's also a fully mechanical C setting for lenses with their own built-in leaf shutters, so it can still work the classic Hasselblad way. The body takes Hasselblad's bayonet mount for FE, F, CF, and C lenses, with data-bus contacts so the FE lenses can pass exposure information to the body's meter. Flash sync goes up to 1/90 s with the focal plane shutter.

The metering system is the heart of this camera. It uses a high-sensitivity silicon photocell with a selective area covering roughly 20% of the image frame. It meters at full aperture with FE lenses, over a range of EV 0.5 to EV 21.5 at ISO 100 and f/2.8. Film speed is set with a dial on TCC magazines or entered in programming mode, and covers ISO 12 to 6400. The camera accepts the electronic coupling (ECC) film backs as well as the classic A12 and A16 style magazines, in 6×6 or 6×4.5 formats, with 120 or 220 roll film and 70mm long rolls available. The viewfinder is the familiar interchangeable hood with a 4× magnifier, and the Acute-Matte focusing screen can be swapped for other Hasselblad screens. A manual single-turn winding crank advances shutter and film together. You can replace it with the Hasselblad Winder for up to 1.3 fps motorized operation. A full outfit of body, Planar F 2.8/80mm TCC lens, A12TCC magazine, and battery weighs 1615g.

Documentation on the 205 TCC is reasonably complete on the technical side, though original pricing and detailed production history are thin. A 55-page service manual in English (Revision 0) circulates as a clean electronic document. It has been downloaded over 5,600 times since 2008. A current dealer listing shows a 205 TCC with the 110mm f/2 Planar at $4,995, and the camera appears periodically on the used market. lens-db.com called it the flagship of the current Hasselblad models at the time of its release.