Hasselblad repair -- worth it?

philosli

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Recently I sent my Hasselblad 80mm lens for repair. The lens's slow shutter speed is too fast. I was quoted a little over $600 for gear train replacement and a 12-week wait.

I wonder if this repair is worth it, given that I can buy a used on eBay with roughly the same amount money, or just avoid using slow speeds (1/15 or 1/30 and below).

Any suggestions? Thanks!
 
Odess is great. A nice man. And he regular offers cameras while raising $$ for pediatric brain tumors.
 
That's WAAAAAAY too much money. Hasselblad shutters are not hard to work on, they're standard Compur and Prontor leaf shutters the repair of which is a basic camera repair skill. Any competent camera tech can work on them and most would charge you less than $200
 
Is there anything special about your particular lens: CFE lens in mint condition for instance? Because CF and older lenses can be had for less than $600, so selling yours as-is and buying another one could be a good option.


I bought an older as-is lens with Compur shutter, and a small alloy pin broke off the slow speed escapement, and what a hassle that caused - it appears the escapement was designed to be replaced as a unit, and sssuming you can find one, they can be surprisingly expensive.
 
I'm normally a big proponent of getting old gear serviced and keeping it running, but $600usd for a lens/shutter service? That's a decent but more than a solid, functional 80mm Planar sells for used...
 
You could try Bill Moretz at Pro Camera. Bought my 503CW + CFE 80mm from them over a year ago, freshly CLA'ed, and it has worked perfectly. Their repair prices are quite reasonable.
 
If $600 is what a used one sells for, and your repaired and up to snuff lens costs the same why not go for the known good lens rather than the unknown used lens?
 
I spoke with Dave today. The gear train of the lens needs to be replaced. The parts alone cost ~$300, plus labor, two springs, so the total is ~$600.

So I'm debating between either to go alone with the repair, knowing I'm going to get a functional lens for the foreseeable future, or to sell the current one as is and try my luck in the used market.
 
I spoke with Dave today. The gear train of the lens needs to be replaced. The parts alone cost ~$300, plus labor, two springs, so the total is ~$600.

So I'm debating between either to go alone with the repair, knowing I'm going to get a functional lens for the foreseeable future, or to sell the current one as is and try my luck in the used market.


I'm with Darthfeeble on this one. What do you think a non-functional lens/shutter will sell for? Not much I think. So why throw the same amount of money on a used lens hoping it will last longer than one with new parts?
 
Have him repair the lens and pay the asking price. A common thread is the lack of talented technicians who can assess and repair. If we stop patronizing or fail to compensate them fairly for their skills, we have only ourselves to blame as the pool diminishes.
 
You haven't mentioned what lens it is. Is it a C, C T*, CF, CB or CFE? If it's a CFE lens I would get the repair. If it's an old C or C T* (i.e. the black old style C lens with T* coating) I would not bother. If it's a CF or a CB lens I would say it depends on the condition.

I've owned quite a few Hasselblad lenses over the years and all the old C lenses I had developed a faulty shutter sooner or later. Once I switched to CF and newer lenses I never had a problem.
 
You haven't mentioned what lens it is. Is it a C, C T*, CF, CB or CFE? If it's a CFE lens I would get the repair. If it's an old C or C T* (i.e. the black old style C lens with T* coating) I would not bother. If it's a CF or a CB lens I would say it depends on the condition.

I've owned quite a few Hasselblad lenses over the years and all the old C lenses I had developed a faulty shutter sooner or later. Once I switched to CF and newer lenses I never had a problem.

It is a CF 80mm F/2.8.

I believe the lens's higher shutter speed still works fine (1/60 and above). That makes the decision harder, since instead of repairing it or getting another used, I can also just avoid slow shutter speeds.

I discovered the slow shutter speed issue recently when I (finally) started to carry my tripod. That allows me to use slow films and long exposures. I took photos of the same subject with different focal length to experiment. Then I started to notice that the 80mm shots were often underexposed.

At first I thought I must have made mistakes by forgetting to set the shutter speed & aperture after changing the lenses. But the pattern seems persistent.

Finally I took my phone to record the shutter speed sound and compared the wave patterns with another good lens's. That confirmed my suspicion that the speeds 1/15 and below were way off.
 
I’d go for it. I’d rather spend $600 on a lens I already own and know will be in great working condition than $600 on a new to me lens.
 
Never owned or used a Hasselblad. But I seem to recall when I looked into getting one, I read that Hasselblad lenses need very regular service. That turned me off and I went with a used Mamiya 6 instead, which hasn't needed service over the past 6 years.
 
I have had David Odess do CLAs on 4 or 5 lenses and two 500 series bodies. He is very professional and up front. He worked for Hasselblad as a technician/repairperson for years. He may be the last factory trained Hasselblad tech. He charged less than $600 for each of these jobs, but he did not need to replace many parts. If the $300 parts price quoted above is accurate, $600 seems in line with his usual labor fee. David also spent a lot of money acquiring a variety of parts for inventory when Hasselblad, Zeiss or other manufacturers announced that they would no longer be produced. You could send the lens to Hasselblad USA to see what they would charge.

My experience is that Hasselblad CF lenses can go a long time without service at amateur rates of use, and if you exercise the shutters at the 1 second through 1/30th second speeds each month or so. Hasselblad used to recommend annual service, but I expect that at that time >90% of their users were working pros who were shooting a lot all of the time, probably much more than most amateurs.
 
I spoke with Dave today. The gear train of the lens needs to be replaced. The parts alone cost ~$300, plus labor, two springs, so the total is ~$600.

So I'm debating between either to go alone with the repair, knowing I'm going to get a functional lens for the foreseeable future, or to sell the current one as is and try my luck in the used market.

You can look at it this way. The lens is already apart, so you're still going to have to pay a minimum just to have him put it back together. Add to that the cost of a replacement lens, and you are likely to exceed the cost of the repair. Have him finish the job, and you'll be happy.

PF
 
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