Hasselblad H System - Body or Lens Problem?

[musicwack]

Good Morning everyone! New member here who is in need of your help/opinions of an issue I'm having with my Hasselblad H1 & 100mm f/2.2!

Background story: I owned an H1 & 80mm f/2.8 (film shooting) for a couple years now and in my experience, this kit has been pretty reliable. On the very rare occasion, I've gotten an misc error code that a simple battery removal and reinsert would solve and get me back to shooting again. Last month, I picked up the 100mm f/2.2 off ebay, in excellent condition w/ 3k on the shutter. When it arrived, I attached it to my H1, turned the camera on and noticed that the leaf shutter blades had closed down like if you were to activate MLU, but without the body's mirror flipping up. A quick test shot opened up the blades again and all seemed to fine for the time being. A couple weeks later during a gig, the issue started happening very frequently (almost every other exposure) and only happened when I had to wake up the camera from sleep mode or when powering the camera on. Since the gig, I've cleaned the contact points on the body and lens which seemed to have helped somewhat as the issue arises about 4 times through a roll. I also shot with the 80mm to compare and everything functions normal. This problem can be very annoying during a shoot so I dropped off my H1 & 100mm off at Hasselblad in NJ.

Quote came in last night and here is the breakdown of the repair list:

100mm f/2.2 - Gear Unit 100, Zoom Roller
H1 Body - Firmware upgrade, Contact FPC Lens, Contact FPC Magazine
*We Recommend Replacing Front & Rear Contacts in Camera*

It doesn't seem to make sense to me that they were also recommending body repairs as my H1 and 80mm have been very reliable. Is Hasselblad following a guideline to replace all parts that could be related to the issue? I was fairly certain the problem would be all in the lens and the repair costs would be very reasonable if that was the case.

I'm going to see if I can speak with a tech today but having anyone's expertise with the same or similar experience would be very helpful! Thanks in advance!

[Chris Livsey]

If they are going to give you a repair warranty, which they will, they don't want to just fix the immediate problem then have you back, under a warranty claim, 6 months later for what they can see is failing now.
The H1 was announced in September 2002, few if any other makers are repairing cameras with electronics at their heart 15 years after manufacture, H2 launched in 2005 so yours is a minimum of 12 years old, that it can be repaired at all is a minor miracle.
You do say you have had intermittent issues with the 80mm which does point to a body problem as well, and why aren't you pursuing the e-bay seller if the lens is faulty from purchase, it sounds as if it was ringing alarm bells when you first attached it?
It depends on the cost estimate for the body only repair but you may be able to pick another body for less but unless you have a decent sellers S/H warranty I would suggest the Hasselblad repair warranty would offer the best return on the cash.
I have an original H1, the splash screen is marked "Not for Sale Demo only" I have never had an error code and have only had Hasselblad check and adjust the AF calibration as part of a general check once so any error code is a warning, IMHO, shooting film and Phase One back here.

[musicwack]

If they are going to give you a repair warranty, which they will, they don't want to just fix the immediate problem then have you back, under a warranty claim, 6 months later for what they can see is failing now.
The H1 was announced in September 2002, few if any other makers are repairing cameras with electronics at their heart 15 years after manufacture, H2 launched in 2005 so yours is a minimum of 12 years old, that it can be repaired at all is a minor miracle.
You do say you have had intermittent issues with the 80mm which does point to a body problem as well, and why aren't you pursuing the e-bay seller if the lens is faulty from purchase, it sounds as if it was ringing alarm bells when you first attached it?
It depends on the cost estimate for the body only repair but you may be able to pick another body for less but unless you have a decent sellers S/H warranty I would suggest the Hasselblad repair warranty would offer the best return on the cash.
I have an original H1, the splash screen is marked "Not for Sale Demo only" I have never had an error code and have only had Hasselblad check and adjust the AF calibration as part of a general check once so any error code is a warning, IMHO, shooting film and Phase One back here.

Thanks for responding Chris!

You do bring up a very good point in bringing up the age of the camera and fixing all issues brought up. Regarding my H1 & 80mm lens body problem, in the couple years of ownership I've only seen an error code maybe 2-3 times max. I can't even recall what error code it was, but I made nothing of the issue because from other owners I know and threads I read, people seem to brush off small issues with a simple reset and go on with shooting. I have brought up the issue with the ebay seller and he brushed it off with the root of the problem being my camera body. I have told him that I was going to get the lens diagnosed by Hasselblad and I would set up a return if there was a problem with the lens. The cost repair break down, $350 for the lens & $450 for the body. I'll be honest, I love the results that I have gotten with the lens and had an amazing deal on it that my expenses could justify for the lens repair. I know owning the Hasselblad system wouldn't be cheap, but that extra cash towards the body could be handy. I wanted to see if anyone thought Hasselblad was going a little overkill on repair suggestions as I've had a previous experience with Canon when it came to a repair. Thanks again!

[Chris Livsey]

Thanks for the extra detail, sounds like the seller of the lens was aware of an issue to me. The 100mm HC is uncommon S/H, no one wants to sell they love the lens, and if it was a deal then it smells wrong.

The errors others are brushing off are on bodies that are on the H3 and onwards series where things became more complex, very rarely errors on the H1 or H2, I have never seen one but a sample of one is not conclusive.
The EU price of the body contact replacement is: Body Contact Replacement €545 so the price is correct, you are lucky the shutter is OK that repair by replacement only runs at €1,100 for that lens perhaps you could point that out to the seller. Hasselblad have fixed prices on repair :  http://static.hasselblad.com/2016/06/Service-charges-1-6-2016.pdf so once diagnosed all is transparent.
I would suggest the same, but with no experience, with Canon, if you are backing your work with warranty you do it right, especially if the customer is paying, you don't want it coming back at your,Canon, cost. These people are a business not a charity to keep cameras shooting as cheaply as possible.
As I say the comfort on the H1 is you can pick up another for peanuts and the body count is transparent, there is one, no prism with 57K clicks UK pounds 449 with a dealer 6 month warranty 10 day return.