Hasselblad's Super Wide optic — the Zeiss Biogon C 38mm f/4.5, a low-distortion 6x6 wide-angle.
The Carl Zeiss Biogon C 38mm f/4.5 is the fixed wide-angle lens built into the Hasselblad Super Wide series, the SWC bodies rather than the interchangeable-lens 500-series cameras. Because the Biogon design sits very close to the film plane it was never sold as a standard V-bayonet lens; it is permanently mounted to its own body, and it defined the Super Wide camera as a specialist ultra-wide tool for the 6x6 format.
This is a manual-focus, symmetrical Biogon covering the 6x6 frame with a rectilinear wide angle and an integral leaf shutter in its C form. The maximum aperture is f/4.5. Its near-symmetrical construction and short back focus give very low distortion for the coverage, which is the reason the design could not be adapted to a reflex mirror box and was reserved for the mirrorless Super Wide bodies with an external viewfinder.
The Biogon 38mm is prized for keeping straight lines straight across a broad field, which made the Super Wide a favourite for architecture, interiors, landscape and reportage where geometry matters. Framing is done with an accessory viewfinder and focus by scale or the ground-glass adapter, so it rewards a deliberate working method. The flat-field rendering and even illumination are the qualities photographers seek it out for.
On the used market this lens is inseparable from the SWC body it is fitted to, so condition of the whole camera matters. Check the leaf shutter fires accurately at all speeds, look for haze, fungus or separation in the Biogon cell, and confirm the front element and coating are clean. Verify focus and aperture rings move smoothly, and test the viewfinder and body seals, since these cameras are valued as a complete unit.