Hasselblad H1 / Fuji GX645

Hey all!

I'm been looking for a good H1 or GX645. I am having a hard time finding kits with film backs (or even just film backs on their own for that matter). Not sure what's up with that. Would appreciate any tips on where I might find such a thing but also curious to know if this is a symptom of some issue using the camera with film? Did folks just pretty much go digital only?

All the best,

Andrew

Most did, yes. But people who want to use film have, like you, will have been looking for these film backs and bought them all. They were not made for a long time, so not that many available in the first place.

It's not an issue the H1 would have with film. Works perfectly. Later models communicate more with their backs, and if that back is a film back, things grind to a halt. They accept digital only.

As with nearly everything in second-hand medium format these days, all roads lead back to Japanese eBay dealers. Concentrate your stalking there, and you may eventually track down an H film back (chances of a private individual willing to part with one in any given country are practically nil). Once you have the back in your hands, you can look for the rest (H1 bodies minus back are much easier to obtain).

If your work doesn't critically rely on leaf shutters for flash sync, perhaps consider alternative similar focal plane shutter systems like Pentax 645N or Mamiya 645AF that were more commonly used with film and have more film back availability (the Pentax only used film anyway, digital is a separate body). The Contax 645 was a nice system with Zeiss lenses, but like Hasselblad H the film backs are scarce and pricey.