MF camera questions?

[Pfreddee]

Is this the place to ask about medium format SLRs?

Like Hasselblads?

With best regards,

Pfreddee(Stephen)

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Yeah, a lot of us use Hasselblads here, so ask away. I love mine, though its not a camera for handheld work. What do you want to know?

 

[Pfreddee]

Dear Chris:

I'm looking at getting a Hasselblad 500 CM, and I want to know what to look for, especially anything that is particular to used Hasselblads.

I'm pretty good at generally figuring out if a used camera is good (for me), but I'm sure that the Hasselblad, like all cameras, has its own peculiarities and idiosyncrasies, that need to be taken into account.

Thanks!😀

With best regards,

Pfreddee(Stephen)

 

[Keith]

There's been a few threads about the Hasselblads here ... a search would probably reveal a couple.

This was a recent one but I'm sure your post will drag all the fans back out of the woodwork. 😀

 

[Bill Kapinski]

One thing to look for is in the back of the 500cm bodies. There is a rear curtain that shields the film from light. When you press the shutter it releases the mirror and swings up, then the curtain (more like flaps) swing open. half goes down, the other half goes up. Sometimes with age and wear the top one doesn't go all the way up. It will hang a little and creep into the top of you frame. Also does the advance knob/crank work smoothly? Other than that on a body I go by sound, but that is hard to do if you have not used many. You would also want to make sure the film back mates well with the body and clips on easily. The light traps on them is hard to tell if they work until you run some film through them. lenses are like most other leaf shutter lens. Do all the shutter speeds work, is there oil on the blades, does it focus smoothly, do the aperture and shutter speed rings move easily, is the mount not damaged? It may be worth buying from a reputable place for your first one, or at least check some out. Be careful though it is a bug that can bite you hard😉

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Dear Chris:

I'm looking at getting a Hasselblad 500 CM, and I want to know what to look for, especially anything that is particular to used Hasselblads.

I'm pretty good at generally figuring out if a used camera is good (for me), but I'm sure that the Hasselblad, like all cameras, has its own peculiarities and idiosyncrasies, that need to be taken into account.

Thanks!😀

With best regards,

Pfreddee(Stephen)

The CM was made from the early 1970s till the 1990s, so you can get a very old or relatively new one. Look for a newer one if you can find/afford one. Hasselblads were used by pros who often wore them out. They're very reliable, long lasting cameras, but any camera used for 20 years with 20 or more rolls a day put through it is going to have mechanical wear that will cause problems. I would avoid any that looks beat to hell for the same reasons.

There's a way to find the year of manufacture! Take the back off and look at the back side of the camera body. Under the film gate is a serial number. The first two digits are letters that are a code for the year of manufacture. The code is:

V = 1
H = 2
P = 3
I = 4
C = 5
T = 6
U = 7
R = 8
E = 9
S = 0

So if your serial is UR, the camera is from 1978.

Later 500 C/M bodies had the very bright Acute-Matte focus screen. I have it and a regular screen for my 503CX. Mine came with the Acute-Matte and I got a regular for it later. The Acute-Matte is VERY bright but I find it strangely harder to focus. Get a later body with it and try it. The regular screens are cheap used and fully interchangeable on any 500 series body except the original 500 (non-CM), which does not have changeable screens.

Lenses: There are several different 'generations' of them. The old silver ones are referred to as C lenses. They are single coated and date from the 1960s. Then there are black C lenses. They look like the silver ones, all metal barrel, metal scalloped focus ring and Shutter ring. They're T* multicoated. I don't like either C lens. They're optically excellent, but they have a different shutter than the later lens series, and parts are getting low on them. David Odess, the expert on Hasselblad repairs says that parts will run out on them and they will no longer be fixable when that happens. Also, the aperture and shutter rings are locked together, so to change one setting independent of the other, you have to push out on the aperture ring's tab, which is a pain.

The later lenses are the CF from the 80s and 90s and the CFi and CFE that came near the end of production. All multicoated, most with the same optical formulas as the older lenses, but with the newer shutter and rubberized focus grip. Aperture and Shutter rings turn seperately, MUCH easier to use. I had an 80mm C lens and ditched it for a CF, which is a million times nicer to use. My C lens was very flare prone, too. The CF isn't.

Notes: if you want a 50mm wide angle, there are two versions of the CF 50. The early one is the same optically as the older C lenses. The later one is the CF-FLE model and has a floating lens element for better correction of edge resolution at different distances. I had a regular 50 CF and it was not very good at the edges. I now have the CF-FLE and it is A LOT better.

I have the 80mm CF and 150mm CF lenses too. I love them all.

One loss on the CF and later lenses is no self-timer. The old C lenses had one built into their shutter, and it was removed from the shutter on the CF and later lenses. Not a big loss though.