Who owns more >1 Hasselblad body and why, and when is enough "enough"?

[flavio81]

I have found that "enough is enough" with Zero, zero bodies.

Bronica ETRSi is more compact and cheaper, Pentax 6x7 (or mamiya RB67) gives higher image quality, and also they're cheaper.

• It was a great engineering feat to make a camera which by design can jam. Then just blame it on user error.
• Hasselblad would have received an Oscar each and every year, if there was one given for servicing requirements in order to keep the thing humming along

To be fair, jams can happen due to lack of service.

However I should also add that the first time I saw a Hassie 500C/M was when i was about 13 years old (i was already developing my own negatives by then). This was year 1994 and a pro shoot was being done at my home by a magazine photographer. So here I see the magical Hasseblad, the thing that is the lust everyone. Well, the shoot starts, two pictures and... JAMMED, the machine jams...

Fortunately the photographer had another camera body to cotinue shooting.

 

[Hassasin]

I have found that "enough is enough" with Zero, zero bodies.

Bronica ETRSi is more compact and cheaper, Pentax 6x7 (or mamiya RB67) gives higher image quality, and also they're cheaper.



To be fair, jams can happen due to lack of service.

However I should also add that the first time I saw a Hassie 500C/M was when i was about 13 years old (i was already developing my own negatives by then). This was year 1994 and a pro shoot was being done at my home by a magazine photographer. So here I see the magical Hasseblad, the thing that is the lust everyone. Well, the shoot starts, two pictures and... JAMMED, the machine jams...

Fortunately the photographer had another camera body to cotinue shooting.

I don’t know of another camera that can jam from user miscues, by that I mean regularly practically a guarantee unless lens body mating is done religiously, no interlocks to prevent the jam

 

[Sirius Glass]

I have found that "enough is enough" with Zero, zero bodies.

Bronica ETRSi is more compact and cheaper, Pentax 6x7 (or mamiya RB67) gives higher image quality, and also they're cheaper.



To be fair, jams can happen due to lack of service.

However I should also add that the first time I saw a Hassie 500C/M was when i was about 13 years old (i was already developing my own negatives by then). This was year 1994 and a pro shoot was being done at my home by a magazine photographer. So here I see the magical Hasseblad, the thing that is the lust everyone. Well, the shoot starts, two pictures and... JAMMED, the machine jams...

Fortunately the photographer had another camera body to cotinue shooting.

That and not reading the owners manual are the two main reason for Hasselblad jams.

 

[flavio81]

That and not reading the owners manual are the two main reason for Hasselblad jams.

You replied FAR quicker than I thought

It's like casting a spell, I just say "Hassy" and boom! SIrius Glass summoned.

And yes, lack of service should be the #1 suspect before blaming the camera itself as intrisically unreliable. One case in point, the Pentax ME cameras. They're fairly reliable once fully serviced. But take one that "works " but has never been serviced, and it WILL fail, guaranteed!

Or the Pentax 6x7, the service manual (or was the user manual?) states that the camera should get periodic maintenance. But users don't do that. Leave a perfectly fine Pentax 6x7 5, 6 years without service, and the camera will stop working properly. I've witnessed this firsthand.

 

[Hassasin]

So which brand, outside of the Hasselblad, jams up because lens and body were not cocked prior to mounting the lens? I don' know of one. Purely because of that, not anything else ? It's not about "read the manual and let service make money" it's about not having interlocks to prevent that from happening. It's bad design, bad engineering.

Any camera can stop working if it's mechanical and has not had use or service as it needed it. That was never the point I've been making for years now.

Hasselblad engineers dropped the ball on several aspects of the design, and as they decided to stick with "back compatibility" they continued with where they failed to the end.

It was all fine with 1600, it might have been acceptable with the 1000. But none of it should have continued starting with 500. Bragging about film back being compatible throughout life of the camera is not necessarily smart strategy.

But people get annoyed when simple facts are pointed out and they keep saying "user error". By instruction manual it may well be true, from design end point, its maker's failure.

Hasselblad has that aura of superiority which was (and is) largely a myth, easily challenged by facts, especially in comparison to what others had done.

Still, as I said before, thank you Hasselblad for the SWC.

 

[Don_ih]

So which brand, outside of the Hasselblad, jams up because lens and body were not cocked prior to mounting the lens?

You can't actually mount the lens (or remove it) unless both are cocked. Removing or mounting the lens with either (or both) uncocked is impossible. If you try really hard, you'll break one of them. But you can also slam either or both of them down on concrete, if you want - that'll break them, too.

 

[Hassasin]

You can't actually mount the lens (or remove it) unless both are cocked. Removing or mounting the lens with either (or both) uncocked is impossible. If you try really hard, you'll break one of them. But you can also slam either or both of them down on concrete, if you want - that'll break them, too.

100% wrong

 

[Don_ih]

100% wrong

Elaborate. Making a statement like that proves nothing.

 

[Hassasin]

Elaborate. Making a statement like that proves nothing.

I don't think I need to. It's been done countless times. Your remark about "slamming them down on concrete" is good enough reason to stop here.

 

[Arthurwg]

My first was the SWC as well, and yes, I want a Flexbody.

 

[Sirius Glass]

My first was the SWC as well, and yes, I want a Flexbody.

Me too. ArcBody will be graciously accepted.

 

[Sirius Glass]

You replied FAR quicker than I thought

It's like casting a spell, I just say "Hassy" and boom! SIrius Glass summoned.

And yes, lack of service should be the #1 suspect before blaming the camera itself as intrisically unreliable. One case in point, the Pentax ME cameras. They're fairly reliable once fully serviced. But take one that "works " but has never been serviced, and it WILL fail, guaranteed!

Or the Pentax 6x7, the service manual (or was the user manual?) states that the camera should get periodic maintenance. But users don't do that. Leave a perfectly fine Pentax 6x7 5, 6 years without service, and the camera will stop working properly. I've witnessed this firsthand.

Thank you. I aim to please; you aim will help.