Hasselblad has launched its new HCD 35-90mm Aspherical zoom lens for use with high-end Hasselblad DSLRs.

The HCD 3.5-4.5/35-90mm Aspherical, which can be used with all of Hasselblad's H3D camera systems, is also the first HC/HCD lens to employ glass elements with aspherical surfaces, meaning fewer lens elements and a smaller design.

If you compare the 35-90mm lens with the HC 3.5-4.5/50-110mm lens, you will see it is not only smaller, but also lighter and provides a wider angle of view.

In order to keep it compact, the light projection in the lens has been designed for the 48mm full format sensor in the H3DII-39 and the H3DII-50.

At the wide-angle setting in particular, Hasselblad’s designers have balanced improvements in lens performance with a slightly greater distortion and vignetting. These are then eliminated by Hasselblad’s Digital APO Correction (DAC) without any compromise on quality.

The outcome is a powerful lens that zooms from an impressive 83 degree wide-angle to just beyond the fringes of a normal lens.

The Hasselblad HCD 35-90mm Aspherical zoom lens is priced at £4,050 excluding tax and will be available from January 2009.