Need help diagnosing Hasselblad 500C/M issues

[R Kane]

Hello,

I registered here in the hope that I can get some assistance from experienced Hasselblad folks with diagnosing what's wrong with my 1974 Hasselblad 500C/M. It suffers from two likely related issues:

• When pressing the shutter release the mirror flips up and the rear shutters open, but the bottom half stops short of fully opening by about 1/4". The shutter does not fire until I release the button and either twiddle the winding crank ever so slightly, or (with the back off) very gently push on the bottom rear shutter.
• The rear shutter does not return to the closed position after firing; it only closes once I advance the camera.

A few observations:

• Both the mirror flip-up and the opening of the rear shutter seem quite snappy, though the latter slows down towards the end. Both halves of the rear shutter show a strong springy resistance when closed.
• There is very little resistance on the bottom half of the rear shutter once opened; I only need to touch it quite lightly with the end of a q-tip for the camera to fire.
• If I use the mirror lock-up button the rear shutter always opens fully (though rather slowly towards the end), and the shutter fires correctly when I press the release. The rear shutter still does not close afterwards.

I am not afraid to try to service this camera myself (if you knew me you'd understand why) but it would be incredibly useful if anyone who might recognise these symptoms could give me some suggestions as to what to look for. From what I've learned so far it seems to point to the auxiliary shutter spring possibly being broken, or in need of retensioning. If it's broken I will have to make a new spring myself, since these are no longer available from Hasselblad. It would not be the first time that I make a custom spring for a delicate mechanism.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Hello,

I registered here in the hope that I can get some assistance from experienced Hasselblad folks with diagnosing what's wrong with my 1974 Hasselblad 500C/M. It suffers from two likely related issues:

• When pressing the shutter release the mirror flips up and the rear shutters open, but the bottom half stops short of fully opening by about 1/4". The shutter does not fire until I release the button and either twiddle the winding crank ever so slightly, or (with the back off) very gently push on the bottom rear shutter.
• The rear shutter does not return to the closed position after firing; it only closes once I advance the camera.

A few observations:

• Both the mirror flip-up and the opening of the rear shutter seem quite snappy, though the latter slows down towards the end. Both halves of the rear shutter show a strong springy resistance when closed.
• There is very little resistance on the bottom half of the rear shutter once opened; I only need to touch it quite lightly with the end of a q-tip for the camera to fire.
• If I use the mirror lock-up button the rear shutter always opens fully (though rather slowly towards the end), and the shutter fires correctly when I press the release. The rear shutter still does not close afterwards.

I am not afraid to try to service this camera myself (if you knew me you'd understand why) but it would be incredibly useful if anyone who might recognise these symptoms could give me some suggestions as to what to look for. From what I've learned so far it seems to point to the auxiliary shutter spring possibly being broken, or in need of retensioning. If it's broken I will have to make a new spring myself, since these are no longer available from Hasselblad. It would not be the first time that I make a custom spring for a delicate mechanism.

The barn doors need servicing. It would is likely that other things need servicing. We could recommend someone in your area to do the CLA [Clean, Lubricate, and Adjust] if you had put your actual location.

Welcome to Photrio.

 

[Marco Gilardetti]

I also very warmly suggest that you don't mess the camera. Countless repairmen are still able to work on Hasselblads and will gladly accept your unit, that there's really no need at all to try and do the work at home with unproper instruments and spares.

 

[OAPOli]

I would suggest looking at the service manual (the one 503 is listed below)

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www.galerie-photo.com

 

[mshchem]

Definitely needs a CLA

 

[4season]

If you've owned the camera for awhile, and it previously worked, I'm guessing that it's time to perform a complete CLA, and that may very well solve the issue with the "barn doors". There are no provisions for adjusting the spring tension.

Last year, I CLA'd my 500c and replaced the doors, as one of them had a crack in it, and someone had attempted a repair with epoxy, but ended up permanently placing it at the wrong angle

 

[Steven Lee]

My camera exhibited exactly the same symptoms and the culprit was the disconnected shutter rod. The auxiliary shutter is operated by 3 rods: upper, lower and stopping, and one of them broke loose and wasn't connected to the shutter flap anymore. I would NOT recommend DIY repair unless you know what you're doing.

Here's the relevant diagram from the service manual: