Recently I was lucky enough to pick up a Hasselblad 500 EL/m from eBay. Surprisingly I only paid about $180 and it works perfectly. The only damage is has is some of the chrome parts are pealing, and the focus screen has some marks on it. Thankfully those do not effect the final images the camera produces.

The Hasselblad 500 EL/m for those who are not familiar with this type of camera is a Medium Format film camera that has a motor to move the film to the next from after an exposure was taken. Due to the batteries not being available anymore mine came with an adapter for a 9v battery. I had to buy the lens separate so I got bought a Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm F2.8 (the lens cost over $250).

It came with the 120 film back which unfortunately did not work so I went to a local camera store to see about repairs. The estimate I received was going to cost about $150 for a total over haul. The problem was I needed it for the weekend to try it out at the Philadelphia Flower Show. Lucky for me they had some backs there and I was able to buy a newer one that matched the age of the camera for around $130.

So at this point the camera was really setting me back in the money department, but I was excited to have such a nice and cool looking camera to try out. Now I have not used film in a long, long time and this camera unlike my other film cameras has no light meter built in. So back to eBay I went and got one cheap for around $15. AS usually it worked but not like it should. No matter what I did I could not get it to zero out. I figured if I could just compensate I would be fine, but alas I kept forgetting and well my pictures came out a bit darker then I would have liked.

Lucky for me I walked the floor with my Nikon D800 first and then the Hasselblad so I still got pictures that look good. When I was looking at the pictures I noticed some light leaking into the frame (examples below). Doing some research it looks like I may have a light leak in my film back where the dark slide comes out. Sounds like a simple fix of just replacing the foam inside that may of rotted over the years. Again thats going to cost at least $15.

120 file seems to be easy enough to get. I used Kodak 400 Tmax B&W for these shots (five rolls for $25 or so). I want to try out some color 120 film, but every time I go to the camera store to get it they are sold out. I guess I’ll have to order some before my vacation. I sent my film out to be processed to a place called The Darkroom. Since I wasn’t sure how they were going to come out I did not order prints and only ordered scans. Three rolls with their best scanning option cost me about $60.

So other then costing me more then I originally wanted, I do love my Hasselblad. The photos I took with it are IMO not that great at all. Thats not the cameras fault at all. I chalk it up to a bad light meter and myself. Like any camera you buy, the more you practice and play with it the better you will get. I am looking forward to getting some nice images out of my Hasselblad in the future.

So after all is said and done I spent around $660 for the camera, lens, film back, film, and processing. Was it worth it? To me yes to some of my friends who I told about it no, but to me its all in the name of fun and art of photography. I am hoping to take it out again this weekend and trying to see if I can get some nice shots down at the shore.