Hasselblad notches

milosz · Jul 14, 2022

Nerdy question- you know the two wee v-shaped notches at the left off the negatives produced by some hasselblad A12 (and possibly others As and Es) backs. I have four A12- 2 mark III (~1990-96) and 2 mark IV (1997-201x) and these all have the notches. I used to have a couple mark II backs (~1969-1989) and none of these had notches- positive as checked the contact sheets from that period. Any idea when the notches have been introduced? Fairly sure that there are mark II backs that have notches but no idea of at what vintage these appeared.

Michael Howard · Jul 14, 2022

Interesting. I read (and witnessed) about this before. Some photographers back in the day would cut tiny notches in the film gate areas on their cameras/backs if they had multiples, so that after development if there were problems they could tell which body/back the film was used in. I had for a time a Konica Autoreflex T2 body that someone had done this to. It was a clean cut, too clean to be "damage". I wonder if this could be an explanation?

Sirius Glass · Jul 14, 2022

I do not know, but they are always there. Speculation: To pick out the Hasselblad negatives?

milosz · Jul 14, 2022

Thanks for all the follow ups!

I just checked the negatives- no apparent notches there. These were taken ages ago with a lovely, early 500c/m, which I had on loan from a friend. It came with a pair of mark II A12 backs ( not sure if I was using just one of these or both) and at least one of these produced no apparent notches on the negatives…at an opportunity will check the hardware. Assumed that the notches came about at some point during mark II production run (~20 years!)…

Sirius Glass · Jul 14, 2022

The notches appear on the 503 CX and 903 SWC negatives.

itsdoable · Jul 14, 2022

The notches appear on my 1000f negatives (C12 backs). You may just have a modified A12 back.

We would add notches to backs to make them unique, so we can track which back was leaking or acting bad. Never heard of removing the notch, but you never know.

milosz · Jul 14, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
The notches appear on the 503 CX and 903 SWC negatives.

Notches are in the back, on the film pressure frame on shell part (nothing to do with the body) as seen in one of mine…

JerseyDoug · Jul 14, 2022

In the Hasselblad Compendium Richard Nordin says of the notches, "This was a deliberate effort to identify film taken in a Hasselblad camera and to provide a mark to confirm that the negative or slide is being viewed correctly."

There was a PNG file of the Hasselblad frame floating around the internet a few years ago. It could be used to fake a Hasselblad image.

Sirius Glass · Jul 14, 2022

JerseyDoug said:
In the Hasselblad Compendium Richard Nordin says of the notches, "This was a deliberate effort to identify film taken in a Hasselblad camera and to provide a mark to confirm that the negative or slide is being viewed correctly."

There was a PNG file of the Hasselblad frame floating around the internet a few years ago. It could be used to fake a Hasselblad image.

{sigh}What people will do to just fake that they are using the perfect format, square. {/sigh}

BrianShaw · Jul 14, 2022

I read somewhere on the Internet that the notches were to help ADs know it the Hasselblad image was shot portrait or landscape. Something about helping them with cropping and layout.

AgX · Jul 14, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
Speculation: To pick out the Hasselblad negatives?

But who, in daily life, would want to pick out negatives by camera make?

Sirius Glass · Jul 14, 2022

AgX said:
But who, in daily life, would want to pick out negatives by camera make?

Please this is the internet and there is no good reason to use logic or common sense.

When my children got to be about 11 or 12 years old they discovered logic and logical arguments. I told them that from that point on they needed to think things through and only do things for scientific or logical reasons until they became adults. At which time they were allowed to stop using logic, scientific thinking or common sense. They broke into laughter and went on to think things through.

milosz · Jul 14, 2022

Looks indeed, as earlier confirmed in this thread, that notches were always there- just found the attached on eBay- fine example of fine notches in a fine 1956 mark I back! Issue closed!

Why at least one of the mark II backs I was using wasn’t “notched” I don’t know but will try to find out…

BrianShaw · Jul 14, 2022

darr said:
Hmmm, I worked for a few art directors and served as one for a while. I never heard that!

My tongue was in my cheek.

Kodachromeguy · Jul 14, 2022

Michael Howard said:
Interesting. I read (and witnessed) about this before. Some photographers back in the day would cut tiny notches in the film gate areas on their cameras/backs if they had multiples, so that after development if there were problems they could tell which body/back the film was used in. I had for a time a Konica Autoreflex T2 body that someone had done this to. It was a clean cut, too clean to be "damage". I wonder if this could be an explanation?

Many years ago, I owned a late version Rolleiflex 3.5F with 5 notches on the film gate. The cuts were uniform with no jagged edges. I assumed it formerly belonged to a studio or pro with at least 5 Rolleiflex bodies in inventory. I stupidly sold that camera when I thought digital was going to take over the world and I was not smart enough to step back and realize no.

Eff64 · Jul 14, 2022

BrianShaw said:
I read somewhere on the Internet that the notches were to help ADs know it the Hasselblad image was shot portrait or landscape. Something about helping them with cropping and layout.

That doesn’t sound right. I shot hundreds of jobs with AD’s, and they were sitting right near the set, trimming the Polaroids and checking how the shot worked for their layout. There was no figuring it out later.

Not saying you didn’t read such a thing, just calling bull on it either way.

BrianShaw · Jul 14, 2022

Eff64 said:
That doesn’t sound right. I shot hundreds of jobs with AD’s, and they were sitting right near the set, trimming the Polaroids and checking how the shot worked for their layout. There was no figuring it out later.

Not saying you didn’t read such a thing, just calling bull on it either way.

Good call! Please see post 16.

Edgy01 · Aug 12, 2023

The presence of unique notches can help you later to determine if you have a problem with a particular magazine back. (Like light leaks).

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