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1600F Users Club

polypal

polypal

Active Member
I received the following message from the 1600FUC:


To all members of the 1600FUC

It is with great pleasure that the 1600F Users Club announces a new member to its select membership.
Simon Galbally in Melbourne Australia has joined the ranks of those who own and use a 1600F camera.
Jürgen Jotloob said farewell to one of his 1600F cameras to make the new membership possible.
The 1600 FUC wishes to express their gratitude for this exceptional gesture.

There will be a party in Melbourne for all members to celebrate this happy moment.
Details about the date of this event and where to obtain free tickets for air travel will be made public later.
On behalf of the clubs board of governors I congratulate Simon with this accomplishment.
The board recognises Simons work for photography in general and MF in particular.


On behalf of the 1600FUC board of governors,


Major M.F. Blackandwhite

Secretary of the Board.
 
Simon,
welcome in this exclusive community. May your 1600F give you long trouble-free service. And that you forget less-often than me to stop down the lens to the preselected value for exposure.

My 1600F No. 1 ist still undergoing restauration. So I took the chance to grab another one to start shooting.

Best Regards, see you in Melbourne
Ulrik
 
Many many thanks gentlemen. And, of course, my very special heart-felt thanks to Jurgen - my friend the "old girl" is a masterpiece of design, durability and construction.

It is even more so such a masterpiece of durability due to its precious care by Jurgen. And then she received a great health-check through the expertise and kind assistance of Paul.

I have been spending many hours of getting to know this elegant lady (do we adopt the gender nomenclature used in maritime circles for ships!!?? :) ) and I have been doing so much learning that I have neglected this forum! She is so "absorbing".

I think she is already enjoying the Aussie climate so should be fit for a big day out tomorrow! :)

Yes, Ulrik I have discovered the manual stop-down feature and will take care to keep my wits about me!

Each day is a time of discovery - that wonderful peep hole in the film back is one example.

I have always enjoyed very old cameras and this is certainly an example of some of the very very best ever designed and built. So IMHO such things deserve tender care and exercise............. like all of us!! :)

Well I am now a privileged man to be able to join the 1600FUC all made possible by my friend Jurgen.

Thanks again for the warm welcome and for Jurgen making it possible and for Paul helping to ensure its great life down under! :)
 
Hello Simon,

Good idea to speak of "her" when mentioning these cameras.
They can be as time consuming and pleasant as a mistress.
Besides that they are without a doubt very elegant and like to be treated with respect.

The German word for camera is female "Die Kamera"
Strangely enough the French "L'appareil photo" is masculine.

Now you are getting the idea what early Hasselblad photography means:
More attention for detail, that will certainly be in save hands with you.

Paul
 
Thanks Paul.

For those interested I plan to write up a "first time 1600F user" first impressions story.

Having spent must of last Saturday and Sunday playing and shooting with this marvellous instrument, I have to say that my first impressions are wonderfully good! :)

She has her pride of place in my lounge firmly mounted on a tripod for all to see and enjoy!
 
Paul, die kamera - what a great name - the German language has a wonderfully purposeful emphasis of sounds.

What a shame the French had less vision in the world of photography, ending up using the masculine gender for the word camera!! :)

Hasselblad cameras were the perfection of Swedish and German equipment collaboration.

While shooting the 1600F and its Tessar 80mm lens, I could not help but think that this very compact lens (in comparison with the Planar design) looks so much like (although far smaller) the Leica-M "pancake" design recently revived by Voigtlander/Cosina.

But what pleased me so much about the Tessar is that it focused closest to 0.5 metre!!! :) Wow! My Leica-M Summicon-M 35mm ASPH just gets as close as 0.5m. But the 50mm Summicron-M (similar angle of view to the Tessar) only closest focuses to 0.7 metre!

So this "little" beauty Tessar may just deliver great imaging joy too. I should get my film back on the weekend.
 
What is in a name?

Every noun in the German language starts with a capital, Kamera, Film, Haus etc.
Just one of the things that make the German language not so easy for foreigners.

For the defense of the French I must say they do know the word "caméra".
Caméra is reserved for motion picture equipment.
Similar to the Dutch who also know "foto apparaat" the French say "appareil photo"
In Holland both "camera" and "foto apparaat" are used for "camera"

As long as we all know what we mean for a great invention it is alright.
BTW Dirk still has a couple of thousand language courses available for those who speak English and wish to learn German.
I managed to talk him out of the idea to make one MF forum in German only.
He sort of overstimated the willingness for English speaking members to learn German......

Paul
 
Hello Simon,

The old lady has kept you busy during the weekend I understand.
Of course we like to see some results in due course.

Monday I visited my friend, the magician, who is now trying to get my 1600F going again.
Some 1600F series two cameras were later heavily modified by the factory.
I am the "lucky" owner of an unmodified series two camera.
Not completely lucky as the original 1600F is known to suffer from misfiring resulting in a jammed camera.

Upgrading now is not an option. These upgrades were no doubt carried out at the factory involving
the fitting a redesigned gear train and booster for the shutter.
Of course these parts are no longer available.
It does not bother me as long as I can take a 1000F camera with me as a back up.

Buying a 1600F series two often means buying a black box.
As far as I know there is no indication externally to see whether the camera was modified.
Only thing that may give an idea is the condition of the camera: a seized camera could mean it concerns an unmodified sample.

Pictures that show some of the differences to follow later as soon as they are available.


Paul
 
Well I have had my "learn the hard way" experience in the past few days - horror upon horror - I shot most frames without stopping down the lens. Good God, how could I do that!! I think the frustrations of pain meds. Or, maybe I have Denny Crane's "mad cows' disease".

So during the Easter break I will redeem myself and do a better job of it and do the 1600F proud.

And yes Paul SHE will be pleased! :)
 
Simon

When you are used to shoot with CF-lenses and V-sytem camera , you shurely will forget to stop down the lens when shooting with a TESSAR .
I am glad to hear , that I am not the only one , who had to make this experience . :)
So , go and have an other try . Good luck .

Best regrads . Jürgen .
 
Simon,
I did warn you about that stopping-down issue :(. Paul said about discovering 1600F cameras: "a seized camera could mean it concerns an unmodified sample". Maybe it is better to say that if the camera works it for sure is a late version. I have an early version (1950) which has been upgraded but also used in the past, so the wear on the geartrain gives reliability problems to say the least. My late 1600F (1953) camera came in working condition (something that even with 1000F cameras never happened to me). Let's see what the next black box brings...

Ulrik
 
Simon and Jürgen,

Welcome to the club!
I think most historic F users have had that problem in the past.
Simon used his F camera together with a modern Hasselblad body.
That makes it more difficult to concentrate and a mistake is likely to happen.

I make it a habit to do special nostalgia shooting trips using only the old cameras.
It is easier to concentrate that way on the manual aperture function.

Paul
 
Ulrik,

I think my conclusion needs correction.
There are too many possibilities for an F camera to seize.

Early unmodified samples will seize simply after an attempt to change the shutter speed if the shutter is not cocked.
Later modified cameras will not allow changing the shutterspeed unless the camera is cocked.

Your 2nd 1600F seems quite healthy to me.
I shot 21 rolls of film with it without any problems. ( kidding!)
This camera gives a good feeling; it works quite well.
I used it for a few shots with the 300 mm Kilfitt lens.
Results are good; shutterspeeds 1/200 and 1/400 are accurate.

For me the magic to use these cameras lies in the connection with the past.
Days long gone when Victor and his crew were about to give us the first
SLR MF camera system that was to be followed by the 500 series 50 years ago.

Paul
 
Many thanks gentlemen!

Yes, I was warned and I knew the traps well, but alas first time around I had to slip up!! :) Maybe I can just blame the new narcotic patches I'm trying out - but I was sure my "folly" would give you all a giggle!!

Yes the masters of the 1600F gave me plenty of warning........ so, now I plan to shoot 1600F this coming weekend. It is a JOY to use and I look forward to what that lens produces.

The smile has not left my face Jurgen... not for a minute - even when I realised my mistakes my smile remaind. She will always be forgiven for her eccentricities!! :) :) :)

Regards to you all.
 
Dear Simon,
enjoy your 1600F beauty. Remember this when she really starts behaving eccentric. I am happy to see that you have such a lovely working 1600F. Those are rare. I am waiting for a report how my 1600F No. 2 looks inside as No.1 is a real diva.

Ulrik
 
Cheers Ulrik! :)

Gentlemen - I have now shot my first 2 roll of film with the beloved 1600F OZ version!! :) The news is all good.

I have opened a new thread and I intend to load up a "First Time User's Report" on my first impressions of this wonderful iconic part of photographic equipment history.

But first up I have loaded a few sample pictures - B&W and colour.

I hope this is helpful to others and of course formally acknowledge the enormous gesture by my friend Jurgen Loob.
 
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