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Help !!!!!!!!!!

F

flashbulbman

Member
I just started an important shoot 50 minutes ago with my 500EL, a 150 sonar and a new 16mm tube that came yesterday. I put the tube on last night and tried it out. Seemed OK.

Put it on the camera and fired it, but I heard a half sounding noise of an uncompleted cycle. The camera froze up. I took off the back and note the doors are half closed, not opened or shut. The camera will not fire. I can not take off the lens. Battery is new. I know the correct procedure of putting on the tube and then the lens, and reverse , by taking off the lens and then the tube.

Lens is frozen onto camera, and curtain doors remain half close (or half open). Any ideas ???

I am about to toss the camera in the trash. Nothing but problems with every body and lens I have gotten. Maybe it is time to go back to my 4x5. Had to shoot the important model with my Leica. This system is too unreliable, finicky and sensitive to all kinds of problems. This is the second shoot I had to substitute my Leica for the Hasselblad when it failed three times prior.
 
I want to add to my above post the following:

I looked into the back at the middle screw, which I have read, should be turned clockwise to unjam a lens that was not cocked. I think my lens was cocked automatically on the 500EL. I had turned the screw horizontally on the 16mm tube prior to mounting it. The center screw inside the camera has its head slot pointing to one or seven oclock posistion. The screw does not want to turn. Actually, this would be the center screw on the 16mm tube and not the lense, since the tube is mounted on the camera. What if I did not cock the tube correctly prior to putting on a cocked 150 lens? I am sure the problem is probably the new tube, which is mint.
 
flashbulbman said:
I want to add to my above post the following:

What if I did not cock the tube correctly prior to putting on a cocked 150 lens? I am sure the problem is probably the new tube, which is mint.
Click to expand...

That could be the cause of this problem altough I wonder how you managed to mount the lens on a tube that was not cocked.

Golden rule:
Always test newly acquired gear before it needs to be used.
This goes for new and used equipment.

I have worked several decades with extension tubes and V series cameras without having once met this kind of problem.
The only time I had a similar incident was with a faulty auto bellows.
After the bellows was serviced this problem was gone.


Vic.
 
I did test the tube the night before and it worked. I guess there is no alternative now than to send it to a repair man and spend more $$$ or just dump the system. It does not work for me. The camera is an obsiticle between my eye and the suject, not an extension of my eye like my Leica. It is uncomfortable to hand hold and difficult to see through. Not good for action or movement like my Koni Omega was. I spent a small fortune on all this gear in the last few months and it has depressed me greatly that I went for this system. Back to the 4x5 I go.
 
I have seen this coming for some time.

Hasselblad did not work for you for a number of reasons.

1. Some of the gear you bought like the 500 EL is simply to old to be a reliable tool without having the camera fully serviced.

2. Before buying any part iof the system find out yourself or look for advice from an experienced user what to look for.

3. You had more than a fair share of evilbay sellers that do not bother to help buyers. Your 50 mm C lens arrived damaged due to insufficient packing.

With the right help before you spend your first hard earned dollar you could have had a later 500ELX with less mileage for only a few dollars more etc.


Vic.
 
Vic, You are right about everything you said. My fault entirely.

I just came back from my camera repair shop and he said the lens mechanism now needs a lot of work. He thinks the "mint" tube was defective and cause damage. He has to disassemble the camera now and wants big $$$$ to do it. The guy on Ebay I got the tube from denies it beingf defective. SO, I decided to dump the system. My camera man offered me $500 for everything. I gave it to him. He got my 500 CM, the broken 500 El, and 3 CF lenses, a 50, 80 and 150, plus 3 mint backs, a waistlevel finder , two bright screens, and two prisms. I want nothing to do with Ebay anymore. All the camera shops have closed so I had no place to sell my gear. At the camera show, no one wanted to buy parts of my gear, and one jerk offered me $30 for my 50 Distagon chrome, which I traded my 50 Summicron and it for a later CF 50. My wife always told me I am a great photographer, but I am not a business man.

I am seriously thinking of getting a Leica M9. My friend Rodger has one and it is incredible. He sold everything he had to get the M9. My 3 Leica M lenses would fit it as well.

Vic, I want to thank you for all your help. You are a true gentleman.
 
Thanks for the compliment.

It was not my intention to point tghe finger at you, I trust you know that.
Sometimes it is better to quit than to keep on going along a path that does not seem to bring the results you were hoping to get.

I wish you luck with the Leica M9 should you decide to get one.


Regards,
Vic.
 
flashbulbman said:
SO, I decided to dump the system. My camera man offered me $500 for everything. I gave it to him. He got my 500 CM, the broken 500 El, and 3 CF lenses, a 50, 80 and 150, plus 3 mint backs, a waistlevel finder , two bright screens, and two prisms.
Click to expand...

That guy got a bargain for sure!
 
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