Hasselblad certified repair in Eastern Europe?

[ivan_murdzhev1]

<p>Hello All,</p>

<p>I recently bought a Hasselblad 500 ELX and I enjoyed shooting two rolls of film with it. I then had the misfortune of dropping it. It was in a soft case and I dropped it on the floor from not more than 20 cm but then the problems started. At first it wouldn't release the shutter, then it started working again for a bit, and then it stopped working completely. I accidentally switched the lever to Pre-release mode so now it's jammed with the mirror up and the back flaps open. The lens won't come off the body. I guess that even if I manage to turn the little screw in the body and free the lens the shutter will still be jammed. I live in Bulgaria and from what I know official repair service is not available here. Can anyone tell me what to do? Can I find a certified repair shop in Eastern Europe or should I proceed to sending it to Hasselblad Sweden?<br>

Thanks in advance,<br>

Ivan</p>

[q.g._de_bakker]

<p><a href="http://www.hasselblad.se/about-hasselblad/partner-locator/europe--africa/bulgaria.aspx">Here.</a></p>

[ivan_murdzhev1]

<p>Q. G. de Bakker, thank you, but as far as I know, these people don't do repairs.</p>

[q.g._de_bakker]

<p>But they are the ones that act as intermediate between you and Hasselblad in Sweden.<br>

Turn to them, and have them send the equipment to Sweden, or to whoever 'Sweden' says should repair your camera.</p>

<p> </p>

[ivan_murdzhev1]

<p>That's what I will do eventually. Just hoped there would be some magical repair shop near by. Thanks once again :)</p>

[lukas_kun]

<p>Hi Ivan,<br>

You can try sending it to Poland, we have at least 2 Hasselblad certified mechanics.<br>

One of them is Wieslaw Adamczyk who is well known precission foto mechanic in Poland. Many professionals and amateurs (including me) service their Hasselblads, Mamiyas etc in his workshop.<br>

I was doing repairs of my 501CM kit, SLA of Mamiya and Zeiss Ikon and I'm very pleased with service.<br>

You can find the details of his workshop and contact data here: <a href="http://fotomechanika.pl/">http://fotomechanika.pl/</a><br />He lives near Warsaw.<br>

The page is in Polish so if you need help with contacting him - pop me a private mail so I could help you.<br>

Good luck!<br />Lukas</p>

 

[ivan_murdzhev1]

<p>Lukas,<br>

Nice of you for providing this information. I have contacted the official Hasselblad partners in Bulgaria and I am now waiting for a reply from Sweden. Poland seems a good option so I might try this if there is no answer from Hasselblad or if their price is too high. If I decide to do it, I will contact you for some language help.<br>

Thanks,<br>

Ivan</p>

[archie_campbell]

<p>I have had exactly the same problem and was wondering if there was any solution that anyone could think of that would not involve and expensive repair procedure. <br>

The camera has been locked up in a garage for an age and pretty much instantly jammed up when we took it out of the box. (Shutter may have been pushed.)<br>

However, the batteries are now charged and I was wondering whether anyone had any suggestions as to things to try. Other things I have noticed is that the mode dial will not stay on the 'S' setting and will only sit either side on 'O' or 'SR' and the lower dial will only switch to 'L' and 'O' but will not go to 'T' even with some reasonable force!<br>

Anything to try at the moment would be great!</p>

[q.g._de_bakker]

<p>The large selector dial doesn indeed not stay in "S" mode. That's normal behaviour. (The "R" in "SR" stands for "Repeat". Pushing the thing to "S" prereleases the camera, once. To lock it in that mode, i.e. to repeat the prerelease after the camera cycled, you need to push it to "SR").</p>

<p>The LOT lever not going to T would indicate that something is wrong, blocking the release. Not a good sign...<br>

You could try giving the camera a sharp knock (sounds silly, and it is. But with the thing blocked anyway, it might unblock things), but apart from that, i can't think of anything that has not yet been suggested/mentioned.</p>

[ivan_murdzhev1]

<p>Yesterday morning I woke up with an idea in my mind to check the battery pack and the problem turned out to be there. Mine is a motorised camera but the original batteries are dead so I use an external battery pack. Because of the drop the battery pack was broken and the batteries did not contact well. Now everything is in full working order and I am the stupidest, but the happiest person alive!</p>

[archie_campbell]

<p>I have been thinking of something along similar lines about no power being in the camera. Is there a way to check if there is definitely power going to the camera when I plug in the cable. As soon as your's got power did the shutter unjam? <br>

Could you provide a little more info. on how you rectified the problem and what it looked like as I think I may be having the same problem!<br>

If the camera is not getting any charge could it be the fuse? Any chance the battery charger is a dud? Any help would be greatly appreciated! </p>

[ivan_murdzhev1]

<p>Archie,<br>

The moment I got my external battery pack working and plugged it into the connector on the rear right side of the motor compartment, the camera unjammed and went to normal operation. From what you're saying I can't tell whether you're using the original batteries or some external power source. People say that most of the original batteries for the EL/M/X series are dead so this might be your case also. If you're using external power and the camera still doesn't work, try replacing the fuse. I can't think of a way to check if there is power in the camera. I myself use a battery adapter like that one:<br>

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Battery-Pack-for-500-el-elm-el-m-Hasselblad-Original_W0QQitemZ360198570514QQcmdZViewItemQQptZFilm_Cameras?hash=item53dd820212#ht_5125wt_1165">http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Battery-Pack-for-500-el-elm-el-m-Hasselblad-Original_W0QQitemZ360198570514QQcmdZViewItemQQptZFilm_Cameras?hash=item53dd820212#ht_5125wt_1165</a><br>

Hope that will help.</p>

[archie_campbell]

<p>Alas, I have connected a 9v battery and discovered that the old batteries are dud as I heard some whirring and the shutter now clicks everytime I pushed it. </p>

<p>But the camera is essentially still dead and will not function. Now I have some power does anyone have any suggestions as how to get it to work? I am really keen to take some pictures with this beauty! Oh and unjam the lens! ;)</p>