HCD 4.0-5.6/35-90 zoom

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s.agar

Quite a bad day for me.

My HCD 4.0-5.6/35-90 zoom stopped focusing today at only 850 actuations. No drops, no bad weather, nothing related to the use.
The first 50 or so photos were ok, then it started out of no where.
Count is 934 now, as I was trying to test it after cleaning the contacts etc. at home.

First it started to focus at 50% of the time, and gradually got worse, and now just makes a small sound but AF does not move.
The number of actuations is just 850, I had bought it some time ago, and hadn't used much, and never expected something like this may happen.
As a Hasselblad user for over 40 years, this was not something that I would expect to happen especially with HB, even if not used for some time.

Dilemma is:
Use it with MF
Check the local agent, which did not sell me the lens, and for whom I have NO TRUST at all (they tried to sell me a well used fully worn battery as a new one, in the past)
(The contact website directs to the dealer, and no information is given for direct contact to the service dept.)

Another point is that, I  feel that I should not pay for such a defect, which obviously is a manufacturing default, especially if it's from a company like HB, and for a very expensive item.
(Which is brand new practically).

Would you, professionals, who surely have much more experience than me regarding dealing with HB, give me your suggestions. I will appreciate that.
I live in Istanbul, but may have the means to send it to main factory or to service in the USA. What would you suggest?
Thanks in advance.

Attached photo was the last one taken with AF before it went dead completely. I will always remember this lens with this image..

Best regards

Seyhun

H3DII, M8, Canon 5DII, NEX-3 
Camera collector, over 500 items.
http://seyhun.com/

Dustbak

Contact HB directly, explain the situation and ask for a RMA number and the address in Sweden to send the lens to (I assume You still have to send lenses to Sweden for repair). 

Giorgio

Seyhun,

35/90 It's a great lens, sorry you are having trouble with yours.

But stuff does happen for whatever reason, and you need to deal with it. As previously mentioned the lens needs a trip to see it's maker!

Good luck.

Greg

When I had trouble with my HD35, I sent it to New Jersey, and it was back in no time.

Greg

s.agar

Thanks. Good to have your positive feedback about HB service.
Can someone give me a name and mail address for an HB person from main office?
I surely will by-pass the local agent.

Best regards,

Seyhun
H3DII, M8, Canon 5DII, NEX-3 
Camera collector, over 500 items.
http://seyhun.com/

Greg

Try jconnolly@hasselbladusa.com

He has always been very helpful and friendly to me.

Greg

s.agar

Thanks Greg.
I will be travelling to USA shortly. This may be the best solution for me.

Seyhun

Quote from: Greg on February 26, 2013, 06:00:20 AM
Try jconnolly@hasselbladusa.com

He has always been very helpful and friendly to me.

Greg
H3DII, M8, Canon 5DII, NEX-3 
Camera collector, over 500 items.
http://seyhun.com/

s.agar


The mail address is not working anymore.
Do you know anyone else at HB Service in the USA, that I can contact prior to sending the lens for repair?
I need to be able to inform HB about my intention to prove that the malfunction is based on a design error,
since I have been informed by a seller that 35-90 zooms are prone to AF defects even during standard transportation,
and that there's an official memo about it.

Thanks in advance,

Best,
Seyhun Agar
H3DII, M8, Canon 5DII, NEX-3 
Camera collector, over 500 items.
http://seyhun.com/

s.agar

Unfortunately, John Connally is not working in Hasselblad anymore.

In short, I got a reply from Hasseblad today, stating this and that I have to pay for the service.
I will not pay, if the lens has a design or manufacturing defect from the start. Which I know is a HB defect, because the lens AF went wrong just by sitting in my lens drawer at 850 actuations.
I had to suggest that they take a look, and if I'm to be blamed for anything, that I would pay the service fee. But if not, that they have to stand by their product, with the same serious attitude that HB once had established.
(I have been using HB products for over 40 years btw.)

I know that Fuji may have different standards, in which case, I have to use the lens with MF rather than paying even a few dollars.

I wish the best to HB during these difficult years..

Seyhun
H3DII, M8, Canon 5DII, NEX-3 
Camera collector, over 500 items.
http://seyhun.com/

s.agar

Please don't even read if you are a Hasselblad fanatic.
I had to send a reply as follows, after 3-4 mails going back and forth.

I'm a great HB fan, and I own for the last 40 years almost all of the HB lenses, cameras etc.
I had never a premature failure as on this 35-90mm zoom, just while sitting in the closed lens drawer.
After only 850 actuations the AF failed. It still makes souns but can't stop on the correct focus point.
It's not the camera, because all my other HC lenses are working.

I can't accept the HB's policies etc. in such a case, where an item costing over 6000 Euros fails at 850 actuations.
It's not a matter of time or anything else but production error in the lens.

Anyway, the mails follow:
-----------------------------

Thanks for your very informative reply.

The reason I have taken the time to write in detail to Hasselblad is because I used to know that Hasselblad was a special company with high standards.
It may be quite different now.

In principle, and legally, if a product leaves the factory with a defect that can be understood later on, your standard conditions become void.

This has been my case. Out of the over 20 other Hasselblad items I own, there were of course problems, but those were normal wear and tear, etc. after long years, for which I have made no claims.
But in this case, the high-end product is defective, and this is how it was produced in the factory. The item began mulfunctioning at only 850 actuations.
It was never dropped, hit somewhere, or abused. In fact it is like brand new.

What I heard, apparantly wrong as you have replied, has nothing to do with this fact.

This item is still at about 950 actuations, untempered with, and you can verify this easily. (I played around with it at home to see if the defect may go by, bringing the counter to 959 from 850.)

As I have mentioned earlier, of course I'm ready to pay for the service in case your service people can find anything related to my usage etc.
But I still don't understand whya customer must pay when the item develops the defect while being practically unused, which is obviously a defect from engineering or workmanship in the factory?

I can have it proven by third reliable parties as well. I'm a technical person myself, and possibly one of the better collectors in the world, with vast experience on cameras.
If this item was coming from a different manufacturer, I wouldn't mind the problem so much. It's normal to have such defects with their inferior quality and QC.
But I can't tolerate this with a Hasselblad product, even if Hasselblad may not be following any more their high standards established long years ago.

The only reason I bought my digital MF system from Hasselblad was this. Otherwise, I also have all the products from Mamiya MF systems as well as a collector.

From your mail, I can see that you are not willing to solve my problem.
All you had to do was to check and report, whether it was a fault coming from the manufacturing of this lens or not.
I told you that I would agree to pay if your technicians did not support my claim that the source of this defective AF is Hasselblad's fault.
Referring me to original supplier etc. are all steps to be able to reject my request in the future.

Please see if you can arrange arrange for checking the lens for this purpose only.
If it has to go to Japan etc are all details that follows.
First thing to do is to check whether my claim is correct or not.
I Claim that a Hasselblad lens, if defective after only 850 actuations, is a problem that Hasselblad SHOULD solve without any further discussions,
if the present Hasselblad is a continuation of the excellent brand name going on for decades.

Best regards,

Seyhun Ağar





From: "mmurphy@hasselbladbron.com" <mmurphy@hasselbladbron.com>
To: Seyhun Agar - Tetem A. S. <seyhun@tetem.com>
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2013 8:35 PM
Subject: RE: 35/90

Good Afternoon,

I'm sorry about you lens having a problem, Hasselblad is not aware of any design flaw with the 35-90 lens or any other lens, you are listening to second hand information from a  dealer you stated  was unreliable.  I have included the link on the Hasselblad Bron Web site regarding warranty.   http://www.hasselbladusa.com/service--support/after-sales-policies/factory-warranty.aspx

Limitations:

   Warranty claims must be made through the dealer and/or company where the product was originally purchased, and not directly to Hasselblad (unless purchased directly with a Hasselblad subsidiary). The factory warranty is NOT international, and warranty claims cannot be made through other channels. This is also valid for equipment purchased outside the country of residence.

You can send the lens to us, it will be evaluated  to see if it can be repaired in New Jersey or if it needs to be forwarded to Sweden
for further testing and repair.  However, if the lens is more than 1 year old there will be a charge for the repair and shipping back to
you.

Best,
Maryann Murphy
Service Administrator
Hasselblad Bron Inc | 1080A Garden State Road, Union N.J. 07083
phone 800-367-6434 | direct Ext 308|
H3DII, M8, Canon 5DII, NEX-3 
Camera collector, over 500 items.
http://seyhun.com/

s.agar

4 years have passed.
Hasselblad USA had rejected servicing my lens. ı had to send it to the factory, where it was repaired for quite a big expense.

I have not used the lebs since then. (maybe just 200 exposures, bringing the lens counter to 1200).

Today I went out with this lens..

And the same problem. AF does not work, I can use it only in the MF mode..

This lens does not like to sit around it seems.

But it also shows the unreliability of this design. As a collector, I have over 1000 cameras and a few thousand lenses.
I have never seen something happening with any recent cameras and lenses.

This item will not go to repair. Instead I will just sell it as is. A younger guy with less resources may hopefully buy it, go after repairing and can use it.

Seyhun
H3DII, M8, Canon 5DII, NEX-3 
Camera collector, over 500 items.
http://seyhun.com/

fiatlux

Quote from: s.agar on September 25, 2017, 03:59:10 AM
This lens does not like to sit around it seems.

But it also shows the unreliability of this design. As a collector, I have over 1000 cameras and a few thousand lenses.
I have never seen something happening with any recent cameras and lenses.

This is worrying and certainly not satisfactory, but I would point out that AF issues in lenses standing still for a long time is unfortunately not an exceptional issue.

Nikon AF-S lenses do/did suffer from this, at least 1st generation AF-S lenses. My 80-200 2.8 AF-S had to be serviced for this, and failed again less than two years after being fixed. Not using the lens for extended periods of time apparently raised the risk. The first trip to the service centre cost me over 600€, I gave up the second time and sold the lens "as-is".

Leica also has problems with their S-Lens focus motors. They acknowledged the problem and developed a fix, available for free but only for a period of five years from the date of purchase (they had similar terms for the sensor swap on the Leica M9).

bgateb

Quote from: s.agar on September 25, 2017, 03:59:10 AM
4 years have passed.
Hasselblad USA had rejected servicing my lens. ı had to send it to the factory, where it was repaired for quite a big expense.

I have not used the lebs since then. (maybe just 200 exposures, bringing the lens counter to 1200).

Today I went out with this lens..

And the same problem. AF does not work, I can use it only in the MF mode..

This lens does not like to sit around it seems.

But it also shows the unreliability of this design. As a collector, I have over 1000 cameras and a few thousand lenses.
I have never seen something happening with any recent cameras and lenses.

This item will not go to repair. Instead I will just sell it as is. A younger guy with less resources may hopefully buy it, go after repairing and can use it.

Seyhun

Wow; that is totally unacceptable.

davidthescot

Gosh how very irritating and not good PR for Hasselblad USA.

I am however not that surprised that an electromechanical object unused for 4 years has some difficulties.  Oil dries out on moving parts and becomes sticky is just one problem that may occur. I own a classic car and if I left that for four years I would come back to all sorts of problems.  The storage company has a policy as follows;

1. Batteries on trickle charge.
2. Engines turned over and car is run for a mile or two every month.
3. Tyres checked every month.
4. All oils changed and engine flushed once a year.
5. All rubber hoses and belts checked and replaced every two years.

If I was a camera collector I would certainly be running a quarterly or six monthly check of the functionality of the electromechanical items.  I used to collect early Leicas and lenses and did this once a year.

I am not looking for an argument but just expressing, sympathetically another point of view.

cerett

Curious, how have you been storing this lens? Is the front element down or up?