Hasselblad Body Jam?

Kevin Caulfield · May 6, 2007

I seem to have somehow jammed the body of my Hasselblad 500 C/M. I understand the common lens jam problem and that both body and lens need to be in the same cocked or uncocked state. If I cock the body without lens or back attached, I can release the shutter to uncock it, but then cannot wind it on to recock it. Also if I cock the body then try to attach the cocked lens, I cannot attach the lens. Is the body damaged or am I missing something?

bdial · May 6, 2007

Here's some information that may help. http://www.david-odess.com/faq.html#q18
David Odess is a Hasselblad repair specialist.

Kevin Caulfield · May 7, 2007

Thanks for the info - I read that, but I seem to have a problem with the body itself. Thanks to chiller for the PM and phone discussion on the problem, and recommendation of a good repairer. The body is on its way to the repair man now.

nathantw · May 7, 2007

Kevin Caulfield said:
I seem to have somehow jammed the body of my Hasselblad 500 C/M.

I don't know if this will help or not, but my 500c/m was acting really weird. I'd press the shutter button and nothing would happen. When I let go of the shutter release the lens shutter would stop down and take a picture. So everything was after the fact. It would do that with my 120mm lens but would work perfectly with the 60mm. It was very, very unreliable.

Turns out there was something wrong with the camera body itself and it needed to be repaired. I broke a spring when trying to "fix" it. The camera was made in 1974 and I don't know if it was ever cleaned and lubed since then. I know I never did it and I've had the camera since 1994. So you may want to bring it into a repair place just to have that done, especially if you have a C/M model.

Good luck!

Nathan

XRe · May 7, 2007

Let us know what happens with it?? My brother has a 500CM that has what sounds like the exact same set of symptoms... Trying to walk him through the typical jam resolution over the phone was kind of entertaining, but we finally determined he was in a state much like the one you describe...

Kevin Caulfield · May 8, 2007

Thanks for your replies. Basically the winder is not working and the release seems to work but the pre-release doesn't. Yesterday I mailed it to a repairer interstate. When I chatted with him, he seemed to think it may just need a re-grease, etc. I'll keep you posted.

Kevin Caulfield · May 10, 2007

An update. I spoke with the repairer today on the off-chance that my camera had arrived (I sent it by registered post which was supposed to take 3 to 4 days). Not only has it arrived, but he has just about finished servicing it. He said there is a hub which holds a spring which was pretty much clogged up from lack of service. It will be on its way back to me tomorrow. Thanks again to Steve for his very quick help and recommendation of a great service man.

Kevin Caulfield · May 21, 2007

My Hassy arrived back home today. I spoke with the repair man late last week and he was still working on the final adjustment. Basically it was pretty much seized up through lack of service. It's a 1977 model and I've had it for about seven years without servicing it. It's possibly never been serviced before. Anyway, he said the body is actually in beautiful condition now, and he's not wrong. It sounds completely different, much quieter, and the winder is so much smoother. He also coorected the mirror angle and the body length. Nathan and Dave, I recommend a good service.

Gwkw1717 · Jul 6, 2011

Hi Kevin,

Sorry to bring up this thread again, just wondering how much it costed you to fix this issue and where did you send it to?

cheers

Gary

Sirius Glass · Jul 6, 2011

Gwkw1717 said:
Hi Kevin,

Sorry to bring up this thread again, just wondering how much it costed you to fix this issue and where did you send it to?

cheers

Gary

I have the same questions. Please hurry up, we are waiting as fast as we can!

alex gard · Dec 22, 2013

Have an issue. I was hurredly taking some snaps of a setting sun, I started removing the lens and fired the shutter by accident. Now the lens is stuck. very stuck. it's turned about 1/2 inch. The body is now cocked and will not fire (the flaps are open, mirror is up, though however winder is wound too. I've tried the screwdriver trick, the little screw winds the quarter turn, then won't turn any more (it locks) then I try and remove the lens and the screw just clicks back to original position. I've exhausted trying as I've started wearing the screw down. Such a bad time for this camera to jam up!

Sirius Glass · Dec 22, 2013

alex gard said:
Have an issue. I was hurredly taking some snaps of a setting sun, I started removing the lens and fired the shutter by accident. Now the lens is stuck. very stuck. it's turned about 1/2 inch. The body is now cocked and will not fire (the flaps are open, mirror is up, though however winder is wound too. I've tried the screwdriver trick, the little screw winds the quarter turn, then won't turn any more (it locks) then I try and remove the lens and the screw just clicks back to original position. I've exhausted trying as I've started wearing the screw down. Such a bad time for this camera to jam up!

I strongly suggest that instead of risking more damage, you send it out for repair.

jcc · Dec 22, 2013

alex gard said:
Have an issue. I was hurredly taking some snaps of a setting sun, I started removing the lens and fired the shutter by accident. Now the lens is stuck. very stuck. it's turned about 1/2 inch. The body is now cocked and will not fire (the flaps are open, mirror is up, though however winder is wound too. I've tried the screwdriver trick, the little screw winds the quarter turn, then won't turn any more (it locks) then I try and remove the lens and the screw just clicks back to original position. I've exhausted trying as I've started wearing the screw down. Such a bad time for this camera to jam up!

Sounds like the timing got knocked out of sync. I second the notion that it needs to go see a camera doctor.

alex gard · Dec 22, 2013

the lens is now off the body, I gave it another try this morning, I held the lens release button and 'locked the lens' back into position, held the screwdriver in the screw and gently but sternly then removed the lens. the camera body is fine and accepts lenses and seems to fire normally now with other lens but the 80mm now seems to be jammed in the 'fired' position. I haven't tried to do anything to the lens because I seem to remember reading somewhere that lenses were an entirely different ballpark and were complicated to fix or something? The slot that the turning key goes into is jammed slightly counter-clockwise of the cocked position.

Douglas Fairbank · Dec 24, 2013

The key has been turned anti clockwise and the latch has engaged. Try and push the latch out towards the edge of the lens and the key should become unjammed so that you may then re-cock it. Dont force anything or it could break and some parts are no longer available.

mikebarger · Dec 24, 2013

bdial said:
Here's some information that may help. http://www.david-odess.com/faq.html#q18
David Odess is a Hasselblad repair specialist.

David may be THE Hasselblad repair specialist.

pgomena · Dec 24, 2013

+1
I heartily recommend David Odess for Hasselblad repair.

Sirius Glass · Dec 24, 2013

Hasselblad Body Jam?

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