Hasselblad light trap replacement

Andrew Moxom · Jan 21, 2008

I was unfortunate to experiance some light leaks manifesting themselves on some of my latest negs developed this weekend. I am confident about replacing the light traps myself, but have a question regarding whether to use Hassleblad genuine parts, or the ones that are made by an independent person who touts that many repair houses and camera repair stores use his parts. Anyone try the $9.99 Ebay versions? If so how good or bad are they?

BrianShaw · Jan 21, 2008

Have you considered askingthe ebay vendor to give contact info of the repair houses/stores taht use his product... then ask them how good they are.

Prarry · Jan 21, 2008

Unless original parts are difficult to obtain, why risk it. The new traps will provide years of protection to, hopefully, many hundreds (thousands?) of images. (I renewed the traps on two backs loaned by a colleague. Visiting Gothenburg for work allowed me easy access to original parts from the company's service centre.)

EmilGil · Jan 21, 2008

Prarry, I go to Gothenburg regularly. Do you remember how much you paid for them?

I wonder if they still offer that service though, they've been in serious financial trouble for years now...

waynecrider · Jan 21, 2008

The material in the $10 kit is no different from what I see on a repair done by a major house on a recent item of mine.

Prarry · Jan 21, 2008

EmilGil, I don't remember the specific amount, only that it was a pleasant surprise, not nearly as much as I had expected. It was a little while ago now, when the service centre was down town, before the new factory facility was built. I imagine service and spares to be a significant section of the current business, prices may have risen significantly.

Andrew Moxom · Jan 21, 2008

Thanks Wayne, your response was what I was hoping for! The Ebay guy sells these kits with good instructions, and was a pleasure to deal with. Have you had good reliability out of the light traps you had installed?

wilsonneal · Jan 21, 2008

I bought two of those eBay $9.99 kits from a guy in California. Worked great. Done in about 5 minutes.

bdial · Jan 21, 2008

I bought a back off ebay a few months ago that came with a light trap kit. Though I don't know the origin of the kit, the pieces were pretty much indistingushable from what was in the back already, except for the wear and age of the original. If you have doubts about the ebay kits, it might be worth it to contact David Odess, perhaps he'd be willing to sell a kit. I have yet to do business with him, but his reputation within APUG is that he is very approachable and open to questions.

Paul Goutiere · Jan 21, 2008

Andrew Moxom said:
I am confident about replacing the light traps myself, but have a question regarding whether to use Hassleblad genuine parts, or the ones that are made by an independent person who touts that many repair houses and camera repair stores use his parts. Anyone try the $9.99 Ebay versions? If so how good or bad are they?

I have a set from this guy (for $9.99) and it worked out very well. If you are confident in doing the work yourself, do it.

I wish you the best.

Andrew Moxom · Jan 21, 2008

Thanks for the feedback on this. I am comfortable in doing this repair myself, and I have already looked at the back in question and removed the old light trap. It was completely shot in that the foam disintegrated and there is a gooey strip of compressed foam or something stuck to the inside of the front plate. Is that strip meant to be on there? Or will that need to be cleaned off?

bdial · Jan 21, 2008

Here are directions from the Hasselblad historical site which may help, I found it useful; http://www.hasselbladhistorical.eu/HT/HTSeal.aspx
I think anything gooey will need to come off.

Andrew Moxom · Jan 28, 2008

I received my light traps from the guy in CA. Installed no problem. The only thing that concerned me was that the old hassy traps had the foam strip with an adhesive back. The foam in the new kit was thicker, and no foil back. It took a while to make sure all the foam was inside the folded mylar strip, and using the darkslide was the best way of accomplishing that. I did have one film back where the foam started to protude out of the mylar. I used a small jewelers screwdriver to push it back in. Took at about 10 or 12 minutes on one back as I had to remove the front plate twice . The second one took about 9 minutes... Job done. So now I will be testing them next weekend to make sure.

Hasselblad light trap replacement

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