Don't quite understand,,

<p>I have been looking at Hassy equipment on Ebay, looking for another prism. I have noticed that some of the hassy equip is beat up ! I do not understand how people would abuse something like that ! I have a 501C that I bought new, shot 25 weddings per year for 10+ years plus other various stuff, and it is almost in mint condition. I know that some of this stuff is from the 70's, but I have a silver 50MM F4 that is ex.+. What do you guys think ?</p>

<p>Yup, some people are harder on equipment than others. Generally what I think when I see beat up gear is, "I wonder what the previous owner did with it?"</p>

<p>I tend to be more like you. My old gear is in pretty good shape. But I'm careful with it and probably don't use it as much as some other people might.</p>

<p>You can get some real bargains in gear that is "scratched and abraised" on the outside and excellent on the inside, though! I've got three prisms for my 'blads and all were scratched up...a can of flat black spray paint and a little tape (to cover the name) cured that...they look like new and function perfectly.</p>

<p>Some people would say it is completely unnecessary to make scratched up equipment look like new, would be surprised that you bother. It works perfectly with or without that new look, right?<br>

That's why some equipment looks worse for wear more than other equipment too.</p>

<p>You have to be very careful not to put a scratch or two on equipment in decades of use.</p>

<p>A scratch or two or a bump is one thing, but some I have seen is another ! I have dinged my "L" series lens a few times. I have a Metz 45cl3, shot it so many times that the reflector melted. But otherwise it is almost mint conidion </p>

<p>I have seen many pros using black electrical tape protecting their cameras, although never Hasselblad users but Nikon/Canon PJs. Their cameras will be very used, with pristine paint in bottom plates and pentaprisms, I guess.</p>

<p>Sometimes that happens when the user is not the owner. The "who cares, it's not mine" attitude</p>

<p>I think sometimes it is due to people not using good camera bags. They just throw their equipment into a bag with no compartments and the stuff bangs around.</p>

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<p>Sometimes that happens when the user is not the owner. The "who cares, it's not mine" attitude</p>

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<p>This can be very true for rentals.<br>

Along the same vein, I've also know assistants that were pretty harsh on their employer's gear in the 70s and 80s.<br>

Some were downright destructive.</p>

<p>Hasselblads were both purchased by collectors and beat up by wedding photographers and other professionals. Like Leica's, many doctors and professionals bought Hasselblads and didn't use them very much: "case queens" I used to call them. The beat up ones were simply a tool for a pro photographer. They have more important things to do than worry about what their equipment looked like. When I was a photojournalist, I used to tape up my Nikons because they would bang against each other. Surprisingly, I could take the tape off years later, and the finish underneath looked like new.</p>

 

<p>I think it depends on what/how much you shoot and the demands you put on the equipment. I never really abused my equipment but some of my daily stuff got super beat up without trying. When I shot FT from about 1988-98 doing mostly industrial photography, (plus a solid number of social events, reportage, weddings, musicians, sports, racing etc.) the biggest factor was dirt, moisture, temperature, having to work fast under pressure and high mileage. For example I used five Bronica SQa bodies, six lenses and about a dozen film backs plus two bags of Nikons. Two of the Bronicas had the leather scraped off and half the screws removed so I could easily remove the plates to take the bodies apart to dry or clean/oil the insides easily. Others were much cleaner and newer and used mostly for social events/weddings. Another factor was I never used any filters or lens caps on any of my lenses, they were a total PITA for me and more trouble than not. I needed to just reach in take a lens on and off without fiddling with caps and if I used a filter it was a color correction or gel not a UV or Skylight. Now I shoot much less and more casual, all my Hasselblads are like brand new and even have caps ;-) </p>

<p>That taping thing, Michael, is something you see now and again.<br />It's quite funny when you think about it: people do that so that their precious cameras will not start looking bad. Fair enough. The result however is that you (or they themselves) can never see that their precious cameras still look "like new", which on the contrary look like some beaten up things held together with tape, because they have that tape all over them...</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Dave said:<br>

<em>"the biggest factor was dirt"</em><br>

You got that right, I had taken my wedding camera to photo some horses posed, walking & running. I was sick about the dust & dirt on & in my camera. Weddings are usually nice clean environments. I do remember numerous times shaking bird seed out of my waist level finder !!</p>