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WAHOO 203FE back from overseas With CFV ability now

Hi Isidor/Marc,

Those additional contacts Marc says are on the CFV back...and you believe are for the ELD. From what I can tell from the pictures in the ELD manual, it sounds like those could be in the position of the film back gear...as I see no 2nd set of contacts on the back mating surface shown in any pictures in the ELD manual.

Marc, can you check (or post a picture of the back showing those contacts) to see if those contacts coincide with the film advance gear position of a standard film back?

My guess is, the ELD is setup initially the same as the trigger “modification” as the 203 for use with the digital back...IOW, it uses the same lower contacts, not the “other” contacts.

The ELD manual, interestingly enough, does show the E backs in it’s list of available backs, so there is apparently no harm done to the E backs when used with the digital back mod’d cameras.

Regards,

Austin
 
Hi Q.G.,

> Perhaps. > Maybe they have not hooked up the necessary bits to the 'chip' to > begin with, and would reprogramming the thing not help.

No, I’m %100 certain it could be done as I explained...that is if they had the firmware source code, and could compile it...and if it wasn’t in a mask programmed ROM or some ancient technology like that.

The camera body would be the I2C master. The I2C chip in the lense that transmits the aperture info has one I2C address (and is only read), and the chip for the ISO in the back has another I2C address (and is also only read).

What they could have done IMO in the digital back, is kept the ISO I2C chip at the same address so you could set the ISO in the back, and have it transmitted to the body just as with the film back. In addition, add another I2C chip at another address that implements the trigger.

But, I think I know why they thought they had to do this “hack” trigger the way they did. In order for the 555ELD to use the digital back, they would have had to add an I2C master to the 555ELD...instead of a purely electro-mechanical trigger as they did. BUT...with a little thought, this could have been done using a very small circuit...in fact, one 8 pin chip. After all, the camera has batteries anyway, and it won’t fire without them!

I think I understand a bit more why they did it, but it was still, IMO, a bad implementation and could have been done substantially better. I think you’re right, the mechanical guys did it.

Regards,

Austin
 
Hi Q.G.,

> The other set of contacts are indeed for the ELD

I’m not doubting that at all, but to hook up to what though? The pictures of the ELD don’t show a 2nd set of contacts.

Regards,

Austin
 
Hi Q.G./Marc/Isidor,

I downloaded the CFV manual, and that second set of contacts is clear. But, in the 555ELD manual, there is no set of contacts shown that mate with those. Does anyone have a 555ELD...or a brochure that has decent pictures showing the back mating surface?

Regards,

Austin
 
Hello Austin,

The ELD's contacts do line up.
The contacts on 200-series cameras are on the 'wind' side. On the ELD they are on the opposite side. (See the images in the manuals on the manuals page of 'Hasselblad Historical').

So the E-backs' contacts and the ELD's contacts do not meet, so no fear of a possibly harmful clash.

The 200-series cameras are a mix of electronical and mechanical functional bits (much like the 2000-series cameras were too).
And i think they made the rear Databus in the 200-series do no more than get ISO information, with nothing else 'hooked up'. No link between the controller and the release mechanism, so nothing to reprogram?
 
Q, Austin,

Does anyone have a picture of the guts of an E filmback?

I would not be surprised if Q's theory is true that the filmback provides nothing more than a voltage divider or somesuch to relay the ISO setting to the camera. Judging from what I found in the back's service manual exploded view there is not much, if any, advanced electronics in there.

That would explain why Goteborg opted for a rather radical surgery on the camera to accomodate the CFV.

Wilko
 
26787.jpg
 
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