Hasselblad 500C/M woes..

[jk0592]

I have read somewhere that if the ground glass is placed in reverse, the plane of focus will be wrong.

[heterolysis]

I have five backs (A12 and A24) and only have had light leaks once---when one of the darkslides was slightly warped one day. Beyond that, no issues on that front.

For focusing....I use a prism. I'm a bit hopeless when it comes to using the WL finder.

[digic]

I work at the Norwegian national Hasselblad distributor, and between us 500-series geeks here at work there's a well-known fact that A12 backs have a tendancy to have lightleaks. I myself own three backs, a C12 (which I have used quite a bit, and not experienced any misfortune with) as well as an A16 back and a A16 "Super Slide" back which I will probably never use for anything.

[Sirius Glass]

Carefully bending the hooks could solve the problem, but I would send it to David Odess and have fixed correctly.

[DSLR]

When I bought a 500CM body off KEH, it came with the cross reference screen and that thing was just terrible. Then, I ended up buying a split-image screen, and its helped a lot, but I'm still not satisfied. So, now I'm actually considering selling my hasselblad instead of buying an acute matte screen. I'd rather buy a bunch of film.

I ended up spending a lot on a late A12 back, the one with the leatherette on the button and a dark slide holder, and have had no problems even though one of the hooks on my CM body is slightly bent too.

Other than the focusing problems it's a great camera. I just can't understand why the plastic screen in the Bronica SQ was so much easier to focus for me.

[brucemuir]

The original crosshair screens from the 500cm's are terrible.
I ended up with a used "brightscreen 20/20" and its a world of difference but even so, a hasselblad takes abit of experience before you feel really confident in focussing and the more light the better.

[pekelnik]

I have a (arax?) third party split-circle focusing screen on my 500 c/m and I have no issues focusing. (I checked it against the original crosshair for proper alignment but it didn't need any.) Are you absolutely certain you don't have the focusing screen in up-side-down? It could even be that the screen is misplaced in its metal bracket and needs to be reversed.

[mattbellphoto]

At this point, I'm looking into simply buying a new body in better condition than mine.

I've tried three different focus screens and the focusing problem persists.

[brucemuir]

At this point, I'm looking into simply buying a new body in better condition than mine.

I've tried three different focus screens and the focusing problem persists.

Might be a good bet but keep in mind any body will more than likely need a cla unless you buy it directly after one.
I'm not a hasselblad tech but I know there is a jig for the body that aligns the squareness, film plane distances etc. and there is generally a bit of tweaking needed especially if the body has seen pro use.

Not trying to be overly dramatic or imply that 'all blads are ragged by now but it might be a good idea to get one from someone with some warranty or guarantee.

Considering you are probably tired of screwing around by this point.

Good luck, it'll be well worth it once you get everything straight.

[mattbellphoto]

*fingers crossed*

The one I'm looking at is a '77 model (UUC) that's very clean with the least amount of paint loss on the back plate I've seen in my price range.