Loading A12, rookie mistake.

[amsp]

So I bought a 501cm the other day (My first V-series) and proceeded to shoot two rolls, only to realize when loading my third roll that I missed to run the film under the metal "latch" that is there to keep the film flat I suspect. Are the two rolls I already shot ruined or will they still come out alright?

[amsp]

That's a relief! A couple of the photos I took were keepers for sure, I'd hate to have lost them. As far as matching numbers on the insert, the original back that came with the camera is matching (the kit was mint unused), but I also bought an extra back that did not have matching numbers. The price was good however so I took a chance. Despite the rocky start I'm absolutely loving the camera and the experience of shooting it.

cheers

[amsp]

Hi,

congratulations. Once a model (nice girl) told me that she finds it so sexy if the photographer looks down in the waist level finder and then directly back at her. Thinking back at this conversation and what followed I was stupid to sell all my Hasselblad V gear.

Best,
Johannes

LOL These old cameras ARE sexy! I recently shot a campaign and had one of the male models hold a Rolleiflex as prop, classic.

[uaiomex]

I've posted many times the advantages of the waist level finder trying to explain why I prefer working with this kind of camera over the 645 kind with the camera between you and your subject.
Many times I was told by sitters, how nice and comfortable was for them the way I was shooting. They said they felt less intimidated because I was looking down. I always enjoyed the immediate eye contact by just rolling my eyes up.
Now, they never told me I was hot looking sex bomb.    One more reason for not selling my 500CM. Ok, seriously, your post reminds that the V's were the best cameras for portrait work.
Eduardo

Hi,

congratulations. Once a model (nice girl) told me that she finds it so sexy if the photographer looks down in the waist level finder and then directly back at her. Thinking back at this conversation and what followed I was stupid to sell all my Hasselblad V gear.

Best,
Johannes

[amsp]

Another nice thing about shooting this camera is that it's so different from what people are used to seeing that they generally respond very positively to being photographed, which of course is a big plus when doing documentary photography.

[Rob C]

Strange... the first thing I did when I could afford it was to get a 45 degree prism for the 'blad. I hated reversed images almost as badly as I did 4x5 screens.

(The worst experience of them all, though, was trying to use the moving red parallax line indicator with the Mamiya C33(?)-style bodies with a (two) 180mm stuck out in front of you!) 

The initial feeling with the 45 degree finder was that it felt odd; that soon vanished and in many situations it allowed viewing from much higher viewpoints than would the reflex screen on top! It didn't have an adjustable eyepiece as did the more expensive parallel to axis one where you looked along the top of the body. But I had good eyes, then, even if not much money. Today things are different: I have poor eyes.

Rob C

[fredjeang]

Hi,

congratulations. Once a model (nice girl) told me that she finds it so sexy if the photographer looks down in the waist level finder and then directly back at her. Thinking back at this conversation and what followed I was stupid to sell all my Hasselblad V gear.

Best,
Johannes

Bad news johannes. You've been fooled.

They always say that when they don't find us attractive. step 1): We first look at the finder and she thinks, well, his skull is not that bad after all.  Step 2): back at her, she thinks: Oh no, my god, he's awfull..."could you please look back in the finder, you're sooo sexy"

[John R Smith]

So I bought a 501cm the other day (My first V-series) and proceeded to shoot two rolls, only to realize when loading my third roll that I missed to run the film under the metal "latch" that is there to keep the film flat I suspect. Are the two rolls I already shot ruined or will they still come out alright?

Well, chaps, I think you are all treating this a bit casually. If you load the film without passing it under the 'latch', then the film on that side of the roll will not be held in its correct position on the pressure plate, as the latch will be pushing the film up and away from the plate. Now, the pictures may not be entirely ruined, but I would expect that the images will be somewhat soft on one side. The 'latch' or clamp is there to hold the film firmly in place as you load the insert into the magazine shell. When the insert is removed, the release key should be rotated to the closed position. This lifts the clamp so the the film can be threaded beneath it, and fed onto the takeup reel. When all is hunky-dory, and the black arrow on the paper backing is aligned with the red triangle on the insert, the release key is rotated to the open position and the clamp moves down to hold the film and backing paper firmly in position while the insert is replaced. These old 'Blad magazines are lovely things, and if treated with care will serve you for a lifetime. I do all my own servicing on them, and it's watchmaking stuff but lovely to work with.

John

[amsp]

Well, chaps, I think you are all treating this a bit casually. If you load the film without passing it under the 'latch', then the film on that side of the roll will not be held in its correct position on the pressure plate, as the latch will be pushing the film up and away from the plate. Now, the pictures may not be entirely ruined, but I would expect that the images will be somewhat soft on one side.

Yeah, that's pretty much what Johannes said in his first reply. Hopefully they won't be ruined as there are a couple of photos on these rolls that were keepers for sure. Maybe I'll post the result when I get them back from the lab in a couple of weeks or so.

[Rob C]

Bad news johannes. You've been fooled.

They always say that when they don't find us attractive. step 1): We first look at the finder and she thinks, well, his skull is not that bad after all.  Step 2): back at her, she thinks: Oh no, my god, he's awfull..."could you please look back in the finder, you're sooo sexy"

Fred, that's the danger of the 'plateau' - it reveals too much about human nature, and especially about its dreams. And one lesson from it is understanding that women are truly more smart than we are; they always had to be.

;-)

Rob C

[amsp]

Fred, I don't know your age and the kind of models/girls you know. But my little story happened in the early 80ies and perhaps today things are different. And: Don't ruin my dreams ;-) Perhaps I was just a lucky dog that day.

I told this story also as an encouragement for someone who started in 2012 with a camera you won't use today. ASMP has to go trough a lot of frustration using this camera today. Scanning comes to mind besides other things.

A little bit more motivation. Enjoy watching a master (ab)using a Hasselblad V digitaly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNKDOlPX3rI



Best,
Johannes

Actually, I've been a full time fashion/advertising photographer for 10 years now and used to shoot film before 2005 (Pentax 67), so I'm no freshman. But this IS my first Hasselblad, and I'm very much enjoying this rekindling with film. I'll use it for personal stuff mostly, my way of relaxing I guess. Digital has become so tightly connected to "work" for me that I needed this I think to reconnect with the "spirit" of photography or something. So far it's definitely working out

[amsp]

It wasn't my intention to carry coals to Newcastle.

Haha, haven't heard that expression before  No offense taken at all, I assure you.
The RZ is a fine camera too, I used to use it for still-life work where it really shines,
but never liked it much for anything else.

[fredjeang]

Fred, I don't know your age and the kind of models/girls you know. But my little story happened in the early 80ies and perhaps today things are different. And: Don't ruin my dreams ;-) Perhaps I was just a lucky dog that day.

I told this story also as an encouragement for someone who started in 2012 with a camera you won't use today. ASMP has to go trough a lot of frustration using this camera today. Scanning comes to mind besides other things.

A little bit more motivation. Enjoy watching a master (ab)using a Hasselblad V digitaly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNKDOlPX3rI



Best,
Johannes

Johannes, I was of course teasing. (or trying to make a joke in english, but it's not easy for me and often it's not working).

This Blad is indeed "sexy".

Bags talking about bags...

[amsp]

A little bit more motivation. Enjoy watching a master (ab)using a Hasselblad V digitaly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNKDOlPX3rI

Thanks for the links btw, love Roversi. One of my favorite photo books is his "Nudi" http://www.amazon.com/Paolo-Roversi-Nudi/dp/388243662X

[uaiomex]

I love all videos showing V cameras. Still the coolest camera on earth. Even the mix of the click/flap sound is sexy.
Eduardo

Johannes, I was of course teasing. (or trying to make a joke in english, but it's not easy for me and often it's not working).

This Blad is indeed "sexy".

Bags talking about bags...

[amsp]

Well, I got my film back from the lab today. The good thing is I don't see any issues with sharpness at all, the bad thing is the lab did a piss-poor job. One of the rolls (provia) is severely underdeveloped and has a very blue/magenta color cast (bad chemicals?), one is also somewhat dark but without color cast (E100G). Then there's two rolls of color negatives (Portra & Ektar) that I think are alright. The reason I say "think" is because if the development was bad the prints are even worse, much much worse. Probably like 2 stops darker than the film, and colors look very bland and boring, nothing like I used to get when shooting these films back in the day. I guess I'm gonna have to find me a scanner to really assess what they actually look like, and of course find another lab ASAP!