While many tend to think of technical shift cameras as the place to use wide angle lenses for scenic panoramas, mid range and long lenses certainly have an application for this genre. Long lenses give one reach, and often, especially when elevated, long lenses are required to enlarge the landscape; sometimes short lenses can shrink things to the point the details can’t be appreciated.

The long end of the lens range has filled out in recent years. While Schneider withdrew from technical camera lens production, Rodenstock continues with the venerable  180 HR-S, and the very recent 138 HR-SW Float. Meanwhile there’s a new player in this segment, Phase One, who last year announced a new technical camera lens, native to the XT camera, the 150 HO-S – their first, but hopefully not last technical camera lens. 

Each of these lenses has been written about by our team individually, I wanted to put them together as a group for the purpose of making the choice between them clearer. While these are all longish lenses for technical camera, there are more differences than there are similarities. While they are all expensive by any measure, the comparative prices are quite different. While the current state of affairs with regard to tariffs will feed some uncertainty in these prices, at the moment.

Camera Options

Both the Rodenstock138 HR-SW and the 180 HR-S lenses are available in bare lens mount (meaning it is just the lens, it has not been mounted to anything to fit any particular camera body). Typically, these can then be mounted to most view camera lensboards, like for use with a Cambo Actus, a Sinar P3, or an Arca Swiss M Monolith. They are also available in technical camera helical mounts from Cambo and Alpa. When configured in Cambo WRS helical mount, they can also be used on the Phase One XT Camera, because the Phase One XT shares the same lens bayonet that the Cambo WRS utilizes. 

The Phase One 150 HO-S can be used on the Phase One XT camera but also on the Cambo WRS, same as the Rodenstock lenses, it can go back and forth. The 150 HO-S is only configured with the X Shutter, as it is a native XT lens. This means it has electronic contact pins, and when attached to the XT will be recognized by the front contact pins of the XT body, therefore no control cable required. When mounted to any Cambo WRS body, as well as compatible Cambo Actus view camera (Actus G, DB, MV, XL), there are no pass through electronic contact pins, a control cable is required that connects the X Shutter of the 150 HO-S to the 12 pin port on the IQ4.

Shutter Options

All three lenses can be configured with the Phase One X Shutter as outlined above. If outfitted with an X Shutter, the Rodenstock lenses require a control cable when used on any camera body, as they lack electronic contact pins. The Phase One 150 HO-S lens does not require a cable mounted to the XT, but it does if mounted to a Cambo WRS or Actus body. The Rodenstock lenses can also be configured in the Aperture Mount, which has no shutter, only a manual aperture dial and relies upon the Electronic Shutter of your digital back (or in some configurations, the focal plane shutter of your digital camera body). Digital backs that possess an Electronic Shutter include Phase One IQ3 100 and IQ3 100 Trichromatic, as well as IQ4 100 Trichromatic and IQ4 150. The Hasselblad CFV 100c (sold paired with the 907x) also has an Electronic Shutter. Since the Phase One 150 HO-S Lens only comes in X Shutter, so this particular lens is only for Phase One IQ4 users.

Short Barrel vs Long Barrel

Short barrel lenses are preferred because by separating the spacer element to obtain infinity focus, you expand the shift tolerance (the camera opening no longer impedes when shifting). All 3 of these lenses can be ordered in short barrel mount from Cambo and from Alpa (the Phase One 150 only comes that way).  Unfortunately, the only copy I had available for the 138 was a long barrel mount, with o rear spacer, and even with the 110mm image circle, I was getting vignetting at 13mm-14mm. With the rear spacer, I’d get no vignette at all. So do not order in long barrel, you want that spacer. 

Shift Latitude

While the 138 HR-SW has a 110mm image circle, the Rodenstock 180 HR-S only has an 80mm image circle and the Phase One HO-S only has a 90mm image circle. Despite this, when outfitted in short barrel with a rear spacer, both the 150mm and 180mm lenses can shift 20mm out and 20mm up or down. The key is the rear spacer. Henceforth, all 3 lenses, properly configured, have ample shift latitude. And all three perform well shifted to the maximum. When outfitted on an Alpa Pano, the 138 HO-S can max out the 35mm horizontal movements of the Alpa Pano with ease.

Additional Considerations

None of these lenses are small or light. The 150 HO-S has the smallest footprint, though it has a relatively large front element, with a 77mm thread. The 138 HR-SW is easily the heaviest, with the densest array of optical elements. The 180 HR-S has a 67mm front filter thread, but weights in about the same weight as the Phase One 150 HO-S, when configured in Cambo WRS helical. The 138 HR-SW, also with a 67mm filter thread, is easily the heaviest, with the densest array of optical elements, coming in about 35 ounces heavier than the 150 HO-S and 180 HR-S.

For Alpa helical mount, both the Rodenstock 138 HR-SW and Rodenstock 180 HR-S lenses can both be ordered with tilt/swing functionality. For Alpa, that means ordering either lens in Short Barrel (per above), and adding a tilt spacer. One can perform a tilt or a swing (by rotating the tilt adapter), or combining 2 tilt adapters – at right angles to each other – though the movements wouldn’t be in the same plane. The tilt spacer can be positioned behind the lens (front tilt) or behind the camera (rear tilt).

For Cambo, for the 180 HR-S, that means ordering the lens in the tilt/swing adapted helical. In this configuration, there are separate tilt and swing movements applicable in the same plane. The 138 HR-SW does not have enough room to incorporate a tilt/swing adaptation, but Cambo makes a rear tilt spacer that can be used with either the 138 HR-SW or the 180 HR-S. Unfortunately, the Phase One 150 HO-S has a shallower spacer depth (about 4mm less) than the 138 and 180, and there is no tilt option. It cannot use the wider Cambo rear spacer, because it then pulls focus away from infinity.

Test Scene

My daughter lives in Fernandina Beach, where the WestRock Saw Mill is located. I was looking for something distant with some detail. North of the plant, there is a dock that juts out into the water, opening up an open, and unsecured viewpoint. Remains to be seen whether they will now close this dock. 😳

Findings

First off, I found the color differences interesting, with the Phase One 150 and the Rodenstock 180 much warmer. White Balance for the Phase One IQ4 150 was set to Daylite, so this wasn’t an AWB interpretation. Checking the time stamps, the 138 was up first, so certainly sunset lighting can change pretty quickly, and maybe that was the case here. But I suspect that even shot at the same time, the 138 might be slightly cooler.

Shooting with longer lenses is always challenging. I noted that several shots from the Rodenstock 180 were discarded because while I thought I was on a solid surface with a sturdy tripod and head, I was standing on a dock. And docks apparently can move. They’re in water after all, with tides and currents. For that matter, the various elements of the plant could also be moving or vibrating. And while the 138 and the 180 were using the Electronic Sensor Shutter of the IQ4 150, the 150 was using the built in X Shutter. Looking into the images for resolving results, resolution seems to favor the 138, with the Phase One 150 HO-S just a hair behind, and the 180 HR-S a bit behind the 150.

Comparing 3 long lenses and getting them focused in exactly the same spot with fading light in the elements on a windy day is not easy. The 138 seems the most forward focused, and the 180 the least forward. Maybe I should have used the lens distance scale to line them up …. good idea. Oh well. The left side of the 180 really threw me off. I don’t know what happened there. Certainly the left side of the frame was nearer to me, so perhaps that accounts for it. This lens was tested after I returned and found to have equal fidelity on both sides, so it’s a healthy copy. Has to be the focus point. Nonetheless, the order of resolving power still looks to me to be 138, followed by 150, followed by 180.

Closer Look

Takeaway

From the results, I can see focus point makes a significant difference in these images. They start to overlap focus a bit at the center and towards the rear. I see a lot of resolving power for 150 megapixels with all 3 of these lenses when shifted. I don’t see a trace of CA in these images, but I have seen it from the 150 and the 180, I have never seen it from the 138. I think of the 138 HR-SW as almost a perfect lens. Extremely high resolving power, married with a 110mm image circle that produces very large shift latitude with great results, and no chromatic aberration. It also marries this with a floating element configuration so that near focus subject matter can be produced at the same quality as distant focus subject matter. While the ESS (Electronic Sensor Shutter) in the IQ4 150 for the most part handled this scene well, and works in most static situations, I have had some clients comment that occasionally they will see artifacts with small object movements. It felt good to have the X Shutter available in the 150 HO-S.

These lenses are all relatively, well, super expensive. The 180 HR-S is the most affordable, starting at $5,925 in bare mount with the Aperture Control, but that price can double in a helical mount with an X Shutter. The 138 HR-SW is the least affordable, starting around $16,000 in a bare lens Aperture Control configuration, but a helical mounted X Shutter configured copy can run north of $20k. How can lenses like this be so expensive? It’s important to consider they’re not alone. Leica lenses go as high as $15k themselves. These are truly specialized lenses, difficult to produce, designed for very high optical fidelity, but also with substantial image circles that allow for generous shift latitudes beyond 30mm, yet still with that same level of fidelity. That is a unique lens, for a relatively small part of the market, so lack of volume accounts for some of that pricing.

At these prices, these lenses are for a small niche of photographers who can afford them, but who also love the use of technical shift or view cameras with lenses that produce excellent optical performance when shifted, especially with high resolution digital backs.

For More Steve Hendrix Blogs

• 
  Hasselblad Phocus Software Tiff File IssueJune 13, 2025
• 
  Tech Camera Lens Shootout: Phase One 150 HO-S vs Rodenstock 138 HR-SW and 180 HR-SJune 13, 2025
• 
  How To Choose Between Eizo CG Series vs Eizo CS SeriesJune 13, 2025
• 
  The Ivy LeagueJune 13, 2025
• 
  What’s On My Desk Today?May 16, 2025
• 
  CI Tech Tip: Batch Deleting In-Camera With Your Hasselblad X2DApril 21, 2025

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