Tips for accurate focus on a Hasselblad 500CM?

[DRJJPDC]

Aye, that's the other step in a two step method in which you are able to bring about the best mechinical and technical elements together, ideally on a trip or monopole, but hand held also works, if you do no suffer from the shakes, low physical strenghts or have difficulty standing.

Both are part of the very basic steps of manual photography.

IMO.

I'm pushing 70 and just got my Hasselblad 500 c/m a year or two ago. I don't have any problems with focusing, but what I do have while hand holding is getting a level image in the viewfinder with the cross hairs tilted up/down. Am I expecting too much at my age? I have had a Pentax 6X7, a Pentax 645 and assorted 35mm cameras and never had a problem. I do have a good tripod but didn't think I needed it. Duh?

 

[Pieter12]

Camera shake is a big issue with a big SLR like the Hasselblad held at waist level. The 1/focal length rule for the minimum hand-held shutter speed is a place to start. I would recommend at least 1/125 for shooting with an 80mm lens. Or better yet, a tripod. Your wedding photographer was probably using flash.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Hi there,

It's from 1977, it has had the foam under the mirror replaced as part of the service. The reason for the service originally was that when I swapped over the screens, the infinity focus wasn't focused on the split prism, so it went off to a Hasselblad specialist here in the UK.

I have had some pretty sharp photos, however it's more of an issue with being consistent, and I'm wondering if there any tips in improving this.

Thanks!

It' also my experience that theHassy 500 series are not the easiest to focus but the split-image screen nails focus for me.

 

[DRJJPDC]

Thanks, Pieter. I keep forgetting with those medium format negatives, even if the image isn't perfect there is lots of room for cropping. Although we all know that it's better to fix things before development than after.

I haven't used it a lot yet, but I have taken some good landscape shots with my Fujica GW 690. Huge negative, I thought the neg from my Pentax 6X7 was big, but that 6x9 neg is impressive.

 

[Eff64]

I sympathize. This stuff can be maddening. I agree with many of the answers already posted, but also wonder if a focus test would help narrow it down.

No need to put details here because there is tons of info online, but essentially you make up a paper ramp, marked off, and using a tripod you focus on one spot, making a note for yourself where on each frame. Need to use a fairly wide aperture, if not wide open. Mirror lockup, the whole deal.

After the film is souped, look it over with a loupe and see where your actual critical focus plane was.

Is it on the mark? Front focused? Back focused? Consistently one way or the other?

If it is always off, and in the same direction, I think I would go back to the people who refurbed it and show them the film results.

If the focus plane moves around frame to frame, that would suggest user error.

But there are so many variables I see a need to try to eliminate some.

 

[DRJJPDC]

I sympathize. This stuff can be maddening. I agree with many of the answers already posted, but also wonder if a focus test would help narrow it down.

No need to put details here because there is tons of info online, but essentially you make up a paper ramp, marked off, and using a tripod you focus on one spot, making a note for yourself where on each frame. Need to use a fairly wide aperture, if not wide open. Mirror lockup, the whole deal.

After the film is souped, look it over with a loupe and see where your actual critical focus plane was.

Is it on the mark? Front focused? Back focused? Consistently one way or the other?

If it is always off, and in the same direction, I think I would go back to the people who refurbed it and show them the film results.

If the focus plane moves around frame to frame, that would suggest user error.

But there are so many variables I see a need to try to eliminate some.

eff,
Luckily I am a target shooter, so I have plenty of paper targets with different degrees of resolution to take a fine picture.

 

[Eff64]

eff,
Luckily I am a target shooter, so I have plenty of paper targets with different degrees of resolution to take a fine picture.

If a focus test is what you want to do, be sure the target is not flat to the camera. That won’t tell you enough. It has to be like 45 degrees so you can tell where the critical focus is in the negative vs where you thought you were focused.

 

[itsdoable]

<snip> ... I don't have any problems with focusing, but what I do have while hand holding is getting a level image in the viewfinder with the cross hairs tilted up/down....

It's funny you say this, because unless I concentrate on getting the camera level, I find I naturally tilt it ~1.5 deg (... pretty consistently!)

I've noticed it with other SLRs (ie: P67, P645, Rolleiflex ...), but after paying attention to the issue, it usually goes away after using the camera for a while - but it's been persistent with the Hasselblad (!). Maybe I'm just getting old

I'm talking hand held, no problem on a tripod.

 

[eli griggs]

I'm pushing 70 and just got my Hasselblad 500 c/m a year or two ago. I don't have any problems with focusing, but what I do have while hand holding is getting a level image in the viewfinder with the cross hairs tilted up/down. Am I expecting too much at my age? I have had a Pentax 6X7, a Pentax 645 and assorted 35mm cameras and never had a problem. I do have a good tripod but didn't think I needed it. Duh?

I find the small, Hasselblad bubble level that goes onto the left hand, accessories bar very useful, even if only hand held, and with enough depth of field to tolerate your unintentional 'shakes and movements

I used this method of handholding and level for some shots not long ago, and am confident I got the shots in wanted.

Also, just remember, the 'sharpest' focus most lenses have, I'd going to be three to four stops up from the widest aperture.

Cheers

 

[DRJJPDC]

If a focus test is what you want to do, be sure the target is not flat to the camera. That won’t tell you enough. It has to be like 45 degrees so you can tell where the critical focus is in the negative vs where you thought you were focused.

Thank you very much, didn't know that.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I've been looking at them recently, my main concern is the eventual death of the electronics!

I think the durability of electronics is better than its reputation. In the last few years, I had several mechanical cameras fail without possible repair but no electronic cameras ever failed me.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I find the small, Hasselblad bubble level that goes onto the left hand, accessories bar very useful, even if only hand held, and with enough depth of field to tolerate your unintentional 'shakes and movements

I used this method of handholding and level for some shots not long ago, and am confident I got the shots in wanted.

Also, just remember, the 'sharpest' focus most lenses have, I'd going to be three to four stops up from the widest aperture.

Cheers

For Hasselblad lenses,the 'sweet point' is at about f/8-11!

 

[Pieter12]

If a focus test is what you want to do, be sure the target is not flat to the camera. That won’t tell you enough. It has to be like 45 degrees so you can tell where the critical focus is in the negative vs where you thought you were focused.

Here is a very poor contact scan of the focus chart I use. Each line is about 1/2 inch apart. The chart is at a 45º angle to the camera, camera on a tripod. I focus on the center line (with the diamonds) at the lens's closest focusing distance, wide open. You can see from this particular image the focus is actually a bit further out than what I saw in the viewfinder, but not enough to be an issue a couple of stops down.

 

[eli griggs]

A fine way to check your lenses focusing.

If you can provide a sharp PDF, we should make it a sticky, for others to use and learn from.

 

[eli griggs]

For Hasselblad lenses,the 'sweet point' is at about f/8-11!

Cheers!

 

[Pieter12]

A fine way to check your lenses focusing.

If you can provide a sharp PDF, we should make it a sticky, for others to use and learn from.

Sure.

 

[JerseyDoug]

Another way to do the same thing is to put a yard stick (or meter stick) on a horizontal surface and photograph it at angle, focused at the mid point.

 

[MattKing]

Picket fences (at an angle) make great focus check targets. Take along something to indicate which picket you are targeting.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

A fine way to check your lenses focusing.

If you can provide a sharp PDF, we should make it a sticky, for others to use and learn from.

I use the same method with success and can provide a pdf to print your own

 

[eli griggs]

Cheers!

We can not have too many resources of this type; so many photographers are individuals that do not tolerate a limited selection of targets, IMO, or we wouldn't have so many more online and in our books.