New (to me) H3D and H3D-22 DB... can't get it to work!

[Djcoreyphoto]

Hi all -

I'm brand new to Hasselblad... just purchased a used H3D from a camera store, and an H3D-22 DB from Adorama's used store.  Got a 100mm 2.2 lens, and I'm ready to go.

All arrived, I put a brand new CF card in it.  On connecting all the parts, I turned it on.  The hourglass does not stop moving.  The DB turns on, and the green light is on on the back.  I look through the viewfinder, and anytime I press the shutter button, I get the red triangle, and it says "Starting Up."  15 minutes later, the same thing.

I moved onto the digital back, and tried to format the CF card.  The window comes up, and it just says "Formatting Card..." and never leaves that window.

Not sure what to do!  I've tried disconnecting everything and putting back together.  Can anyone provide assistance?

Thanks!
Dan

[DJPixelMan]

Daft question but, did you disconnect the battery and reattach it?

[NickT]

Check that the contacts between back and body are clean/undamaged.

[Djcoreyphoto]

Not daft al all!  But I have done those things... ... hasn't worked yet.

[DJPixelMan]

OK. Another thing to try is a different CF card. Is the write speed too fast for the H3? I think that the speed of CF cards has increased dramatically since the H3 was introduced. Maybe it won't affect the camera, but sometimes it might. When I used my H3DII-30 I was using 60MB/s Sandisk Extreme 8 gb cards, and they were perfect. Try using an older card.
Secondly, have you got access to another lens just to try it out and see if that fixes the problem?

[Charles S]

What kind of battery are you using ? From what i understand the Blads are sensitive to voltage changes, which could occur with older batteries and with the ones that take CR132 batteries, which i have seen being sold with H3 and up on eBay, but are not suitable. Have you tried it with the tethering cable ? , it should reduce the power draw from the battery.
The other issue I have come across is that the internal clock battery of the back can deplete after it has not been used for some time, which throws date /time out of whack, but potentially also other things. It can be charged by hanging the back off the FW cable for some time.

[jerome_m]

I would first try without a CF card. If that does not work, I would try the back alone, no card, connected to a computer and see whether Phocus sees it. If it does, I would upgrade the firmware if necessary.

[Djcoreyphoto]

Hi all!  Thank you for your assistance.  I was able to resolve this today with the assistance of an experienced Hasselblad guy.

It was ultimately a firmware issue on the DB.  The DB was opening in Loader mode (I didn't realize that graphic was telling me that it was at the factory-level firmware setting).  When connecting the DB to Phocus via Firewire and FW/Thunderbolt adapter, my computer wasn't picking it up.  The photographer had an older 2 GB CF card, and we loaded the latest firmware update onto the CF card, then put it into the DB.  It recognized it right away, downloaded the firmware, and magically worked.

Incidentally, the most recent firmware for the DB allows reading of UDMA 7 cards, which is what I have, so it was then able to be formatted.

Thanks all!  I appreciate it!

Dan

[DJPixelMan]

Glad you got it all working Dan..it's a lovely camera.