Great entry-level medium-format camera. No need to worry about batterylife. The camera is build to last a lifetime (maybe longer). Very expandable and compatibility with other models. The kit comes with a CB-80 mm. lens which may not be as good as the CF-range but for now I haven't been able to spot a difference between the two lenses.

A bit pricy for a mechanical camera, but in the end it's worth it.

A great entry to a huge camera-system. You just know you can rely on the camera.

Customer Service

Spare parts are expensive.

Similar Products Used:

Used a 503CW at school and own a Bronica C-model from 1965 which still works perfect

Lenses ( GREAT ), quiet, very fast ( for a manual ), no batteries ( the prism has for meter but the camera works manually )

None

Great camera, great but unfortunately a little slow lenses for existing light B/W - 20x series has faster lenses but what a price!!

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Rolleiflex 6xxx, twin lenses also Leica M/R, Contax, Canon and Nikon for 35mm

Beautifull pics. In additon to the adavntages mentioned in the previous reviews, I feel the coating in this lenses create an optimum contrast range. I shoot 4x5 also, and even though my LF negs are sharper, the quality of contrast is not as beautiful as the negs from the blad.

none that I have seen so far...

for beautiful easy to print negs....you cant go wrong with this camera.

Customer Service

Ecxellent, I had a film back break on me, I brought it back to the store I bought it, they sent it to Hasselblad, and it was back in 10 working days, functioning perfectly...

Similar Products Used:

Mamiya 7, Rollei 6003,
Pentax

The beautiful 'oldfashioned' mechanics, - like a Morgan car.

Reliable for 30 years!

Tremenously sharp pictures; beats anything your friends or neighbours might come up with.

Fairly simple design.

Camera brand backed up by a small managment owned firm 'fighting like hell' to keep costs down, quality up and keeping up with these chenging times...

Costs 'a lot of money', but is cheap compared to most other cameras i know. - Just check.

Very cheap taken into considderation that it is practically a hand made camera.

Fair and square price policy; you pay the same price all over the world; what it costs.

Light weight; I did not discover this before I ot my EOS# with booster in the house, - this gave my old Hasselblad it's new spring.

Produces fantastic B/W pictues, and slides! Must be seen!

Secondary shutter must be kept open at shutter speed longer than 1/8.

Film magasins starts leaking light after aprox. 30 years of use, - though cheap and fast to remedy.

Dust collects between lense elements after about 25 years. - Does not seem to have little or no effect on picture quality, though.

Acward format when you go into an ordinary photo shop and demands paper copies of your negative film; what you'l get as standard is 9x9 cm. What a flop!

Demands pro-lab-folllow-up which can blow you pictures up to at least 20x20 cm. Then!

No built in light meter.

Several of the older prism meters demands special calibration when shifting lense from 80mm to 250 mm which gives vignetting in the viewfinder on the old 500C/M. Possibly not so on 501C

I visited the factory, the other day. It is located in a small town house down by the Harbour of Gothenburg. Reminds me of being showed around at the Morgan factory at Mavern Link, Britain.

Much handwork, processed slowly, but meticulously and checked at modern digital machines, checking tolerances etc. Quiet. An extraordinary experience!

And the managment; thoughtful, reserved and conservative, but well aware of 'what's happending' on the digital front. Very conserned about 'keeping cost down', through this, making the product available to those who wants and needs it. Far, far from the jittery atmosfare of Canon or Nikon, who seems more conserned about the stock price of their shares. This camera deserves to be bought by us consumers!

Lenses are being produced at Carl Zeiss in Germany, though,- very much in the same line as at the Hasselblad works in Gothenburg.

It was pleasing to see the place where my camera was produced some 30 years ago. Because my example is a 500C/M, - the old version.

This simplest version of the Hasselblad and a hand held light meter is all you need to take sharp pictures. Your friends can come up with whatever it is; Nikon, Minolta or Canon, - you will beat them down in their boots with your crystal sharp, colour balanced, and three times blown up copies.
Mostly this stems from the large negative, but Carl Zeiss makes some of the sharpest lenses that can be bought. Only seldome do Nikon or Canon reach these levels, - and then they cost more than a Hasselblad/Carl Zeiss lense. Most often a lot more. Is Hasselblad expensive? I don't think so. It most likely is dirt cheap.

Typically, a Hasselblad works in all kinds of climate, in all kinds of situations, and produces excellent pictures. It's light weight compared to 'serious pro-cameras' like the Nikon F5 or EOS3/1v. There is ample volume of details in the second hand market; lenses, bellows, prismfinders etc. All rock solid, or reparable for a song.

Cost of paper copies, slides and slides projectors are forbidding, though. When you cross the boarder to 'middle format', you are 'on your own' as a photo consumer. Befriend a owner of a mini-lab with the right frames for you negatives and ask him to put 'a little more effort' in your pictures and it might not be so bad.

Customer Service

Available, fast and relatively inexpensive compared to Nikon, Canon etc.

Similar Products Used:

Mamia 645
Canon, Nikon etc. etc.

Great feel, really light compared to almost any pro level SLR, 35mm or MF, really sharp.

Expensive, I bought a full kit under the student plan, and still spent a lot of cash, lenses jam up some times, not quite as tough as some Mamiya stuff.

I really love this camera, I had to debate a lot between this camera and the Mamiya RZ. The RZ is a great camera too, and really just lost because of the weight and size. It really is twice as big and heavy as this camera. This is actually lighter than my fully setup Nikon F100 by a good bit. I really like that I can just run out with some film and my meter and shoot, not having to worry about anything. Overall though I just really like the way this camera works with me. It's just very well tuned to the way I do things. And with the student plan, even though it's still pricey, I was able to pick up a 501 CM, a PM45, an 80cfe, an A12 back, and a polaroid back, and save around $1200 with the financing charges. Still expensive, but a great deal.

Customer Service

haven't used it yet

Similar Products Used:

Mamiya M645, RZ67, Blad 503CW

Those lovely big 6x6 negatives.
Quality of big enlargements leaps out at you.
The camera is a pleasure to use - it encourages you to get out there and take pictures.
Holds its value. If you decide Hasselblads aren't for you and decide to sell, you're unlikely to lose money on the deal.

Can't get away from the fact that lenses & accessories are frighteningly expensive if purchased new.

This is the first medium format camera I've owned. Having used Bronicas and Mamiyas at college, I decided to go with Hasselblad for a number of reasons. First, as a step up from 35mm, the 645 format didn't excite me - the difference in neg size didn't seem worth the effort. Secondly, I love the square neg. I do a lot of location portraits and the square format works perfectly - plenty of room for environmental features to tell you something about the subject. Also, people are so used to seeing rectangular images from 35mm that you've got their attention right away with a square image.
Third, we get a good student discount on Hasselblads and that made the purchase of my 'camera for life' a little bit less financially damaging. I've added a couple of secondhand lenses and that should keep me going for the forseeable future.

I've been surprised at how compact a moderate sized Hasselblad system can be. I can fit a body, 50mm,80mm and 150mm lenses and a Metz flash into a smallish Billingham bag and I've started to take the camera out with me more and more. It's a mistake to think of Hasselblads as studio only or landscape-with-a-tripod cameras (though they do both very well) as it's perfectly possible to do hand held location and event work. I recently left my Nikon at home and took my 501CM to a political rally I was covering. Instead of the 72 shots or more I would probably have fired off with the 35mm I took two rolls (24 shots) on the Hasselblad. That means that on average I took roughly 3 times as long thinking about each shot and it really does show in the results!! It does take more effort and commitment to get results from the system but it's worth it in the long run. There are still plenty of situations where only my Nikon, with its autofocus, zoom lenses etc. will do the job, but I'm going to continue to try and expand the range of uses for the Hasselblad.
The simplicity of the camera is a big plus for me. No flashing lights in the viewfinder, no need to worry about whether the camera is set to the right mode, no need to agonise over whether to shoot in portrait or landscape format etc. Which leaves more time to think about composition and the right moment to fire the shutter.

Overall, this is not a camera for everybody. But if you're prepared to slow down a bit and think about the basics of exposure and composition, a 501 with a couple of lenses and a handheld meter will deliver results that make the effort all worth while.

Customer Service

Not tried

Similar Products Used:

Bronica ETRSi
Mamiya 645

Solid built, compact size, Zeiss lens, bright viewfinder.

expensive accesories. The camera kit is more reasonable priced.

This is my first Medium format camera, and I love it. I have used 35 mm cameras for
past 10 years, but this camera surprised me the most. It is not a high tech machine like my Nikon or Contax, but strong in basics. The camera provides perfect fundamentals to support your imaginations. slow down, get the best frame of view and make the picture you want. This may not be 100% true, but this camera is for people concentrate on quality of image, it may not satisfy someone shoots action photos only. Price, it is not that bad. Hasselbad people need to be appreciated.

Customer Service

good. I called for some info on the
present promotions. treated nicely

Similar Products Used:

35mm cameras.

build, lasting rugged consistancy, lenses no less than pin sharp, lense hood bellows, no cheap plastic parts to break, no batteries to run out and spoil the fun, 6x6 negative wow, bright focusing screen (new) best feel of all I tried out,

I had to get new focusing screen after trying the after market one. I question the cost of the focusing screen hmmm it doese not seam right considering the cost of others. and who makes it.

I wanted a camera that did not need batteries and instead of getting another 35 mm camera(I leave 35mm to my eos camera for sports and other fast paced action photography where I use 300+mm lenses) I researched quality cameras that were in the medium format. I chose hasselblad after looking that the construction and lense quality. I Like the weight (lighter than my 35mm) and I like the negative(6x6 square for composition flex) It was not that expensive considering what 35mm bodies and lenses in the upper end cost now anyway. I already have a 35mm system so instead of another L EOS lense I opted for another camera and 1 month later Im so so glad! oh my gosh I love the quality and handling . I have shot some portraits and some art photos and the 6x6 negative wow what a huge difference when someone wants to crop! try that with 35 mm and your pin sharp photo becomes pointalism! I didnt like the 6x45 cameras (I can always get that with an A16back for my hasselblad) I liked the pentaz 6x7 but it was too huge and heavy though. (I would take less pictures with it )

Customer Service

never needed it

Similar Products Used:

bronica, pentax, fuji, mamiya, I own canon and have tried nikon but dont like it much.

Built quality
Great lens lineup
Cheap price for kit
lightweight
small size
big negatives

No cheap lenses other than the standard lens
Mirror noise - CA-FLAP!

At first, much practice is needed in order for me to make the transition from 35mm AF-SLR (Canon EOS-1N) to this medium format mechanical SLR. Once I mastered the operation of the Hassy, I am able to make wonderful pictures than I did with the EOS-1N. That is due to the following reasons:
1) I was always looking for the perfect-technical shots all the time. Setting up tripod, mirror lockup, spot-meter the whole scene, etc... with an EOS-1N. Using the Hasselblad takes the same amount of time, so the "faster" EOS does not have any advantage for me.
2) Obviously, the larger transparency alone will make anyone feel like being Galen Rowell. The clarity in details of the images is absolutely amazing.
3) It is as portable as the EOS-1N. Wherever the EOS-1N can fit into, so does the Hassy. The weight is also identical.
4) Carrying the EOS-1N attracts far more attention than the Hasselblad. Noise level is just about the same, both annoying.
5) The square format is wonderful.
For outdoor photography, The Hasselblad compromises nothing against the EOS-1N, unless you are shooting wildlife, birds, etc.
The camera kit is cheap stuff for Hasselblad, comparable to Bronica. But it is a pitfall to get people started in Hasselblad. Owning the kit for almost 2 years, I still cannot finance myself to purchase more lenses and accessories. In fact, I do not wish to do so even if I have the money. Because I use the standard lens most of the time. I have the option to rent other lenses when I need to do so. But even a film back is extremely expensive...

Customer Service

Not yet needed

Similar Products Used:

None

Quality of design and construction translates into quality images
Good amount of lenses and accessories
Square images (aesthetic choice)
Waist level viewfinder

Lenses and accessories are quite costly
Heavy, especially if you're coming from 35mm SLR

If you're moving from 35mm SLR, as I did, this is a different experience. Composition in the wonderfully bright waist level viewfinder allows you to carefully think about what's in the image and why-- though the process does take some time if you want to do this right. Separate metering takes even longer, but then, good photographs are not made in a hurry.

Lens quality is very fine, and for most purposes, a single 80mm lens does the job. You can use the camera hand-held (best and most flexibly done with 400 ISO film; image quality at this speed is not a problem with MF because magnification is lower than 35mm).

Best news comes with the processed images. When you get the exposure right (this takes some practice if you're new to hand-held meters), it's spectacularly true, sharp, vivid, and lifelike. For best results, choose the film carefully; I've had luck with Fuji Reala (discontinued in USA), Fuji NPC 160, and with Fuji 400 (various formulations). You can see the difference between Kodak and Fuji film here; the Kodak 400 is smooth and subtle, the Fuji is crisp and natural.

Bottom line: see if you can find one used (there are many), but don't think twice about the 501CM kit (with film back and lens) for around $3,100. Expensive? Not if you plan to keep the camera for a decade or more-- the construction quality and many decades-old models currently in use suggest that this is a reasonable expectation.

Customer Service

No contact, but it's supposedly excellent

Similar Products Used:

Mamiya 7 II, Mamiya Pro TL, Contax 645