I was recently on a trip and brought along my Hasselblad 500 EL/M and a few lenses hoping to make some nice photos along the coast of Northern California. After 6 shots the camera jammed. I had not brought any tools with me so I was stuck- replacing the 9v battery didn’t help (tried 3, because I’ve had bad “new” batteries more than once).
Back home I measured the battery voltage, the integrity of the 9v adapter, the fuse, everything checks out.
The camera was jammed with the mirror up, barn doors open, and shutter uncocked. I used the special tool to cock the shutter through the back of the camera, still no joy. I jimmied the lens release and lens a couple of times, twisting- and the lens came off and the camera completed the wind cycle, mirror dropped, barn doors closed. The lens shutter at this point was not cocked, so I cocked the lens, put it on the body and all is well now.
I wanted to post this because I was searching for “500 EL jammed” and this solution did not pop up.
So I learned a couple of things- always bring at least a minimum of tools with you and don’t be afraid to *gently* move things around and always have a backup!
Back home I measured the battery voltage, the integrity of the 9v adapter, the fuse, everything checks out.
The camera was jammed with the mirror up, barn doors open, and shutter uncocked. I used the special tool to cock the shutter through the back of the camera, still no joy. I jimmied the lens release and lens a couple of times, twisting- and the lens came off and the camera completed the wind cycle, mirror dropped, barn doors closed. The lens shutter at this point was not cocked, so I cocked the lens, put it on the body and all is well now.
I wanted to post this because I was searching for “500 EL jammed” and this solution did not pop up.
So I learned a couple of things- always bring at least a minimum of tools with you and don’t be afraid to *gently* move things around and always have a backup!
