Hasselblad 2000FC with Retractable Shutter?

[Jesse Taylor]

I have a black UR (1978) 2000FC body. It retracts the shutter when I take the back off, but from my understanding that should be a 2000FC/M. The metal feeler is underneath the shutter (where the serial is), where as 2000FC/M's feeler is at the top. The side rail says "2000FC". From searching on the net FC/M's say "2000FC/M" on the side rail.

I found one just like mine on Ebay (except it's chrome):
http://cgi.ebay.com/250721665089

in this photo it shows the metal feeler under the serial:
http://www.digifan.cn/photo/2010113164431.jpg

2000FC/M's weren't introduced until 1981, so is it possible that the previous owner upgraded the body so it retracts the shutter?

 

[Q.G.]

It's a transitional body: a 2000 FC that has a first version of the curtain retraction feature.
I don't know how many were made, but they pop up once in a (long) while.
Don't know either whether they were all made like that to begin with, or were converted when a camera returned to Hasselblad for repairs.
I do know that there are 2000 FC cameras from the same year that do not have that feature.
But it's known that Hasselblad 'mixed' production, i.e. made older models while already also making the successor model.

UR, by the way, is not 1977, but one year later: 1978.

 

[Jesse Taylor]

I accidentally typed 77 instead of 78, thanks for pointing it out. The guy I bought it from, his wife worked for Hasselblad a long time ago. He had a few gold kits, and lots of hard to find stuff. Not sure if he got a deal through her or how he got everything. Thanks for the information, I haven't heard about these transitional bodies before. Nice to know not many people have my camera Also since it was the second year of FC production, wouldn't the transistional bodies be closer to 1981? Or do you think they were already experimenting with the successor that early?

 

[Q.G.]

Yes. And yes.

Yes, they could well have been trying to solve the shutter vulnerability problem before.
After all, they had been since the mid-1950s. (The focal plane shutter never disappeared from Victo Hasselblad's agenda, and as soon as the 1000-series was continued, he had people (one at first) working on creating a less vulnerable shutter. He discounted the solution they came up with in the 200-series - rubberized cloth - because Victor Hasselblad knew about and didn't like how the sun would burn holes in the cloth shutters in his Leica).

The story of the focal plane shutter at Hasselblad is long. And it is quite possible that they had planned a shutter retraction feature from the moment they decided to go with metal foil curtains again.

But more likely, perhaps, is that this camera was upgraded by the factory when at one time it had returned to Hasselblad.
So "yes" too, to that transitional bodies would appear closer to the introduction of the FC/M.

It's possible, by the way, that 1978 is not the second year of production. The camera was announced years ealier, and it only first appeared in 1977. Doesn't necessarily mean (in spite of date codes that appear on the products) that they were first made in that year as well.