I wanted to make a few images in Dorchester last week, and thought I’d give the Hasselblad it’s first outing. Mad isn’t it to have such a camera and not use it over the winter? Well I have plans this summer – it might be busy!! Anyhow, I got it out of the bag, got my roll of film ready to load in, and it wouldn’t fire. That’s nothing un-usual for these cameras as there is a “pre-flight” routine, for the camera to fire, the shutter has to be cocked, the wind on completed, the dark slide removed etc. I checked all of these but still couldn’t get it to fire. Not only that, I couldn’t remove the lens!
It turns out that there is a “fault” or rather a design hiccup with Hasselblad’s. The leaf shutter is built into the lens, this connects with and is cocked by the body, as part of the wind on, nothing unusual there, but sometimes they can get “out of sync” and the camera jams! I googled!
What I discovered is that it is indeed not uncommon. There is a simple fix if you are brave. Poke ones fingers through the felt door that is almost like a second shutter in the camera (behind the mirror), then under the mirror is a small screw that can be turned with the appropriate screw driver. This resets the mechanism. One has to be careful not the slip and scratch the rear element of a rather expensive lens in the process. At this point it’s jammed on. Carefully I did this. Camera un-jammed!
I fired the camera a few times took the lens on and off a few times, clicked away, all seemed fine. Loaded up my film, next day no issue at all. I’ve completed that roll and have clicked it randomly here and there – no issues, so I’m hoping for no more hassles with the Hasselblad!
If you are interested to see the procedure this is the video I followed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk52HSjFCxU
S.H.O.U.T. 