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Hello everyone! Im repairing my hasselblad 500 elm, is there anything i need to know?

Sansan

New Member
HI!
So I got a Hasselblad 500elm for my birthday, and I found out that it came mirror up, auxiliary shutters closed. I knew that it wasn't particularly hard to get the movement out of the chell, so i opened it up and looked/poked about. I spun one of the gears behind the lens winding gear, and it starts working for a while, like 15 dry shots. The shutter click started having a high metallic overtone to it, and the mirror got progressively more stuck until it didn’t lift. And the camera was back in its original broken-ish state, mirror up and aux shutter closed. The camera had no rattling noise, so Im assuming that the arms havent snapped or gotten dislodged.

I’ve checked electronics ok, selector ok, so the only possible place I think it could go wrong would be the arms that regulate the auxiliary shutter and the mirror, Or the entire mechanism is sticky.
I emailed the Hasselblad advisor guy in Germany but he hasn’t responded for a while, Ive asked a bunch of other repair companies to see if I could get some advice, so I’ve been twiddling my thumbs basically. So I got fed up, and I'm planning on doing a full disassembly relubrication and reassembly so I can see exactly why the camera wasn't working.

Im going to email some people in Japan because people I know someone there will able to explain how to fix these cameras as I had some luck with a 35mm slr.

Im already aware that I need specific adjustment equipment, but I think I can achieve .03mm tolerance with a pair of good calipers and some elbow grease. I will also try to find this v 2057 key angle gauge but i think the key is good as far as i can see.

Anybody else think this is a bad idea? or is there someone I could talk to who can maybe respond to point me in the right direction?

Thanks for reading!
 
HI!
So I got a Hasselblad 500elm for my birthday, and I found out that it came mirror up, auxiliary shutters closed. I knew that it wasn't particularly hard to get the movement out of the chell, so i opened it up and looked/poked about. I spun one of the gears behind the lens winding gear, and it starts working for a while, like 15 dry shots. The shutter click started having a high metallic overtone to it, and the mirror got progressively more stuck until it didn’t lift. And the camera was back in its original broken-ish state, mirror up and aux shutter closed. The camera had no rattling noise, so Im assuming that the arms havent snapped or gotten dislodged.

I’ve checked electronics ok, selector ok, so the only possible place I think it could go wrong would be the arms that regulate the auxiliary shutter and the mirror, Or the entire mechanism is sticky.
I emailed the Hasselblad advisor guy in Germany but he hasn’t responded for a while, Ive asked a bunch of other repair companies to see if I could get some advice, so I’ve been twiddling my thumbs basically. So I got fed up, and I'm planning on doing a full disassembly relubrication and reassembly so I can see exactly why the camera wasn't working.

Im going to email some people in Japan because people I know someone there will able to explain how to fix these cameras as I had some luck with a 35mm slr.

Im already aware that I need specific adjustment equipment, but I think I can achieve .03mm tolerance with a pair of good calipers and some elbow grease. I will also try to find this v 2057 key angle gauge but i think the key is good as far as i can see.

Anybody else think this is a bad idea? or is there someone I could talk to who can maybe respond to point me in the right direction?

Thanks for reading!
Sansan,

Hi, I’ve just picked one up as a spare (I have another which works fine) but I’m keen to try and fix it up. It dry shoots with a back on, but only in ‘ T’ mode - after each shot, I have to go back to ‘O’, the camera resets for the next shot, and back to ‘T’ to shoot again. Is that a ‘standard’ problem? I’m assuming that if the motor is working, the fix is a gear/ contact...? If I take tweezers to the little tab (film back off now) that pops out to change the film back white/ orange signal? (circled in red in the attached photo), I can dry shoot in ‘O’ mode no problems. Any ideas? Another question- do you have a repair manual .pdf? Cheers from Toowoomba, country Australia, Mark. 95FBD833-7B97-4E2D-B679-20D7AEE26D91.jpeg
 
Hi Bytewatto!

I've still had no luck with anyone coming back with a manual for a 500 elm anywhere, typical "internal information" excuses. Though, Ive been following the 555 ELD, 500 ELX manual from here : 555 eld manual.

Enother thing is your camera looks a bit different from a 500 elm, so it could be an ELD which the manual includes a full structure diagram for, so you might still be in luck :)

If the electronics are similar to my ELM, then I can tell you this:

the lock/normal/time lever is completely mechanical, the arm either locks the release from moving, or holding the arm open, so it holds 2 pins on the second picture. The left one is for the shutter release and its connected to a solenoid the big green tube in the photo, and this gets triggered by the button switch at the front of the camera.

The blue block in picture 3 is a contact that is normally closed, so when a pin hits the shoe on the front on the second picture, the circuit is broken and it stops.

From what I understand the camera winds, but it doesn't fire other than the pin being mechanically pushed out because of the bar. So my guess on what needs to be repaired is probably the shutter switch or a component bridging the contact being faulty.

Hope that helps!
If you need anything just ask!
DSC_6802.jpg
DSC_6803.jpg

DSC_6806.jpg
DSC_6809.jpg
 
Hi Bytewatto!

I've still had no luck with anyone coming back with a manual for a 500 elm anywhere, typical "internal information" excuses. Though, Ive been following the 555 ELD, 500 ELX manual from here : 555 eld manual.

Enother thing is your camera looks a bit different from a 500 elm, so it could be an ELD which the manual includes a full structure diagram for, so you might still be in luck :)

If the electronics are similar to my ELM, then I can tell you this:

the lock/normal/time lever is completely mechanical, the arm either locks the release from moving, or holding the arm open, so it holds 2 pins on the second picture. The left one is for the shutter release and its connected to a solenoid the big green tube in the photo, and this gets triggered by the button switch at the front of the camera.

The blue block in picture 3 is a contact that is normally closed, so when a pin hits the shoe on the front on the second picture, the circuit is broken and it stops.

From what I understand the camera winds, but it doesn't fire other than the pin being mechanically pushed out because of the bar. So my guess on what needs to be repaired is probably the shutter switch or a component bridging the contact being faulty.

Hope that helps!
If you need anything just ask!
View attachment 6165View attachment 6166
View attachment 6163View attachment 6164
 
Sansan, wow! Such a detailed reply - I’ll get both my left hands working on this ASAP. My camera says EL/M, although that 555 repair guide does have some good diagrams which I expect I can use/ or decide are different, once I get inside the camera.

I’ll clear my desk of Retinette bits soon...

cheers,

Mark
 
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