Ghosting, Chromatic Aberration, f5.6 1/800 sec Hasselblad H4D

[J Lance Imaging]

Shooting portraits in a controlled lighting environment, hasselblad H4D 80mm lens, f5.6 - 1/800 (which I should have known there was an issue when i had to turn the shutter up that high) it began with a magenta streak through the bottom right side of the image  and ghosting, and turned into severe chromatic aberrations. I tried everything to aleviate the issue, changing cards, tethering, tether with flash without flash and just studio, natural light, flash indoors.. still ghosting and chromatic issues. The images are full of noise and look as if i didn't focus, i spot focused and the camera was on a tripod. I contacted hasselblad and the tech support had me do al the things i already did. Tech support said they have never seen issues like this.  I attached samples. Thank you in advance. I hope it is only a stupid mistake i made - like accidentally changing some setting and not something like a cracked shutter.

[Doug Peterson]

Looks like a mechanically lagging shutter exposing the back during its read out phase to me, or an issue with the internal electronics of the back.

What's your dealer say? Does it persist when you change lenses?

[drevil]

looks pretty much like a double exposure to me, flash and then the normal light...is exif definetely saying 1/800s?

[Ken R]

Man, looks like as if the leaf shutter was not working at all. Definitely looks like a long exposure shot with a flash pop.

[J Lance Imaging]

I haven't been able to try a different lens since I only have one. Like i said tech support lack in the knowledge to know what the issue is -- as of yet.
the dealer just sent me to tech support.
i am hoping it is a setting - so i am going to try to reset all the settings. Maybe i accidentally changed something....
ill let you know what happens. I took a cell phone pic of the shutter and it looks like there is a smudge line on it.
il post it after i reset it.

[J Lance Imaging]

It is def 1/800 of a sec.  i tried other exposures and shutter speeds... still got chromatic.
what is really weird is the shot with the pink (magenta) streak at the bottom

[SZRitter]

If you look at the white shirt on the second image, all the creases and the hemline from the shirt are a bit different. This to me isn't "ghosting" related.

So, not knowing Hasselblad at all, could it be some kind of multi-shot setting? Could the sensor/electronics/software not be completely clearing the previous image? But given the shirt, I definitely have to say two exposures and not a dragged shutter.

[Chris Valites]

I'd be interested to see what happens if you were able to try a different lens, just to clear up a stuck/sticky shutter as some others have mentioned.

[Joe Towner]

Which H4D is it?  If you pop the mirror up, does the lens look properly closed?

[J Lance Imaging]

Yeah, it seems like hasselblad's tech support has been no help.
i have been traveling and just got home so i am going to post on hasps site now
It just started doing this for no reason. it is obviously leaking light and having difficulties with combining color temperatures.

thanks

[J Lance Imaging]

JOe, it is the H4D 31.

im going to pop the mirror up now and see...ill write back

thanks

julie

[J Lance Imaging]

Chris,

i just got home a few days ago and waiting for the it to reach temps over 15 degrees so i can shoot over to the store i bought my camera from. I am going to try a different lens.

I think there might be a crack in the shutter. I don't know how it happened unless it got cracked when i shipped it to LA in late Nov -- i ready that a little crack slowly becomes a big crack. the camera was insured by UPS when it shipped. but if to took this long to surface,

Il head to KM on Monday and let you know

thanks
julie

[Chris Valites]

I hear you on the temps side of things; It broke 25 this weekend here in New Hampshire and I wasn't worrying about my hands freezing to the Cambo hiking around. (Hell, I had the windows open. It's springtime!)

[calindustries]

I've seen similar odd ghosting on a p65 back and thought the back was all messed up. Turned out the shutter on the HC120 had exploded into shards. The burn in on the sensor was so bad that when we switched lenses it was still there (for a few frames) which caused us to dismiss the lens at first. Not until we looked into the lens did we see the shattered shutter blades bouncing around inside the lens.

good luck

[J Lance Imaging]

got a reply from foto-care in NYC on my H4D ---a total of  $1,739.00
they want to charge me 500.00 an hour labor to replace.
does this price sound right?
see below:

 H4D: REPLACING CURTAIN DRIVING UNIT, PROJECTION WINDOW,
 1.75 HRS LABOR
         $978.00
 HVD90X: CLASS C MISC REPAIR, EYE CAP PART H1 VF SHORT SIZE
         $108.50
 HC80MM: DIAGNOSTIC AND REPAIR,CAM BARREL PART,6X  ZOOM ROLLERS
         $464.00
 31 DIGITAL BACK: DIAGNOSTICS AND REPAIR, CLEAN IR FILTER EXT
         $188.50

[Doug Peterson]

got a reply from foto-care in NYC on my H4D ---a total of  $1,739.00
they want to charge me 500.00 an hour labor to replace.
does this price sound right?
see below:

 H4D: REPLACING CURTAIN DRIVING UNIT, PROJECTION WINDOW,
 1.75 HRS LABOR
         $978.00
 HVD90X: CLASS C MISC REPAIR, EYE CAP PART H1 VF SHORT SIZE
         $108.50
 HC80MM: DIAGNOSTIC AND REPAIR,CAM BARREL PART,6X  ZOOM ROLLERS
         $464.00
 31 DIGITAL BACK: DIAGNOSTICS AND REPAIR, CLEAN IR FILTER EXT
         $188.50

The only part that confuses me is whether you intended/asked them to repair/service all four components (your viewfinder, lens, body, and back) when the problem was almost surely limited to one of the four (as I said in my initial post my guess would be a lagging shutter). If you did then this all looks as I'd expect.

When a customer comes to us with a system that isn't working we normally swap parts from our demo/rental inventory and use our background/experience to determine which part is causing the issue so that only the defective part is sent in (decreased cost of shipping, no need to rent replacements for the parts not sent in etc). In cases where we want to send the entire system in we still do our best to isolate the problematic part and include notes for the repair/service team on which part we want serviced to make sure the clients wishes are followed in this regard; the repair team at ANY camera repair center will have the tendency to repair/replace aggressively to bring things back to "as new" condition which is vital for some components and a luxury for others (e.g. if an eye cup has a small tear they might replace it without asking if the client is okay with the cost or would prefer to live with the small tear).

But in general, high price of repair is, unfortunately, including for Phase One. That's why we were so glad when the IQ2 series was given a 5 year factory warranty (if it were up to me every system we sold would have a 5 year warranty, not just the IQ2). Nobody wins when a client has to pay a chunk of change unexpectedly.

[Joe Towner]

Call Hasselblad (I hate their service department, but if you're able to pickup/drop off it would have prevented my major issue with them) and price compare.  Even if you only paid for diagnostics from Foto-care, it may be a big enough savings.  Last I checked their labor was closer to $200/hour.

Yes, repairs like this suck, but you know how much a Lamborghini Murcielago oil change is - about $2,000.  Expensive gear takes specific parts with specially trained folks (who aren't cheap to keep on staff).

[Chris Livsey]

Given those details I presume Hasselblad USA has a similar list as the UK branch:
http://hasselblad.co.uk/service--support/price-guide-for-h-series.aspx
A price match should be straightforward even if only to bargain with.
Even the eyepiece looks expensive and the Hasselblad price includes the labour, I presume there was a reason to send it to a third party?