At what point should I give up?

[JCM-Photos]

It's difficult for me to imagine that two cameras coming from different batches have the same issues with different lenses by one same user and thousands of other users have no problem with hardware coming from the same production batches.

I use a X1D MkI for years and a CFV2 50c on 907X and 503CX, 6 different XCD lenses plus extender, 1 HCD lens plus adapter and had never a hardware issue. (but many firmware and software issues at the beginning with the X1D Mark 1).
And with all this gear I change continuously lenses on a daily basis ( with also CF, X-Pan, Mamiya and Nikon lens adapters), I work tethered USB or WiFi, or untethered, or even with a HDMI TVscreen monitor.

My gear travels a lot, The X1D is sometimes totally wet under the rain, no problem.

My only hardware problem is the Mk1 GPS very low sensitivity that makes it useless for practical field use.

[Photon42]

I honestly don't know. it seems the "lens not attached" errors would not be related to cards, I agree.
the cards have to be vII, 250mb but it seems the Sony G tough card which fulfill the requirements and are by all accounts excellent cards, might create problems. afaik sandisk should be safe.
btw: hasselblad USA is great with tech support, email or phone. I would contact them regardless and explain your situation. the bodies you sent back to BH will have to come their way anyway. or we hope they do and do not just get passed on to the next customer.

I would definitely call Hasselblad support to a) make sure there is really no user error and b) to work out a solution. My experience with Hasselblad (Sweden, though) was always excellent.

[wayne1]

JCM

The two bodies did have different issues. On the first, the autofocus would freeze intermittently; on the second many errors "no lense detected, lens issue, etc". Much worse the #1.

So tomorrow body #3 arrives. If there is a problem, I will contact Hasselblad before proceeding to the next exchange!

I can understand there might be a lingering concern that maybe I am the problem.  I really don't think so. I make my living as a research Physical chemist and I design, build, and use very high technology electronics and mechanical systems every day. I have been very careful with the cameras and spent a lot of time with them analyzing the problem before sending them back. This was not a knee-jerk reaction to a simple issue.
 
Anyway I am committed to resolving this!

Thank for all the input, I really appreciate it.

Wayne

[Janacek]

Hello
Not news, good news?
It scares your experience with the X1D on used.

I do not know whether to buy a new or used X1D II

[wayne1]

OK, here is the update so far.

Thursday I received my 3rd replacement body. I first installed two Sandisk 64 Gb UHS-II cards in the slots and installed a fresh battery. I connected the 45p lens and turned it on. To my horror, I immediately got a "no lens detected" error. Hmm. Removed the lens and reinstalled..same message. Tried again and same message. Removed battery and restarted. Success! Lens recognized. Once this happened, all worked fine. I checked the firmware and it is updated. Ok, I tried the 21 mm lens. "No lens detected" again. Removed lens and tried resetting and lens recognized! Again, all worked well once the lens was recognized. Then tried my 80mm/1.9.  Same message, "no lens detected". After removing and resetting lens same message. Try again, success! Again, all worked well. Now went back to other lenses and in each case received the "no lense detected" error.  Now no matter what I did, I could not get the camera to recognize any of the lenses! The camera was now unusable.

OK, this is strange. Seems like maybe some dirt on a connector in the body. With no lens attached, I inspected the 9 pin connectors in the body. They looked fine. Tried a gentle treatment with Deoxit red,no improvement. These pins in the body are spring loaded, and each lens has a ramp that depresses the connectors as the lens is rotated in place and returns to make contact with the respective lens contact. With no lens in place, I depressed each pin a little and released. One or two of the pins did not completely return immediately. I pressed each a couple of times and then installed a lens. Amazingly, the lens, each one, was recognized! OK, so I went through a cycle where I installed and removed each lens repeatedly and each was recognized! In a few cases, I did receive the "lens not detected" message, but it was corrected by removing and reinstalling the lens. Upon each remove/install, the situation steadily improved, until today there seems to be only rare instances where I got the offending message which was easily fixed by a simple uninstall/reinstall. 

Tomorrow I will give the camera with lens changes a workout. If the current behaviour is repeated, I am happy!

The spring loaded pins are undoubtedly directly mounted on a circuit board, although I have no real information on this. Is it possible that the circuit board is made in China?

Next week I will call Hasselblad and ask if this is about the best I can do. Honestly, I am sufficiently pleased by the camera that I would gladly accept a yes answer. I will report the result of my conversation.

For me, this is the camera I want, despite a few issues.

Wayne

[wayne1]

Just another comment:

Once the lens was recognized, the behaviour was flawless. Autofocus was plenty fast for me to catch helicopters in flight with no problems (fires fighters around my house in SoCal). It may be a bit slow compared to phase detection but is very precise. I use this camera on manual focus anyway with back-button autofocus for confirmation sometimes. The image quality, size, weight and ergonomics really sells this camera. For sports and other fast moving subjects my Canon 5D IV will do, but the IQ with a prime Hasselblad lens on the X1D far surpasses the Canon.  For me, 50 Mpx is the sweet spot, and I am not holding my breath for a 100 Mpx version.

Wayne

[tenmangu81]

Very weird behaviour with your camera/lenses. It works flawless with me. Are you sure your lenses are correctly turned clockwise up to the "click" when you mount them ?

[wayne1]

Absolutely, and I agree it is really weird behaviour.  I keep trying because there are many, many people that have problem free cameras. However, there is a thread titled "after two lemons should I trust Hasselblad?". Apparently I am not the only one with problems of a similar nature with a new X1D 2 body. The operation of the X1D 2  (installing lens, battery, cards, turning on, etc) takes care but is not rocket science, and I own other cameras that have given me no problems of any kind.  There is really not a lot of room for user error here, but I would be very happy if it was that simple and glad to have suggestions!   I will let you know what I learn from Hasselblad, although now it is working fine.

[SrMi]

The repeated issues that you are having are really strange. I wonder if there is anything that is invariant during your troubles. I assume that you have tried different cards. Have you tried a different battery?

[wayne1]

SrMi

Yes, I have used several different batteries, always >80% charge.  I did originally use Lexar UHS II cards, but I read some complaints about those and switched to Sandisk UHS II. The behavior was not correlated with the battery or the card. I also treated the battery and card contacts with Deoxit gold as suggested elsewhere in this forum. In each case I tested, the lens was securely seated in the mount and latched in place.

The problems with "no lense detected" are (were) most easily explained by poor electrical communication between the body and the lens, and since it occurred with all three lenses I assumed the problem resided with the body. Consistent with this is the fact that mechanically "exercising" the spring mounted pins in the body seemed to solve the problem, at least for now.

Wayne

[wayne1]

Today the "no lens detected" error has started to reappear after two days of no problems, including several lens changes. All seemed perfect until this morning when it returned. This is getting ridiculous and a bit depressing.
I contacted Hasselblad customer service in the US. I was told that they have had this problem in several bodies and I should return the camera to them for warranty repair or replacement. What? Send a brand new camera in for repair? That is crazy. I asked him specifically if this could be something that I am doing wrong, and he said no, this is not an uncommon problem and it is not me or a problem with the lens.
I am burning out on this. 

[pss]

let me get this straight: this is your THIRD body? and you are still having the same issues?
you are absolutely correct. ridiculous and depressing.
what is Hasselblad saying now?

[wayne1]

PSS

Yes, this is my third body!!! Hasselblad service says this is a known problem in some bodies and is not simply an electrical contact issue. They want me to send it in for repair or exchange. Send in a new camera for repair!? No, this is stupid. I should be able to get a working camera. I am heavily invested in this system with lenses and accessories. I do want the system. What to do? It seems to me my only recourse is to purchase yet another body from B and H and return the 3rd for a refund. So far I have something like $20K in charges on my credit card waiting for refunds on the returned bodies. This is really depressing.  If #4 is a problem I will be done. However,  I have around $12K in new lenses and accessories that are now past the 30 day return period. They were not returned in that time of course since I did not have a working body on which to use them!  So I guess I will be stuck with the lenses etc. if it comes to that.

Thanks for listening to the problems!

Wayne

[SeanRL]

Wayne,

If I were in your situation (invested in lenses and so on) I would conclude that the issue is specific to the X1DII body and a relatively new range of serial numbers.
Based on this I would try to obtain a new body from a smaller dealer (greater likelihood of older trouble-free stock) with a solid return policy.
As small a dealer as I could find, but authorized in the event that I decided to do the HB repair or replace route.

But I would certainly understand wanting to throw in the towel at this point.

Sean

[mrkjhn]

Ugh, I understand your grief. I think at this point I'd kick the camera you have now to Hasselblad; at least the ball would be in their court to make right and probably get straight to the point rather than a going thru a third party like BH. I would think Hasselblad would be better equipt to make right the problems with the camera once and for all, and "bless" it in doing so.

Go straight to the source; skip the crap shoot and roll of the dice with #