Im new and im stuck

Well ive been checking forums and asking questions on medium format for a

couple of months now and i just decided upon the Hassy 500elm with an 80mm lens

a12 and a waistlevel, the problem is, i have no idea what im doing, first off i

cant even get the lens on, the mirror is up and cant figure out a way to get it

down, the battery is charging as we speak (in the camera correct?) and its

kinda funny cause i work in a photography store and none of my co workers can

figure it out, so basically how long does it take to charge the battery, when

will i know when its charged, how do i get the mirror to come down, and how the

hell do i get the damn lens on. Thanks guys i feel like ive made a mistake

jumping into this but i just could not resist, after a customer of ours came in

and ordered some had some film processed and printed that she had taken with

her hassy and i was blown away. any assistance whatsoever would be massivly

appriciated thanks guys.

 

-ben

STOP right there or you might jam the lens very badly.

 

Cock the camera.

If the lens will not go on easily, then it has been fired off the camera, so look at the back of the lens and you will see a slot (like a screwdriver slot) - turn that screw to cock the shutter. Now mount it.

 

And please get a manual right away. I'm sure someone here will point you to one online.

 

The battery? It's a sore spot with that camera. Very often they are dead, used up, can't really be recharged but there are adapters to use common modern battery/batteries.

okay, thank you so far, i have already purchased a battery adapter, so that part is settled, i cocked the lens so thats settled as well, however, my mirror is locked up and im not sure how to get it down, and the lens will still not mount even when the lens is cocked, what now? ive printed a pdf of the manual and i cant find anything other than cocking the lens as far as trouble shooting in order to get it to come down.

 

thanks again

-ben

Ben,<br><br>Is the tiny lever on the camera's right, next to the plug, set to "L", or "T"? If so, set it to "O" and see what happens.

both levers are set to O

Ben,<br><br>Both set to "O" and when you press the release nothing happens.<br>That can mean either one of two things. The first one is that there is no power. The EL(...) models seize wherever they were at during the cycle when they run out of power. If that happens to be somewhere with the mirror up, it will remain like that until it has power again to complete the cycle.<br>A (still working) battery takes about 14 hours to charge. Dead ones take forever. ;-)<br>

You do not have to wait for the battery to charge though: get a 'normal' D-cell alkaline battery, insert it, +-terminal first, into either one of the two battery compartments, and hold the compartment cover (it will not fit with a D-cell inside) so that it connects battery and fuse (situated to the rear). That should get the motor going.<br><br>The second thing is not good. The camera can have an electrical or mechanical problem. Having it fixed can be more expensive than finding another EL/M (one that does work).<br><br>So try the battery. If that doesn't change anything, return the camera to whoever you got it from, and ask for a refund.

P.S.<br><br>Did you remove the magazine from the camera?

Thanks very much for all the info guys, i bought everything from KEH at ex value so i hope that the battery or camera isnt bad because ive had nothing but good luck from them in the past, and that would be a bit of a drag. but again thank you very much for bearing with me, im only 20 and im used to everything being so electronic and easy and digital, but i was fed up with my crappy results with my digital xt, and not happy enough with my a2 35mm so hopefully this works out, i love medium format but its just gonna take some time to get used to.

thanks again.

 

-ben

Ben: Go to this site and it should help you some :

 

http://www.3106.net/photo/cam1025.htm

The manual is also available <a href="http://www.hasselbladhistorical.eu/HW/HWVSys.aspx" target="_blank">here</a>. Directly, without the hassle of having to request a one-time permission to download, or begging for money. ;-)