Are Hasselblad 503cw rain proof?

[ted_smith]

Hi

I know this sounds daft, but being in the position of considering a move from Nikon F5 to Hasselblad 503cw, one thing occured to me - are hasselblad 503cw rain proof? In other words, if I'm stood on the edge of a cliff waiting for the light in the rain, is my expensive hasselblad 503cw going to get wrecked? Converesly, my F5 just brushes the rain away.

Ted

[fmajor]

Yup, wrecked.

[benjiboy]

No it certainly isn't Ted.

[rudolf]

503cw maybe isn't rain-proof, but...
In general when we're talking about Hasselblad 5xx cameras, I think it depends - my friend used to take photos with his 500c/m in heavy norwegian rain, and was just pouring out the water from his 50mm lens from time to time.

[ted_smith]

Oh...that's a bit of a show stopper then? How do landscape photographers who use Hassies protect them from the elements? Or are they really only ever used for weddings and portraiture?

[vpwphoto]

My 500 has seen wet snowy extreems, I used to have a 503cw and it also seemed bullet proof as well, although I never used the flash metering chip anyway.
I wouldn't expect the winder to fair well, put the manual crank on and go for it.
I never just let water pour down on it! It's no Nikonos.

@ Ted... My Hasselblad system has been dusty farm combine/harvest operations, hung outside flying aricraft, cathedrals, the most dirty and hot steel mills, coal fired powerplants, welding operations, pig farms, and hiking in the snow, frozen in the car to 10 below, and Cherenkov radiation at a small nuke plamt (that place was clean).

They can do anything (reasonable).Hasselbald used to have this "school" that traveled the country in the early 1990's there was a women that gave a talk, about her photography of yellowstone and rainforests using the Hasselblad she got them more than wet.... I'm a believer in the 500 system by experiance. Go use it sensibly and make some great images.

Fashion a zip-lock bag to protect it. In a word, my 500 /503 and CF lenses have been rained on and snowed on, I bush them off, keep them under my jacket when not on a tripiod or being aimed at something. Yes mine have been wet (sensibility is needed).

[Sirius Glass]

Hasselblad does not make claims about being water-proof nor water-resistant. You are on your own.

YMMV

[olleorama]

I have owned both 500C and 500CM, I wouldn't rate them as waterproof but a rain is not a problem. I used them in monsoon in thailand and freezing snow falls on spitzbergen, never had a problem.

[wildbill]

2 gallon ziploc bag with a hole in it for the lens. or one of the many rain covers made for cameras.

[kreeger]

I have used 5xx Hasselbad gear for years. I always carry a small trash bag with my gear to help keep rain out regardless. I would do that for any camera. I never depend on supposed weatherproofing in cameras. Murphy's law is always in effect.