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AliB

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I've always, always wanted one of these and I figure that life is too short so when the opportunity arose to nab this baby, I was not inclined to say no.

Now, I've heard people talk about Hasselblad being the "Rolls Royce" of cameras but I sometimes wondered if it's a statement made to justify the expense.

But here's my new toy.
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It's a bit odd in it's operation but the build quality is just superb. For a camera that's almost 30 years old it's stunning. Even the way the film back opens is a work of art. The spring loaded film tensioners, unbelievable workmanship.

The lens took some figuring out and a couple of hours on t'internet downloading and printing manuals later I've just about got it sussed. Now, I know hassy's of a certain vintage have leaf shutters in the lens but mine had a synchro compur lens. What the heck is a synchro compur when it's at home?
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Basically it's a little lever on the lens that allows the aperture selection ring and the shutter speed ring to be coupled. :thinking: Ahhhh now I get it. You take a meter reading and if it says 1/125 at f8 you press this little lever and pair 1/125 with f8. Once you have done that you can move them as a pair, and hey presto, the exposure remains constant! So you can change the aperture for DOF reasons and it keeps the right shutter speed. You may choose to change the shutter speed (It's that milky waterfall again) and it will pair the aperture. Clever eh!

Another really neat trick for a fully manual camera is the DOF scale.

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You can see on this one, I've moved from 1/125 f8 to f11 and the shutter has moved to 1/60th. At that combination my depth of field is between 1.7 and 2.5m. My word these Hasselblad guys were a bit smart!

Oh and, it looks dead sexy too!

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Right, only another 60 odd pages of manuals to read and I might even get some film in it!:thumbs:
 
Ooooh that looks rather very nice :D plus you can get a digi back conversion for them now :nuts:
 
Congrats, that looks immaculate. What lens is it?
 
It's the 80mm f2.8 planar CT.

I've been dating it today and it looks very much like it's all original kit. The body and one back are both coded UT which is the same year 1976 and the lens has a manufacture date of 1975. The spare back is 1982.

And yes Flash, I know I can get a digi back for it but then that kind of defeats the point a little with this, that's what I've got the Canon for! lol.

I can't seem to find al servo on the focus either!
 
That's a stunning piece of gear, well spotted :)
 
I
WANT
IT!

What a gorgeous bit of kit. Id love to own one 1 day! And im sure i will :D :lol:
Id buy a digital back for it just for the hell of it too! Haha! But this bit of kit looks so pristine that id never dare take it out!
 
Welcome to the 'Blad club!

As you are discovering there is something about the design and build that just oozes quality and attention to detail. OK they are a tad quirky in the way some things are done, but all that is forgiven as soon as you look at that lovely ground glass screen (even if it is one of the older less bright ones), turn the silky smooth focus ring and magically an image jumps into focus and slaps you in the eye!

Looks like you have a minty one there - mine has picked up a few bumps and scrapes over the years since it came to live with me in 1983 but it still works as well as it did the day it was made (indeed brand new 'Blads of that era improved with the first hundred rolls or so as everything bedded in).

Use it!! Enjoy it!!
 
AliB said:
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And yes Flash, I know I can get a digi back for it but then that kind of defeats the point a little with this, that's what I've got the Canon for! lol.
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You'd use a Canon (or a Nikon for that matter) before the Hassy with a digi back :thinking:

Just wait until they are the price of a decent dslr and then tell me you still feel the same way :lol:
 
Flash In The Pan said:
You'd use a Canon (or a Nikon for that matter) before the Hassy with a digi back :thinking:

Just wait until they are the price of a decent dslr and then tell me you still feel the same way :lol:
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Errrrrmmmm well........I know, it's tempting but.............. at the moment a decent digi back is huge wonga. A mediocre digi back is a lot of money and a crap digi back is just about within range of a decent slr price.

And I have the 1Ds II at 16mp so the digi back has to go some to compare.

But please don't remind me of this in another six months :naughty:
 
Ooooh! Lovely!

At the moment I'm torn on how to spend my bonus, heart is saying 'blad but head is saying I need a second Canon digi body...
 
That's what paid for mine.

Subliminal voice...............blad................blad............blad.......:D

In three years a Canon body will be outdated whereas a blad is for life. lol
 
I had a pair of these when I shot weddings professionally in the days of film, eons ago.

They are superb cameras in every respect.

What amuses me is the newer generation of digital wedding photographers swear that they cannot shoot a wedding without an ultra wide lens and that they need a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens.

I had a pair of Hassleblad cameras with spare magazines, two 80mm lenses, a 150mm Sonnar (still IMO the absolute best lens for portraits on that format) along with a 60mm as my wide lens. That was all that I had for location work except for a couple of professional flashes and a tripod. In my studio, I had a set of Speedotron Blackline strobes with stands and modifiers as well as a background setup with a few backgrounds. Of course I had a good exposure meter - no chimping in those days.

I shot literally hundreds of weddings with this equipment and never had a problem nor felt I was lacking anything.
 
I suppose it's all about confidence Richard.

Most digital togs will aim for the best they can muster in order to get the job done as well as they can, much the same as you surely did with two Hasselblads.

The reportage style of much modern wedding photography is suited to that 70-200 too. (My 70-200 has no IS, I'm a luddite!)

I'm packing my exposure meter in a case with the Hasselblad, I have a feeling I'm going to be needing it!
 
Not a lot of use for ariel photography or motorsports though.

I can just see Richard trying to focus that using the waist level finder out the side door of a helicopter.

And Matt panning with it.

Just goes to show the techniques we take for granted with digital would have been much, much harder (and they are tricky enough as it is)
 
That really does look like a beauty you picked up there Ali. :)

The 500C and CM models in chrome are simply stunning in their simplicity and beauty of design. I don't think Hasselblad have ever bettered the looks of this model, or even equalled it in later ones, albeit some of them are undoubtedly more sophisticated.

I much prefer the Mamiya RB67 for it's big neg, close-up bellows focusing and wide range of formats available with different backs, but it's very easy to cast a loving eye in the direction of this classic 'blad, and nice ones can be picked up very reasonably.
 
I zipped through a couple of rolls of slide film yesterday up in the lakes. Now awe inspiring photography (I didn't have time to go roaming around because I was working) but I'll send them away to get them developed to make sure it's all light tight before I get serious with it.

I managed to get this one with two backs for less than £500. Chuffed to mintballs :)
 
AliB said:
I zipped through a couple of rolls of slide film yesterday up in the lakes. Now awe inspiring photography (I didn't have time to go roaming around because I was working) but I'll send them away to get them developed to make sure it's all light tight before I get serious with it.

I managed to get this one with two backs for less than £500. Chuffed to mintballs :)
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I woukd LOVE to see the photos. Medium Format is my wet dream. I cant even use what I have, yet I want more. Large Format is just uber nuts. I would chop my nads off for a good large format bit of kit.
 
EdinburghGary said:
I woukd LOVE to see the photos. Medium Format is my wet dream. I cant even use what I have, yet I want more. Large Format is just uber nuts. I would chop my nads off for a good large format bit of kit.
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No need to chop your nads off mate, medium and large format cameras are there for the taking for less than the price of a half decent lens for your current camera and a lot less than the price of a middle of the road DSLR. The only person stopping you is you! ;)

I'm definitely scouting around for a blad- at the prices you can get a nice one for it's daft not to.
 
CT said:
No need to chop your nads off mate, medium and large format cameras are there for the taking for less than the price of a half decent lens for your current camera and a lot less than the price of a middle of the road DSLR. The only person stopping you is you! ;)

I'm definitely scouting around for a blad- at the prices you can get a nice one for it's daft not to.
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Yeah but, the problem is, being a digital kid, my brain would melt at the sight of "film". I wouldnt have a clue where to start.
 
EdinburghGary said:
Well perhaps if I ever push my D3 to the limits, I could justify the medium format kit. As someone pointed out earlier, the more kit one buys without a proper understanding of any of it, the less likely they are to become a great tog...
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That's probably very true. By the very nature of a mechanical meter-less medium format camera though, you'd be bound to progress, because you just have to grasp a basic understanding of exposure and metering.
 
Yep, I'd go with that (although I'll reserve judgement until I get the slides back! lol)

I'm rediscovering my light meter and how to take incident light readings, although it did throw a wobbler when I pointed it at the sun :shrug:

The thing I love about the Hasselblad is the square format. I'm going to have hours of fun playing with composition, especially for portraits. I now need to figure out how to couple some new fangled things like radio triggers to it! :help:
 
LOL. Wanting one is enough reason. :D

I've had a yen for a Hassy since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I doubt it's true of the more modern electronic versions, but cameras of the vintage which Ali bought were hand built and they reek quality. I'm not so keen on the square format, but I can live with it. I'm just in negotiation on a nice minty 501 CM. The DSLR you buy today is outmoded in 3 or 4 years - a blad will probably last your lifetime. :shrug:
 
LOL Well I was talking about Gary's lifetime - there's no doubt it will outlast me, but I'm gonna be buried with it Viking style -standing up and facing towards Valhalla. :woot:
 
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