ajramirez
Hall of Famer
- Location
- Caguas, Puerto Rico
- Name
- Antonio
Well, not exactly a Lunar, but its older sister: a Hasselblad 500CM, complete with a A12 back, 80mm 2.8 Planar, 50mm 4.0 Distagon, and 120mm 5.6 S-Planar. Of course, there's a story that goes along with it. The kind of story that probably only happens in small towns.
In the town of Cabo Rojo, on the Southwestern tip of Puerto Rico, there is a tailor shop by the name of Governor´s Suits, where you can get bespoke suits at a very reasonable price. The shop has been in operation at least since the 1940's, and is currently run by the three sons of the original tailor. My very first suit, bought in 1981 for my 9th grade graduation ceremony, was made by them, and I have been getting my suits from them since then.
One of the brothers also runs a successful photography business in Cabo Rojo, complete with a studio and lab. We have chatted about photography over the years and some time ago, he gave me a tour of his analog processing facility, which was all mechanized and very impressive. This time, he explained that after a few not so good years, he had converted the lab to a full digital lab and was once again doing quite well. His daughter is also a photographer and runs the day-to-day operations of the studio.
He mentioned that he had a suitcase full of Hasselblads that had not been touched in years. I said that if he wanted to get rid of them, I might be interested. We went to the studio and his daughter pulled out a large case which contained the following: 3 Hasselblad 500cm bodies, 2 prisms, 4 film backs, 1 Polaroid back, assorted accessories, and four lenses: (2) 80mm, 50mm and 120mm. The entire kit looked like it had worked for a living (certainly not collector grade), was quite dusty, but appeared to be in working order. I offered her $500 for the full set, which she readily accepted.
Back home, I cleaned everything up, and picked the best body, back, and 80mm lens. I kept those and the 50mm and 120mm, and sold (very inexpensively) the rest to a good buddy of mine who is also into film photography.
I took the camera out for its maiden voyage last Saturday, but found out when I developed the film that the back had a light leak. I ordered the seal kit from eBay, installed it last night and took the camera for a spin this morning. I hope to post some shots after I have developed and scanned the film.
In any event, this is my newest acquisition:
1977 Hasselblad 500CM by ramirezaponte, on Flickr
Cheers,
Antonio
In the town of Cabo Rojo, on the Southwestern tip of Puerto Rico, there is a tailor shop by the name of Governor´s Suits, where you can get bespoke suits at a very reasonable price. The shop has been in operation at least since the 1940's, and is currently run by the three sons of the original tailor. My very first suit, bought in 1981 for my 9th grade graduation ceremony, was made by them, and I have been getting my suits from them since then.
One of the brothers also runs a successful photography business in Cabo Rojo, complete with a studio and lab. We have chatted about photography over the years and some time ago, he gave me a tour of his analog processing facility, which was all mechanized and very impressive. This time, he explained that after a few not so good years, he had converted the lab to a full digital lab and was once again doing quite well. His daughter is also a photographer and runs the day-to-day operations of the studio.
He mentioned that he had a suitcase full of Hasselblads that had not been touched in years. I said that if he wanted to get rid of them, I might be interested. We went to the studio and his daughter pulled out a large case which contained the following: 3 Hasselblad 500cm bodies, 2 prisms, 4 film backs, 1 Polaroid back, assorted accessories, and four lenses: (2) 80mm, 50mm and 120mm. The entire kit looked like it had worked for a living (certainly not collector grade), was quite dusty, but appeared to be in working order. I offered her $500 for the full set, which she readily accepted.
Back home, I cleaned everything up, and picked the best body, back, and 80mm lens. I kept those and the 50mm and 120mm, and sold (very inexpensively) the rest to a good buddy of mine who is also into film photography.
I took the camera out for its maiden voyage last Saturday, but found out when I developed the film that the back had a light leak. I ordered the seal kit from eBay, installed it last night and took the camera for a spin this morning. I hope to post some shots after I have developed and scanned the film.
In any event, this is my newest acquisition:
1977 Hasselblad 500CM by ramirezaponte, on Flickr
Cheers,
Antonio