It follows a pattern, every time: I am convinced that I have tried enough, that I have found the photographic technique I like the most. Then there comes another photographer who showcases great work done with [please fill in: a camera / lens / film type / film format / aspect ratio]. At first, I am just curious. Sentences like “Really nice, but that’s nothing for me.“ will cross my head. Then, doubts start to creep in: “Why not? What if I miss great fun?” This process culminates in panicking: “I am sure, they will stop producing film X any moment.” Or: “Camera Y has seen an enormous price increase during the last months. If I don’t buy one now, it will become unaffordable!” At this point, I typically place an order.
In this particular case, my inspiration originated from Jan Staller’s Frontier New York. His colorful 6×6 photographs of a dirty and dark 1980’s New York hit me hard. I felt spurred on to try the square format myself. A year ago, I had dealt with panoramic compositions – I enjoyed working with the width, and thinking about how to fill the frame. The square seemed to be the exact opposite. How can I compress a scenery to fit into the square?
From a Zenza to a Hasselblad Medium Format Camera
Initially, I bought a Zenza Bronica EC for my 6×6 adventure. The Zenza impressed me with its sophisticated detail solutions, an ingenious marvel. HOWEVER: It had serious focusing problems, I encountered a pronounced front focus. I suspected a mirror misalignment and/or deteriorated foam under the ground glass (a common issue with Zenzas). My attempts of a do-it-yourself repair failed, as the repair of professional camera service failed – twice! The wasted film frustrated me, the spoiled photographs even more. Enter Hasselblad. Confronted with this situation, I stumbled across a 500C in fine condition, offered by a dealer with a good reputation. Order placed.
Teething Problems
Love, peace, and harmony with the Hasselblad? Definitely not in the first place: Although I generally mounted the camera on a tripod and used the mirror pre-release function, every photograph suffered from camera shake! Damn. As it turned out, the cable release was the culprit. The cable’s relatively stiff jacket transferred a light nudge onto the camera body each time I pressed the button. This resulted in further 24 – more or less – spoiled frames. Now I use a cheap and far more flimsy cable release I found in my dad’s boxes and got rid of the camera shake.
Still Work in Progress…
Unfortunately, after more than ten exposed rolls I’m still struggling with the focus, especially when shooting wide open. I got suspicious after a fair amount of my images had suffered from a minor back focus. The effect seemed to be just a tad too consistent to be random. On the other hand, I also obtained complete rolls without any issues.
I eventually contacted the dealer: He suspected increased humidity and temperature could cause the film to slightly bend itself (in the range of hundredths of a millimeter). The uneven film plane would result in a shifted focus plane. The Hasselblad medium format cameras should be further prone to this behavior due to their film magazines: They redirect the film strip two times what would literally torture the material. I’m not quite sure whether his explanation is accurate – and how to deal with this effect as it would be difficult to foresee. Maybe one of you can help?
Thank you very much for your support – and thanks for reading!
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Julian on 5 Frames with a Hasselblad 500C and Kodak Portra 160 – By Christian Schroeder
Comment posted: 01/08/2019
Comment posted: 01/08/2019
Terry B on 5 Frames with a Hasselblad 500C and Kodak Portra 160 – By Christian Schroeder
Comment posted: 01/08/2019
I've never owned a Hassy or Bronica EC and so I was very interested in the focusing issues you had with both. My 6x6 shooting was with Yashicamat, Rollei 3.5f and Mamiya C330F/S cameras. No moving reflex mirror, but still the slight possibility of mirror misalignment and/or the lenses not being exactly matched. Needless to say, though, I never had focusing errors as you describe here.
Curious about your problems with both cameras, I googled them and found that they were both prone to focus errors as they aged. A link here is relevant now to your Hassy. https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/hasselblad-500-c-m-focus-issue.5509048/
I must say that I've never come across any report of the focus error being due to the reason stated by the dealer. I was an avid reader of photographic magazines over many decades and feel sure if this was a problem someone would have highlighted it, especially as the Hassy was a favourite of professional photographers. With such a large mirror, wear and tare on the linkages seems feasible.
Comment posted: 01/08/2019
Comment posted: 01/08/2019
Daniel Fjäll on 5 Frames with a Hasselblad 500C and Kodak Portra 160 – By Christian Schroeder
Comment posted: 01/08/2019
I always keep a thumb on the advance knob when advancing the film to ensure the film is tight through the roll on most of my medium format cameras.
Comment posted: 01/08/2019
Lee J on 5 Frames with a Hasselblad 500C and Kodak Portra 160 – By Christian Schroeder
Comment posted: 01/08/2019
I don't buy the film flatness issue either. You're only going to see this problem if you're shooting macro shots wide open, not on far field work like this. The problem may well be the mirror or focus screen being slightly out of alignment, given the age of the camera, so the camera needs a CLA.
I wrote about focus issues with Hasselblads a bit in a recent blog post - Google "Ten years with a hasselblad" to find it.
Comment posted: 01/08/2019
Scott Edwards on 5 Frames with a Hasselblad 500C and Kodak Portra 160 – By Christian Schroeder
Comment posted: 01/08/2019
Comment posted: 01/08/2019
Comment posted: 01/08/2019
Comment posted: 01/08/2019
Ilya Inov on 5 Frames with a Hasselblad 500C and Kodak Portra 160 – By Christian Schroeder
Comment posted: 02/08/2019
Thank you for sharing!
For focusing in the dark in general, with any camera, I find it helpful sometimes to point a flashlight at a place I want to focus on, just while I focus, and then turn off the flashlight and take the photo.
Comment posted: 02/08/2019
AJ on 5 Frames with a Hasselblad 500C and Kodak Portra 160 – By Christian Schroeder
Comment posted: 02/08/2019
https://octoroonc1.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/19th-century-photograph.jpg
Comment posted: 02/08/2019
Bent_Brent on 5 Frames with a Hasselblad 500C and Kodak Portra 160 – By Christian Schroeder
Comment posted: 02/08/2019
Comment posted: 02/08/2019
Peter Lukáč on 5 Frames with a Hasselblad 500C and Kodak Portra 160 – By Christian Schroeder
Comment posted: 03/08/2019
Comment posted: 03/08/2019