Post by belgiumreporter on Jan 2, 2015 11:10:18 GMT -5
In this thread i would like to hear from you all if ever you bought a camera, wich turned out to be a dissapointement. It dosn't have to be a bad camera, just that it didn't turn out to be what you've expected. I'll start here with my hasselblad 500C/M It is a mythical camera and i realise critisising it may cause some grief with enthousiasts.
The hasselblad is a wonderfull camera in many ways but it's a kind of a dog in lots of other ways. Let me sum up what's wrong it (for my use) and turned out to be a real pain in the A once you use the camera.
1: the shutterlag, it takes some time after you push the shutterbutton before the actual picture is taken, somehow this is logical when you realise the complexe nature of a single lens reflex,central shutter, medium format camera and the amount of mechanical parts that need to work in perfect sync in order to expose a frame.
2: the minimum focussing distance of (all of ) the lenses. When doing portraiture not one lense (exept for the macro) is able to close focus enough to make a tight portrait, you either need to use one of the proxar close up lenses (wich degrade image quality) or an extension tube that'll give light loss ( and wich is awkward to use as they can give trouble with the lens/ shutter coupling of the body)
3: vignetting of the focussing screen with longer focal lenghts. Because of the small size of the mirror, when using my sonnar 250mm about one third of the upper part of the image is blacked out due to vignetting. This makes it inpossible to know exactly what's in or isn't in the frame, as you're shooting on film the surprice comes after the film is developed.
4: camera shake, due to the mirror and the second shutter slapping up there's quite some camera shake wich makes it allmost inpossible to make hand held shots at slow shutterspeeds 1/125 is a safe margin.
5: the LV way of coupled diafragm and shutterspeed, might be handy in some occasions but i HATE it !
All this makes the 500 C/M not suited for dynamic picture taking, if you can convince your subject to stand still for some time you could be OK. Otherwise stick to a sturdy tripod, architecture, landscapes or still life photography with the 'blad.
I still use my hasselblads every now and then, it's not all bad, and a lot of it's limitations are inherent to all makes of single lens medium format reflex cameras, it's just that the hasselblad myth or no myth, isn't immune to these limitations even though some of these issues were resolved on later models.
The hasselblad is a wonderfull camera in many ways but it's a kind of a dog in lots of other ways. Let me sum up what's wrong it (for my use) and turned out to be a real pain in the A once you use the camera.
1: the shutterlag, it takes some time after you push the shutterbutton before the actual picture is taken, somehow this is logical when you realise the complexe nature of a single lens reflex,central shutter, medium format camera and the amount of mechanical parts that need to work in perfect sync in order to expose a frame.
2: the minimum focussing distance of (all of ) the lenses. When doing portraiture not one lense (exept for the macro) is able to close focus enough to make a tight portrait, you either need to use one of the proxar close up lenses (wich degrade image quality) or an extension tube that'll give light loss ( and wich is awkward to use as they can give trouble with the lens/ shutter coupling of the body)
3: vignetting of the focussing screen with longer focal lenghts. Because of the small size of the mirror, when using my sonnar 250mm about one third of the upper part of the image is blacked out due to vignetting. This makes it inpossible to know exactly what's in or isn't in the frame, as you're shooting on film the surprice comes after the film is developed.
4: camera shake, due to the mirror and the second shutter slapping up there's quite some camera shake wich makes it allmost inpossible to make hand held shots at slow shutterspeeds 1/125 is a safe margin.
5: the LV way of coupled diafragm and shutterspeed, might be handy in some occasions but i HATE it !
All this makes the 500 C/M not suited for dynamic picture taking, if you can convince your subject to stand still for some time you could be OK. Otherwise stick to a sturdy tripod, architecture, landscapes or still life photography with the 'blad.
I still use my hasselblads every now and then, it's not all bad, and a lot of it's limitations are inherent to all makes of single lens medium format reflex cameras, it's just that the hasselblad myth or no myth, isn't immune to these limitations even though some of these issues were resolved on later models.
