hasselblad used for the Apollo Program

[jan_schuller]

All,

i'm looking for reliable information about the photographic equipment

used during NASA's Apollo program: body, lens, film-magazine, film,

camera housing, technical modifications, procedures, etc.

Any help is greatlly appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Jan

[bob_salomon]

They also flew the Contarex. You can see it mounted on the carriage with the

Astronaut in the space walk from Apollo.

[q.g._de_bakker]

Jan,

 

Here's a start:

 

http://www.hasselblad.se

 

Select from the menu "our company" -> "Hasselblad in space".

[greg_smith4]

If you don't find any information, I have a relative that works at NASA and I could probably ask them. A while back they sent me really nice pictures taken from space. The print quality is rewally nice. It sais they used a Hassy, but I could ask about the rest.

[greg_smith4]

If you don't find any information, I have a relative that works at NASA and I could probably ask them. A while back they sent me really nice pictures taken from space. The print quality is really nice. It says they used a Hassy, but I could ask about the rest.

[mike sisk]

Go to <a href="http://www.nasa.gov">http://www.nasa.gov</a>. In the search

box put "Hasselblad". You'll get lots of links like this one: <a href="http://

www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11-hass.html">http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/

a11-hass.html</a>

[jan_schuller]

Thank you for the hints. The NASA homepage provides quite some information about the equipment used. There are some reasons I'm interested in all this: I got a quite new book ("Full Moon") that contains absolutely stunning pictures of the Apollo project. The quality is much better than I saw in every other publication before. It is written there that these are first generation prints of the original slides. You have to see them - there are really wonderful.

On the other hand I became quite interested in the rumours about the so called Apollo hoax (i.e. faked moon landings and shot in a studio). Since I'm a photographer and confronted with all the picture manipulatng stuff I wanted of course look at the Apollo photos - just to see if I think there's obvious manipulation. I don't really want to warm that story, since I cannot really add something new to the story.

Thanks again, Jan

[wes_baker1]

I happen to have a signed copy of the ubiquitous "Earthrise over the Moon" picture that Bill Anders took from Apollo 8 in December of 1968 (One of General Anders' sons was my roomate at the AF Academy). It's one of the most important pictures ever taken, in my opinion anyway, and my copy is one of my cherished posessions.

 

But when you look at those pictures closely, you realize that they are difficult to comprehend from a technical standpoint simply because they were taken in the vacuum of space. The lack of haze makes it very difficult for my eye to judge distance, and probably contributes to those photos looking sharper than they could in the atmosphere. The effect is very noticeable if you watch a recent shuttle IMAX movie. There is just no way to reproduce that airless effect otherwise.

 

My understanding is that they used mostly 500 ELMs. I just picked one of those up in trade last weekend. Great camera, but too bad I won't get to test it out in space.

[terry_rory]

Some info about the f0.7 lenses developed by Zeiss for NASA in the 1960s (and subsequently adapted by Stanley Kubrick for use in his film 'Barry Lyndon' for the candlelit interiors.)

 

http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/v13/msg09017.html

[david_jenkins]

Hasselblad Moon Images

 

Hi All,

One place that you can see many of the less famous Apollo Moon images is on the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal! (http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/frame.html)

On this site they have the radio transmission transcripts (ie. Conversations between mission control and the astronauts) for each of the Apollo flights along with links to the photo�s taken at the time. It�s a great place to have a dig around - you can get lost for days, loads of technical details, cross referenced photo�s etc. well worth a look.

 

I have also asked Hasselblad how the Moon Camera differed from a standard blad and this is the answer I received � hope all this is of interest:

 

Cheers David Jenkins

 

The Moon Camera questions and answers:

(Thank to Lennart Johansson - VICTOR HASSELBLAD AB):

 

Q: How different was the Moon Camera from a normal Hasselblad?

A: When Niel Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in the Eagle moon moonlander, there was a Hasselblad Electric Data Camera (HEDC) on board. This was in principle a completely new camera, only certain parts of the mechanism and of course the motor drive could be retained relatively unchanged.

 

However - here are the main changes:

The camera was silver coloured just for protect it against the sunshine.

The mirror mechanism was taken away

The camera body was equipped with a reseauplate - a glass plate with crosses - for photogrammetric measuring.

For external power supply to the camera a special contact was developed.

A special lubrication was mad of the mechanism for use in vacuum.

No focusing screen, no view finder

 

Q: How much control did the Astronauts have over the camera?

A: Total control over settings of diaphragm, shutter speed and focusing.

 

Q: How did the Astronauts focus the camera?

A: As usual but the focusing ring had big tabs depending on the problem the Astronaut had with his big gloves. As no focusing screen was used the distance setting was made by estimation of the object distance (normally set at hyperfocal distance).

 

Q: How did the Astronauts frame each picture? And also on this point where the camera fitted with viewfinders or any framing guide? or where the camera essentially a rangefinder?

A: By directing the camera to the object. No focusing screen, no framing guide.

 

Q: What lens did they use?

A: Carl Zeiss Biogon 1:5,6/60 mm with special filter.

 

Q: There were also many questions about the film and processing techniques they used by NASA?

A: Film 70 mm perforated - a very thin special film from Kodak. Developing of film in NASA lavatories in Houston.

Yours sincerely, VICTOR HASSELBLAD AB

[michael_hohner]

They developed the film in "NASA lavatories"? Hope they washed their hands afterwards...

[jerry_gardner]

As far as I know, the cameras are still up there on the moon, free for the taking. Getting there is a problem, though.

[wim_van_velzen]

And they are without the backs (taken back to earth). So if you do the counting, add some for those.

<p>

And of course: do they need a CLA?

<p>

<a href="http://www.fotografiewimvanvelzen.nl">Wim</a>

[david_scouffas]

There is a California photographer, Michael Light, who scanned thousands of the Apollo

photographs and published a book (Full Moon, Alfred Knopf, 1999) that not only describes

the camera equipment used, but also has some incredible photos from the moon's

surface. I can highly recommended this book. Check it out.

 

In the Hasselblad website, go to the "Our Company" section, and you'll see a link to "Space

Cameras" for their breakdown of equipment used. Several models were used apparently.