Lens and shutter problem with SWC

I have recently sent my SWR for overhaul. The repairperson told me that when he checked the shutter, he has realized that there was an evidence of damage to the lens made by shutter blade. He said that this is usual to this particular camera, and there is nothing to worry about, thus this thought of damage will not cause any effect to the picture. I would like to know if it is true that SWC has such an inherent problem, and if it is true that the picture taken with such lens will have no effect.

Thank you.

raelreal1959 said:

I have recently sent my SWR for overhaul. The repairperson told me that when he checked the shutter, he has realized that there was an evidence of damage to the lens made by shutter blade. He said that this is usual to this particular camera, and there is nothing to worry about, thus this thought of damage will not cause any effect to the picture. I would like to know if it is true that SWC has such an inherent problem, and if it is true that the picture taken with such lens will have no effect.

Thank you.

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While have not owned a Hasselblad since the beginning of time, I have been using Hasselbalds for about six years. I did a lot of research before I bought one. The searchs on the internet about Hasselblads has continued since then. I later started to do the same with the SWC and subsequently bought one. So while I am not an expert, I have done and continue to do a lot of reading about Hasselblads and the Hasselblad SWCs. This is the first time I have come across anything like what you have been told. I would recommend that you contact repairs at Hasselblad in New Jersey, David Odess [www.david-odess.com] and/ or KEH.com and ask them about what your were told and their experience.

Frankly, I think that the story he told you is apocryphal.

Steve

It depends on the amount of damge. A single scratch will not cause problems. The laws of optics say that all portions of a lens contribute to all portions of the image. I have seen photographs made by a professional photographer who had to finish a shoot with a cracked lens. The only thing he could do was to paint over the crack to prevent refraction problems. There was no significant difference between the pre-accident photos and the post-accident ones. From personal experience I had a large aperture lens that had a bubble near the edge of the front element. At the time it was very difficult to make large blocks of optical glass without such defects. Never had any problems.

I have read about it before, It seems to affect some of the older models.

Here is a quotation from David Odess in a photo.net thread about this issue in 2006

Every shutter for the Hasselblads has five shutter blades. In order to prevent the shutter blades from smashing into each other, the tip of one of the blades is bent up, and the tip of one of the blades is bent down. The other three blades are flat.

The inner lens surfaces are extremely close to the shutter blades in the SWC. They are so close that the bent tip of one of the shutter blades can scrape on the glass surface, causing a scratch in the lens coating.

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Link to the thread here

Thanks Steve and everyone. I will send an e-mail to people in New Jersey to find out what they have to say about this.
Anyway this is a story. I have asked several people about this here in Japan about this incident. Most of them said that it was a common issue with the older (Pre 903 cameras). Hasselblad they said tried rigorously to correct such problem, but the trouble had occurred continuously. 　Though I could not find any literature (official one that is) on such, But people here told me that Hasselblad even made a comment, that the scratch caused by such has no affect what so ever to the picture quality. I would very much like to know if this is indeed correct! thus I cannot afford to purchase an another camera, and if this problem is so common to this camera as they say it was, I would probably end up purchasing the camera with the same problem.
As Jerry mentioned above, it might have no effect and there is nothing to worry about. But Jerry's problem was on the front element of the lens. My understanding is problem will be more sevier at the back, thus it has more effect to the film.

Raelreal -

If it gives you any reassurance, I once had a Hassy Superwide that had a physical scratch on the rear surface of the rear element, actually in to the glass, not just the coating. It was near the edge of the element, but nonetheless. I was concerned about it, as I knew about the scratch when I bought the camera (at a considerable discount). To test it, I went outside, pointed the camera directly into the sun and shot away. It had NO impact on the images whatever, even with direct sun into the lens, even shooting wide open. I wouldn't worry about a little wear on the coatings on an interior element.

I guess a little scratch does not affect the picture. That is great to hear. It seems it has to do more with the psychology, which has nothing to do with photography. I thank you very much for your answer to this. Now I can sleep well, and concent on taking better picture.

fdisilvestro said:

I have read about it before, It seems to affect some of the older models.

Here is a quotation from David Odess in a photo.net thread about this issue in 2006





Link to the thread here

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I vaguely remember hearing about that.

Steve

Thank you every one. For all the very important answeres, and kind reply to this.