need help shooting Hassy handheld

[film_man]

Don't forget that the MF rangefinders are not as dinky as Leicas. Using one of those, you are holding s lot of camera up in front of your face.
Lots of camera that needs to be supported by your arms. Waist level cameras allow pressing the elbows against the sides of your body. Having to raise a camera to eye level makes that a bit more difficult (that's why 45 degree prisms are so good - the perfect compromise between handholdability and prism viewing), depending on where the release button is (usually on top) even impossible.
So not necessarily more stable.

With the 90 prism, I put the camera on my right hand, bring it to eye level, use the left hand to focus and fire the shutter with my right middle finger. Almost like holding a 35mm SLR and the extra weight makes it more stable.
On the other hand, with 45 prisms the end position of the camera is about what it would be using the magnifier on the WLF.
So not necessarily more useful.

 

[MattKing]

Somewhere on APUG there is a similar thread about Rollieflex cameras. A poster was having trouble with the same issue and someone else (Sanders McNew?) made a suggestion on where to put which finger and that turned out to be a revelation to the original poster.

That was an example of where this internet approach to solving problems worked. I would suggest, however (and with all due respect) that this is truly an example of the inadequacies inherent in trying to solve problems of this nature through the written word.

What the OP needs is pictures showing a variety of approaches to the issue. It would be even better if she could meet up with someone else who shoots a Hasselblad so that together they can explore a variety of approaches to holding and operating the camera.

It may be that there is a different way for her to hold the camera that would solve all her problems. Alternatively, there may be accessories that would make a big difference.

It may, however, also be that the camera and she are just not suited to each other - I know that Hasselblads aren't suited to me!