Hasselblad A12 Back Light Leak

You should be able to replace the light trap yourself. But if the spacing is off too, you will have to send it to hasselblad.

 

Jim,

caveat: I am a user of the Hasselblad´s distant cousin, the Kiev88. ;-)

I seem to remember that people at the KievReport bought H´light traps for their Kievbacks - at ebay, at a few bucks each... 7Dollar? A bit steep for what you actually get. ;-)

Basically they one on a Kiev old style mag and on a A12 are the same - a folded up mylar or metal foil of trapezoid shape with a piece of sponge rubber in it. The rubber pushes the foil up, closing the seal.

If you don´t mind messing a bit on the magazine - try this:
I changed my 7 year old seals with foam rubber, black, 0,5mm thickness, cut to the shape and placed under the mask - works decent, the seal is tight.

Or replace the old foam with a new piece of the same dimension - it is the flexibility of the foam that serves the purpose.

 

I am sure they are available on ebay.

 

I wouldn't mess with it. Send it to a reputable Hasselbald repair place and have them replace the gasket.

When you but quality equipment like Hasselblad I would stick with having factory people work on it.

If your work is important to you, maintaining your equipment should be a high priority, and jerry-rigging your equipment is a false economy.


My opinion,


Michael McBlane

 

Michael,

do you send your car back to the manufacturer when the fuel tank is empty or when it needs new window washer fluids? ;-)

The seals wear out, they are meant to be replaced every few years and thus the complexity of that task is kept very low. It really is a no brainer - half a dozen screws on the mask which have to lock back in tight, nothing else.

Mr Tsuji once wrote a nice article on how to analyse and fix a light leak: http://www.yt.cache.waseda.ac.jp/K88/adjust.html

The A12 and the Kiev magazines are mechanically so close to each other that you can use the A12 on a just very slightly modified Kiev88. Heck, they even share the same problems - film flatness and worn out seals.

 

I had the the same problem with my a12 back. I sent it to D.A.G. camera repair. (608)-638-4769 . He put the light shield in for 35.00 seems reasonable to have something fixed right.