Hasselblad camera stands the test of time

A medium format Hasselblad camera.

When he exited the spacecraft, Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.

The pictures taken on that mission have been etched into history. But the device which captured those images has been a curious presence at many historic events.

An estimated 650 million people watched as Armstrong said: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

This small Swedish camera company's greatest endeavour would be its part in mankind's conquest of the moon and making the first-ever photographs of stepping foot onto the lunar surface.

When NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins created history on Apollo 11, they captured it all on Hasselblad cameras loaded with Kodak film.

The company achieved far beyond the inventor's original intentions and had gone where no camera had gone before.

When I started my photographic journey over 30 years ago, I was lucky enough to be trained on a Hasselblad 500CM camera.

I had no idea back then that astronauts had used these cameras during the Apollo 11 mission.

Fast forward to 20 years later and I used my Hasselblad 500CM camera while covering the war in Afghanistan.

It now resides in the Australian War Memorial as part of the national collection with the photographs I made with it.

Some of the most iconic images of the 20^th century have been captured on this camera - including portraits of Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and their Abbey Road album cover, The Rolling Stones, Elton John at home, AC/DC in London in 1990, Kate Bush, Adele, Marlin Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor, to name a few.

NASA sent two cameras with the Lunar Module but only one of the cameras would make it to the moon's surface.

According to NASA, astronaut Michael Collins - who remained on the Command Module Columbia - used one of the cameras during the orbit of the moon, taking the famous photograph of the Lunar Module with Armstrong and Aldrin in it above the moon and with Earth in the background.

They go on to state, the camera used by Armstrong on the surface of the moon, which was attached to his chest, was a silver Hasselblad Data Camera (HDC) with a Réseau plate, fitted with a Zeiss Biogon 60mm /5.6 wide-angle lens and a polarising filter to reduce reflections. It was engraved with grid-aligned crosses fitted close to the film plane. These crosses were recorded on every photo to measure angular distances between objects in the frame.

A bracket attached to Armstrong's space suit supported the camera and made it possible for Armstrong to use the rings and levers while wearing his bulky space gloves. A trigger was fitted under the camera to make it easier to fire.

British journalist Phil Parker, who covered the moon landing, wrote: "The Hasselblad 500EL Data camera had an electric motor and was painted silver to ensure it would work in the extreme lunar conditions of space."

The cameras were equipped to work in temperatures ranging from minus 65 degrees celsius in shadow to 120 degrees celsius in the sun.

The cameras used specially designed Kodak 70mm film, which NASA contracted Kodak to develop for the Apollo mission.

According to the NASA Space Science Data Archive, the film was loaded into purpose-built magazines. The film magazines were painted to match their respective camera bodies, the astronauts had three magazines loaded with film: two colours and one black and white.

A total of 1407 exposures were made during the Apollo 11 mission, on nine magazines of film - 857 black-and-white photos and 550 colour photos.

Only the film magazines were brought back. The camera bodies were left behind to save on weight and space for more precious cargo such as lunar rocks. The Command Module Intravehicular camera (IVA) did, however, return to Earth and is now part of the collection at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, in Washington DC.

According to the Smithsonian, after his death in 2012, Armstrong's wife found a white bag in a cupboard.

Curators at the Smithsonian recognised it as what astronauts refer to as a McDivitt Purse - a special container stowed in the Lunar Module named after the Apollo 9 commander James McDivitt.

READ MORE:

Inside the bag was a treasure trove of 17 lunar artefacts, previously thought to have been left behind on the moon. Among them, was the 16mm data acquisition camera (DAC) used to film the famous footage of Armstrong's first step down the lunar module ladder and onto the moon's surface.

Twelve Hasselblad cameras are believed to be still on the lunar surface, left behind during the Apollo program between 1963 and 1972.

That is, of course, if they haven't yet been found. Could there be others in a former astronaut's cupboard?

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: