Hasselblad Repairs?

[JerseyDoug]

Wow. Looks like they won't service much of anything if you have a film camera. Disappointing.

The list is ONLY of items with limited service or no service available. Presumably if an item isn't on the list service IS available. It looks like service is available for my complete kit: 500 C/M, 50mm CF, 80mm CF, 120mm CF and two late 12 magazines, and for the 180mm CF lens I am considering adding. I am pleasantly surprised.

 

[logan2z]

The list is ONLY of items with limited service or no service available. Presumably if an item isn't on the list service IS available. It looks like service is available for my complete kit: 500 C/M, 50mm CF, 80mm CF, 120mm CF and two late 12 magazines, and for the 180mm CF lens I am considering adding. I am pleasantly surprised.

I wasn't sure how to interpret the 500C on the list. Are the C and C/M bodies so different that the C/M is still serviceable but the C is not? I have a C/M so it would be nice if there were still parts to service it.

 

[Photomultiplier]

Also sounds a bit strange to me.

I am no expert by any means but i have seen 500C and 500CMs from the inside and there were no obvious differences. Of course, i think the upper screen frame could be different and they also removed the aux flap flash contact, but the mechanism itself, e.g. where
things are likliest to go wrong, should be practically identical. As i said before, i am no expert, that is only what i suppose, based on what i have seen.
Things i am worried the most about are those moving parts like clutches or springs breaking, but they seem to be the same in the different models.

But there were several revisions in very early 500C models from the late 50s. The most well known difference is the brake for the auxiliary shutter flaps which caused headache and i think that the whole mirror actuating spring mechanism was completely different in the very beginning.
According to my repair technician, the old models are rare and he has virtually only seen the configurations from the 60s on.
My 500C has the brake revision from 1970 (with the larger rubber disk), just before they changed it to the 500CM configuration with the small o-ring.

https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/early-hasselblad-500c-observations-question.5514256/


The only instances where spares were needed was with the lenses. I had some $$$ repairs in CF lenses. My technician got the whole spare part stock for the V system and prontor shutters from the official austrian Hasselblad Rep plus he also seems to not be that afraid of the 200 Series:
https://fototechnik-mayrhofer.at/leistungen/mittelformatkameras/index.php

With the 500 bodies it was mostly just CLA. Gummed up grease from 1970 can wreak a lot of havoc in 2021

 

[warden]

Also sounds a bit strange to me.

I am no expert by any means but i have seen 500C and 500CMs from the inside and there were no obvious differences. Of course, i think the upper screen frame could be different and they also removed the aux flap flash contact, but the mechanism itself, e.g. where
things are likliest to go wrong, should be practically identical. As i said before, i am no expert, that is only what i suppose, based on what i have seen.
Things i am worried the most about are those moving parts like clutches or springs breaking, but they seem to be the same in the different models.

But there were several revisions in very early 500C models from the late 50s. The most well known difference is the brake for the auxiliary shutter flaps which caused headache and i think that the whole mirror actuating spring mechanism was completely different in the very beginning.
According to my repair technician, the old models are rare and he has virtually only seen the configurations from the 60s on.
My 500C has the brake revision from 1970 (with the larger rubber disk), just before they changed it to the 500CM configuration with the small o-ring.

https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/early-hasselblad-500c-observations-question.5514256/


The only instances where spares were needed was with the lenses. I had some $$$ repairs in CF lenses. My technician got the whole spare part stock for the V system and prontor shutters from the official austrian Hasselblad Rep plus he also seems to not be that afraid of the 200 Series:
https://fototechnik-mayrhofer.at/leistungen/mittelformatkameras/index.php

With the 500 bodies it was mostly just CLA. Gummed up grease from 1970 can wreak a lot of havoc in 2021

Thank you for sharing that! The website gives me confidence that this repair/restoration center is professional. I've added their site to my bookmarks for when my next service is needed. It still amazes me that people here (in the US) send their classic Hasselblads to get serviced by someone who apparently smokes while servicing them, and returns a smelly camera to the customer. It's completely ridiculous.

 

[John Riney III]

Samy's in LA will also no longer work on 500ELs or 553ELXes, per an email reply from Richard C.

--John Riney

 

[Sirius Glass]

Samy's in LA will also no longer work on 500ELs or 553ELXes, per an email reply from Richard C.

--John Riney

Thank you for the update.

 

[mshchem]

I've "fixed" two 553 ELX bodies with Kodak film cleaner (heptane and banned CFC113). Solvent is a miracle cure. These mechanical masterpieces get so gummed up with dirt and gunked up old lube. Before you give up on a old blad try something like a Solvent, just a tiny bit. Once you get things going, especially the motor bodies keep firing them. Exercise is good for us all.