Hasselblad H lens shutter life problem...

[chiek]

I'm using HC35, 50-110, 150. and custom wide angle camera to super wide lens.
I've owned 2 HC50-110 lens.

1st 50-110 was well used, but When about 80000 actuations, Fall ground and broken inner parts.

2nd 50-110 is 2nd hand and When I was acquired, It has only 3000 actuations.
I'm product photographer, so I'm shot about 10000 actuations per year.
But it has shutter (exposure unit 28) problems when It has 15000 actuations.
lens problem is ID 44.1 and 19.1
I've tried all ways as I can , cleaning contacts, Full charged battery, etc.

Finally shutter unit 28 has changed to Refurbish unit. and actuation count was initialized to zero.

and 1.5 years later, Shutter unit has same problems, 44.1 and 19.1

It has no warranty , warranty only 6 months (refurb).

Shutter stuck to closed. and 44.1 , 19.1 problems noticed.
Only JUST 14300 actuations !!!


authorized Hassy Korean A/S said it needs replace shutter unit (exposure unit 28 - II, what's difference between I and II version ?). and price is about US$1300.

I want to NOT Replace shutter.

I'm seriously consider to give up H systems and changing to FP shutter system like mamiya/contax.

What's your think? Any good tips? or good price to service?

How about US hasselblad A/S ? price?

 

[jerome_m]

Shutter units should not fail after so few actuations, but if the shutter is broken there is little that one can do: it needs to be replaced.

Hasselblad publishes repair costs on their website: Cost estimates and fixed service prices. The price of a shutter replacement for the 50-110 is €525, less than what your dealer wants to charge.

Edit: found this document, which says shutter should live about 100K exposures: http://www.hasselblad.de/media/1664043/shutterathighspeed.pdf

 

[Stuart Richardson]

I agree that the shutter should not really fail after 15,000 actuations. That is not very high. But Jerome is right...broken is broken. If it does not work, you need to have it fixed or replaced. Dealing with Hasselblad corporate can be a chore (at least in my case it was) as they don't want to talk to photographers directly, only the national distributors, but hopefully they will deal with you over this.

If you do decide to switch systems, you should definitely look at the Leica S system -- there is an adapter that would allow you to use all your H lenses natively, with AF and the shutter (assuming it works!). There is also an adapter to mount the camera on a Sinar P2, so that would work for you too. The new bodies are quite expensive, but the used price of the S2 is now very reasonable for what the camera is. I would certainly go that route over Contax or Mamiya. The Contax was a nice camera, but doing professional work on a system that has been discontinued for nearly ten years is probably not the wisest thing. If you do switch, definitely look more towards Phase One/Mamiya, Leica and Pentax if you want MFD. By the way, the shutter life in the new S camera is rated at 150,000 cycles.

 

[fotografz]

Did you check that the contact pins are all functional? They need to be all equal in height and the springs responsive. Just a thought.

If it is the shutter, then I wonder how many used or so called refurb units do you need to get before ether getting a low actuation barely used one from some duffer, or a new lens, so you can make your living with confidence?

I used Hasselblad H gear for 10 years with the same lenses until I retired, and never replaced a shutter. My oldest lens is the HC100/2.2 which is now 10 years old and without a doubt is my most used H lens. … it has been serviced once because the AF was slowing down … and now I still use it on my Leica S in CS mode.

Second oldest, most used HC lens was the HC 120/4 macro … huge amount of product photography … which I sold to another pro photographer, who is still using it for production work.

You can get a focal plane shutter system but remember the top sync speed with lighting is 1/125 not 1/800 like the H.

I'm a hugh avocate of the Leica S2/S2P/S(006), but to think you won't have lens issues may be a bit naive. My CS35mm stopped working in less than a year, and my recently aquired CS45/2.8 front focuses by 2 to 3 inches so has to go back to the service black hole in Germany for God knows how long.

- Marc

 

[shlomi]

Using Mamiya for several years and 100000s of exposures, I've had a shutter problem only once - with 645DF, which is known for an iffy shutter. I now have a 645DF+ with a redesigned shutter, which seems very stable. I intentionally avoided the shutter lenses to keep things simpler, and it seems to be working so far.

 

[citizin]

I had the shutter of my 80mm/2.8 die with a count just above >125k, thing was a beast. I had to pay the $1300 cost to fix, I don't mind if I get another 100K+ out if it.