Xpan -- A Late April Fool's Joke?

[KoNickon]

Maybe I missed a discussion of this here, but I was looking through the current (April 8) issue of Amateur Photographer and there was a brief article there that due to European Union environmental regulations concerning lead, Hasselblad will discontinue sales of the Xpan in Europe. The article also said the same regulations were causing Pentax to cease sales of the 67 II and 645N medium format cameras.

I immediately thought this was a good April Fool's Day gag, but it wasn't the April 1 issue. So what's the story? I took for granted that these cameras contain lead in their electronic circuitry, though I can't believe there's very much.

 

[bmattock]

Text of the law:

http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2003/l_037/l_03720030213en00190023.pdf

Commentary:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CYP/is_10_113/ai_n15736886

"Under the Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive, as of 1 July 2006 lead must be replaced by other substances in electronic equipment. (The directive also bans mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium.) Any electronic components bound for Europe are subject to the ban."

Many companies have complied voluntarily. Some are waiting to see if they will be caught and fined, and if so, if the fines are worth paying rather than redesigning their products. Still other companies have announced that they intend to withdraw from the EU sales market.

Same thing happened with mercury batteries were banned.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[KoNickon]

Thanks, Bill. It just seemed too low-profile for it to be true, and I'm surprised our friends in the EU aren't more upset. I highly doubt Hasselblad (Fuji) and Pentax will bother to redesign their cameras to comply, but will just exit that market.

 

[ywenz]

This is no joke. XPan is terminated due to the lead.

 

[macmac]

Does anyone know where the lead is in the Xpan?

 

[ywenz]

Well it's no longer in the Xpan, it's all over your hands now and inhaled into your lungs..

 

[Sparrow]

Quite a shock, coming so soon after the Commission’s “European lead free pencil directive”

 

[KoNickon]

Stewart, is that for real? Last time I checked, pencils were graphite, not lead....

 

[Sparrow]

Sorry juvenile school-yard humour, I should know better

 

[EmilGil]

Does anyone know where the lead is in the Xpan?

It's in just about any and every electronic component, be it an IC, resistor or circuit board. Oh, and the solder joints as well, about 37% of the solder paste being lead (the rest is tin and maybe some copper/silver/bismuth). According to the RoHS directive (2002/95/EC), all parts of electric or electronic equipment has to comply to the limits set up for lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium (+ PBB/PBDE, but these flame retardants are not very common in Europe anymore).

How about banning lead in bullets? That's where you would give Mother Nature a big helping hand...

 

[kbg32]

Does anyone know where the lead is in the Xpan?

I believe it is on the circuit boards, if I remember correctly.

 

[EmilGil]

[...] Anyone fortunate to own a Cathode Head for their enlarger (containing Mercury) may also find these are the last to be manufactured on the planet, however cadmium contamination in reservoirs and water is particularly noxious (film/papers) compared to a cathode head which is fairly sealed in comparison.

All the same, the environmental legislation aimed at safeguarding our planet is worthwhile, even if the Hasselblad becomes an Ex-Pan.

There are a number of exemptions from the RoHS-directive, one of them is mercury in several types of lamps. Too bad, the X-Pan is one great camera...

 

[KoNickon]

Stewart, sorry for being so literal. But this regulation is so ridiculous in scope (as EmilGil's note points out) that it wouldn't surprise me if pencils were somehow included.

Regarding his comment about banning lead from bullets, besides the obvious irony of the comment, indeed there's a big concern with lead poisoning from spent buckshot, whether with animals eating the shot or the lead leaching into the environment. So now there is also available steel shot, which I gather is not as "effective" since it's not as heavy as the lead.

I guess we're a bit far afield, to keep up the hunting metaphor. I hope the EU won't bar its citizens from buying an XPan here in the USA and bringing it back in.

 

[Sparrow]

Nick
The commission is an un-elected bureaucracy, we can’t vote them out so I try to ridicule them on every possible occasion, it wouldn’t surprise me to find a directive on the health risks associated with bullets

 

[biomed]

How about banning the lead shielding on nuclear reactors?

 

[ywenz]

How about banning the lead shielding on nuclear reactors?

How many people have lead shielding to protect nuclear reactors at their homes? 🙄

 

[bobofish]

I have lead shielding on my head, in order to prevent the uptake of useful knowledge. Pity I won't be allowed to be sold in Europe....