Who says the Hasselblads are reliable? Everytime they are mentioned as a purchase one of the first things mentioned is you should send it out for a cla. A cla on the body, back and lens is not going to be cheap, and if they are as reliable as people say, they shouldn't need one as long as it's functioning they way it should. How many stories have you heard, that someone sent in for a cla only to come back with a new problem? There is a lot of truth to leave well enough alone. It certainly applied to the my 50 plus years of servicing copiers. The more a camera is taken apart the chances increase of doing damage.
The need for maintenance does not mean it is not reliable.Who says the Hasselblads are reliable? Everytime they are mentioned as a purchase one of the first things mentioned is you should send it out for a cla. A cla on the body, back and lens is not going to be cheap, and if they are as reliable as people say, they shouldn't need one as long as it's functioning they way it should. How many stories have you heard, that someone sent in for a cla only to come back with a new problem? There is a lot of truth to leave well enough alone. It certainly applied to the my 50 plus years of servicing copiers. The more a camera is taken apart the chances increase of doing damage.
Who says the Hasselblads are reliable?
EXACTLY! One rule I try to follow, to the letter, when I make a statement on this site is to only talk from personal experience. If I have a problem with a film developer, paper, camera or whatever doesn't work right, it's because it happened to me. No hearsay or second hand BS!!Most people who say this arn't speaking from personal experience but hearsay and their imaginations.
+1EXACTLY! One rule I try to follow, to the letter, when I make a statement on this site is to only talk from personal experience. If I have a problem with a film developer, paper, camera or whatever doesn't work right, it's because it happened to me. No hearsay or second hand BS!!
EXACTLY! One rule I try to follow, to the letter, when I make a statement on this site is to only talk from personal experience. If I have a problem with a film developer, paper, camera or whatever doesn't work right, it's because it happened to me. No hearsay or second hand BS!!
Who says the Hasselblads are reliable? Everytime they are mentioned as a purchase one of the first things mentioned is you should send it out for a cla. A cla on the body, back and lens is not going to be cheap, and if they are as reliable as people say, they shouldn't need one as long as it's functioning they way it should. How many stories have you heard, that someone sent in for a cla only to come back with a new problem? There is a lot of truth to leave well enough alone. It certainly applied to the my 50 plus years of servicing copiers. The more a camera is taken apart the chances increase of doing damage.
Probably millions of frames and 10s of thousands of shooters over 60-ish years say so, including a ride to the moon as you'll recall, say so. There is a reason that 'Blads were the overwhelming choice of hard shooters working in MF. Not RBs, not Rolleis. not Bronicas, not Mamiyas ... 'Blads. We saw them in fashion, portraits, weddings, architecture, and landscape work for decades.
Anything of this vintage may require a CLA, but this is not a sign of inferior design, it is routine maintenance, no different than changing the oil on your car. I wouldn't buy a car from 1985 without expecting it to require a battery, oil change, tyres, and tuneup.
As I mentioned up thread, I worked in a very large pro rental facility in my youth and watched 'Blads under continuous hard professional use come in- and out. They had no remarkable failure rate unless their were physically abused. This was across probably several dozens of 500 bodies and many, many lenses. I know this because I worked in the repair and maintenance shop. Mostly, the only 'Blads we ever saw were either dropped or rental units that had so many actuations, they were literally worn out from use - they were at end of life.
And this is why they persist today for this sort of shooting. They work, they can be CLAed or fixed if needed, and lenses and accessories are plentiful. There are plenty of newer cameras for which this is not true (looking at you Mamiya 6, Mamiya 7, Fuji GWs, and nowadays, perhaps the RB/RZs etc.). I'd much rather have a 'Blad that needs work than, say, a Rollei of comparable vintage and format.
I would qualify this.
Some of us have the benefit of very reliable vicarious knowledge.
I worked with and around several Hasselblad users who learned the lesson that if you wanted your camera to work reliably, you needed to be sure to keep it serviced.
So technically, if I report what I learned in that context, it would be hearsay.
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