At what cold temperature do Hasselblad's stop working?

[Tijmendal]

I was skiing the Vallée Blanche in Chamonix and towards the end of the trip I dropped the camera. Luckily the waist level finder took the direct hit (it's pretty trashed), but I believe it broke the fall somewhat. The camera didn't properly work after that and would often lock up for a little while before I could advance the film/shutter. I figured it would be due to the fall, but now that it's warmed up again everything seems to be working flawlessly.

That day it was around -7 to -3 Celsius at those altitudes, but it was sunny and didn't feel cold at all. I would only take the camera out of my bag (an f-stop Satori with Small ICU) a minute at a time.

I'm hoping the fall just coincided with the camera reaching a critical temperature at which it started behaving erratically, but I also feel like that would be a small chance. Now I'm kinda afraid the camera might start acting up again.

Thanks!

 

[quejai]

Cameras are full of gears and things that are covered with grease. Grease thickens as the temperature reduces. That means that there is more stress on moving parts when you use the camera in lower temperatures - which means that some things might stick or fail.

This is how I broke my Mamiya 6's wind-on gear, by winding on in a very cold environment. There is a tensioner device in the Mamiya 6's which is slathered in grease, which dramatically increases the mechanical stress required to wind on to the next frame, increasing the chance that a failure will occur. I think film will even stiffen up as it cools down, if it was humid earlier on in the day. (Interestingly my camera worked again after removing this tensioner, even though 2 of the 40 teeth on that gear had snapped off. Now it sometimes requires a double stroke, but other than that, the Mamiya lives!)

Perhaps you could put your camera in a sealed plastic bag with some rice (to absorb moisture), and throw that in your fridge or freezer, and test it out again?

 

[Vobluda]

See the manual for the operating temperatures of your Hasselblad or contact them and ask.
I am afraid that internet forum will not help you with such a question🙂

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

You haven't told us which one you have. They have been used extensively in space which does get rather cold (and then some), but I would assume you are not using a NASA spec example, so...

Without knowing anything else, one wonders if the lens shutter became erratic in the cold conditions. I could easily envisage a C lens that's overdue for service sticking. The previous suggestion to lower the units temperature with the appropriate precautions against moisture ingress is a good one (actuate the camera inside the bag). If it malfunctions, you'll need to get it serviced.
Cheers,
Brett

 

[p.giannakis]

There are plenty of youtube videos showing people putting mechanical cameras in the freezer (-24 oC) for a day and the cameras still work well. Unless you took your camera in a VERY cold environment, you shouldn't expect problems with it. Are you sure that the fall did not mess up with things..?

 

[Laviolette]

A couple of winters ago, I spent 6-7 hours non-stop with my 500cm in very cold weather (-30 Celsius). I had to keep one of my water bottles inside my coat, because the other one was frozen solid in less than 2 hours. My cell phone battery quickly drained, even inside my coat. My Hasselblad worked flawlessly all day : film advance was smooth and the negatives were evenly spaced on the roll. I shot some slides that were correctly exposed, so I guess the shutter was working fine too (all CF lenses).

 

[x-ray]

In the early 70's I worked for an environmental research firm doing aerial research photography. We used a Zeiss 9"x9" metric camera and a stabilized mount with 4 Hasselblad EL's and 70mm backs mounted in the belly of the aircraft. The cameras were connected directly to a power supply and no batteries were used. We shot from a DC-3 often and Piper Aztec. The cameras were mounted in holes in the belly and basically there was no heat in the aircraft. It was hard to heat an aircraft with 2 or 4 large holes in the floor.

I did work at times in excess of 10,000ft. Figure almost 3 degrees F per 1000 ft altitude increase and in the winter the ground level temp would be below freezing and often in the 20 degree range. At altitude the cameras were in an environment that was -10 degrees F many times.

Never was there a problem with the cameras. The performed flawlessly for hours at a time. At times the temp was so low and humidity that the EL motors transporting the time would cause static electricity to discharge on the film causing lightning streaks.

My guess is you damaged the camera. They really are complex machines with precise tolerances. They won't take a fall and function properly. There's a chance you warped the body just enough to create problems when the temperature drops. Tolerances change with expansion and contraction as temperatures change. Your best bet is to send the camera and lens to a repair service and have it evaluated.

 

[Scapevision]

I shot a 500C/M once in -23C and it worked perfectly.

 

[Nokton48]

I dropped an ELM and it needed an extensive repair from impact damage.
Aren't there like 10,000 parts in a Hasselblad body?

 

[Tijmendal]

You haven't told us which one you have. They have been used extensively in space which does get rather cold (and then some), but I would assume you are not using a NASA spec example, so...

It's a 503cx and it was CLA'd half a year ago.

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

 

[Jockos]

It's Swedish, unless you use it to fight of the polar bears, it should work in any cold.