Hasselblad 501cm release slow mo video

[enthdegree]

Here's a video of my camera going off at 1/8 speed. Does this actuation look healthy?



Thanks

 

[Sirius Glass]

Either the microphone is too close and very sensitive or that is one loud camera.

 

[bdial]

The mirror does seem to bounce a lot, but I've never watched mine in slow motion, so it's hard to say.

 

[etn]

Now that I have one of those fancy new phones with slo-mo, and a day off from work, I thought it is the perfect opportunity to play around with it a bit.
Both my "best condition Hassy" 501CM from '99 and my "workhorse" 503CW from 2001 look exactly like yours.

 

[michaelfoto]

You cannot judge anything with the ground glass removed. The air between the mirror and the glass is part of the "braking system" that slows down the mirror just before it settles in the up position.

 

[Helge]

You cannot judge anything with the ground glass removed. The air between the mirror and the glass is part of the "braking system" that slows down the mirror just before it settles in the up position.

Good point.
There is however the point of a not insignificant mass pivoting inside the camera just before the shutter is opened, sending a small but reverberating spike through the whole camera including film.
OK on a tripod. But handheld..?

 

[BrianShaw]

But handheld..?

it seems to me that Hasselblad has been used handheld for many years… successfully.

 

[Helge]

it seems to me that Hasselblad has been used handheld for many years… successfully.

Yeah but how successfully? ;-)
How much sharper could many of the shots have been without the ever so tiny jolt?
Maddening to think about.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Yeah but how successfully? ;-)
How much sharper could many of the shots have been without the ever so tiny jolt?
Maddening to think about.

Successful enough that the system was widely used by photographers for over fifty years and it basic design did not need to change. If you find a need to put the camera on a tripod for all your photographs, maybe the camera is not the one at fault.

 

[Helge]

Successful enough that the system was widely used by photographers for over fifty years and it basic design did not need to change. If you find a need to put the camera on a tripod for all your photographs, maybe the camera is not the one at fault.

Maybe.
Or maybe people just didn’t know what they where missing?
TLRs and medium format RF kept existing through that whole period for a reason too.

Exchangeable backs was probably the main draw for most professionals and for astronauts.
Remember the Apollo Hasselblad was not handheld. It was secured to the suit with a “body tripod”.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Maybe.
Or maybe people just didn’t know what they where missing?
TLRs and medium format RF kept existing through that whole period for a reason too.

Exchangeable backs was probably the main draw for most professionals and for astronauts.
Remember the Apollo Hasselblad was not handheld. It was secured to the suit with a “body tripod”.

I had a TLR as a teenager before I had an SLR, I never missed the extra bulk, nor the left-right reversal. I learned to use the depth of field markings for focusing the range finder, but I always felt that the SLR's what you see is what you get greatly superior.

 

[Helge]

I had a TLR as a teenager before I had an SLR, I never missed the extra bulk, nor the left-right reversal. I learned to use the depth of field markings for focusing the range finder, but I always felt that the SLR's what you see is what you get greatly superior.

Good ideas don't often scale.
I know the first SLRs was large format, but they had their great breakthrough with 135 Barnack format. For good reason.
Medium format lenses are not as bright, large pentaprism finders are much heavier and has more falloff and is harder to magnify globally.
Often the best option is the standard shaft finder, which is much the same as on a TLR. Only with parallax offset, on the TLR and black out on the SLR.

A Hasselblad with a simple shaft finder and 80mm Planar is heavier and bigger than even the Rolleiflex 2.8.
You have to fiddle with dark slide and magazine sync every time you change film, too.
I can reload a Flex in a minute without breaking a sweat, or running any stupid risks. Not intuitive, but very fast once you get the hang of it.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Good ideas don't often scale.
I know the first SLRs was large format, but they had their great breakthrough with 135 Barnack format. For good reason.
Medium format lenses are not as bright, large pentaprism finders are much heavier and has more falloff and is harder to magnify globally.
Often the best option is the standard shaft finder, which is much the same as on a TLR. Only with parallax offset, on the TLR and black out on the SLR.

A Hasselblad with a simple shaft finder and 80mm Planar is heavier and bigger than even the Rolleiflex 2.8.
You have to fiddle with dark slide and magazine sync every time you change film, too.
I can reload a Flex in a minute without breaking a sweat, or running any stupid risks. Not intuitive, but very fast once you get the hang of it.

I have 4"x5" Graflex Model D.
Hasselblad 503 CC with a PME prism.
A number of Nikon AF cameras.

The Rolleiflex f/2.8 is too large, cumbersome, and has the left right reversal.
You may well fiddle with dark slides and magazines, but I do not. You might want to learn to use equipment before complaining about things that are not at fault when the faults can be found in any bathroom window. Minimal competency is quite useful in most endeavors.

 

[Helge]

I have 4"x5" Graflex Model D.
Hasselblad 503 CC with a PME prism.
A number of Nikon AF cameras.

The Rolleiflex f/2.8 is too large, cumbersome, and has the left right reversal.
You may well fiddle with dark slides and magazines, but I do not. You might want to learn to use equipment before complaining about things that are not at fault when the faults can be found in any bathroom window. Minimal competency is quite useful in most endeavors.

It’s not a matter of competence. It’s a matter of physical steps and things to forget in a hurry. More modes in an interface is never a good thing.

Again, the Rolleiflex 2.8 is smaller and lighter than a minimum spec Hasselblad.

A shaft finder Hasselblad, which is the brightest and lightest finder, also has the left/right reversal.

Put a pentaprism on it, and you drop the brightness and get a much larger, heavier and more fragile camera.

If the vertical reversal means that much to you, there are pentaprisms available for interchangeable finder Rolleiflexes too.

They are not necessary though, because you also have free view “sports finder”, for the rare occasion when you’d want it.
On many Rolleiflexes there is a small window to the ground glass with the sports finder activated to make accurate focus possible.
There is even a rangefinder that you can put into the sports finder, that makes focusing extra quick.

 

[Sirius Glass]

It’s not a matter of competence. It’s a matter of physical steps and things to forget in a hurry. More modes in an interface is never a good thing.

Again, the Rolleiflex 2.8 is smaller and lighter than a minimum spec Hasselblad.

A shaft finder Hasselblad, which is the brightest and lightest finder, also has the left/right reversal.

Put a pentaprism on it, and you drop the brightness and get a much larger, heavier and more fragile camera.

If the vertical reversal means that much to you, there are pentaprisms available for interchangeable finder Rolleiflexes too.

They are not necessary though, because you also have free view “sports finder”, for the rare occasion when you’d want it.
On many Rolleiflexes there is a small window to the ground glass with the sports finder activated to make accurate focus possible.
There is even an rangefinder that you can put into the sports finder, that makes focusing extra quick.

The bottom line is that the Rolleiflex is not my choice of weapon camera.

 

[Helge]

The bottom line is that the Rolleiflex is not my choice of weapon camera.

And that is just great.
(In many ways)

 

[Sirius Glass]

And that is just great.
(In many ways)

When I to trade the Mamiya C330 and all the lenses at Samys I was looking for a Hasselblad or Rollei SLR and they only had a selection of Hasselblads.

 

[Trask]

Yeah but how successfully? ;-)
How much sharper could many of the shots have been without the ever so tiny jolt?
Maddening to think about.

On a tripod, and even handheld, you can pre-release the mirror and then trip the shutter if you’re really concerned about vibrations resulting from the mirror causing your photographs to be less sharp.

 

[Helge]

On a tripod, and even handheld, you can pre-release the mirror and then trip the shutter if you’re really concerned about vibrations resulting from the mirror causing your photographs to be less sharp.

Sure on a tripod a Hasselblad is no doubt awesome.
With a pre-released mirror you are shooting more or less from the hip though.
Precise still-compositions quickly drift and action is a crapshoot.

 

[serouscam]

I have 4"x5" Graflex Model D.
Hasselblad 503 CC with a PME prism.
A number of Nikon AF cameras.

The Rolleiflex f/2.8 is too large, cumbersome, and has the left right reversal.
You may well fiddle with dark slides and magazines, but I do not. You might want to learn to use equipment before complaining about things that are not at fault when the faults can be found in any bathroom window. Minimal competency is quite useful in most endeavors.

There is no Model D, it is called Series D