Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Hasselblad 501CM

Hasselblad · Hasselblad V mount · 6×6cm on 120 (12 exposures with the A12; 220 via the A24). 6×4.5 by A16 magazine or by the format masks the 501CM/503CW manual describes, which also give a 6×3cm panoramic frame without changing the back. · 1997

Also known as: Hasselblad 501CM · Hasselblad 501 CM · Hasselblad 501C/M · Hasselblad 501 C/M · 501CM · 501 CM · ハッセルブラッド 501CM · Hasselblad 501CM kit · Hasselblad 501CM 80mm CB · Hasselblad 501CM 80mm CFE

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
501CM chrome Hasselblad V 1997–2005 — —
501CM black Hasselblad V 1997–2005 — —
  1. Years from Hasselblad Historical's V-system model table (HSTable), which agrees with Hasselblad's 500-series history page and camera-wiki on 1997–2005.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • '501CM' engraved on the front plate; the earlier 501C says '501C' and is black only
  • Wide, flat shutter-release button of the type introduced on the 501C and 503CXi, with a threaded cable-release socket beside it
  • No winder coupling on the right side of the body and no TTL/OTF flash connector — the quickest way to tell a 501CM from a 503CW of the same year
  • Gliding Mirror System inside: with a 150mm or longer lens the top of the screen image is not cut off, as it is on a 500C/M or 501C
  • Acute-Matte D screen as standard, changeable by the user
  • Chrome or black; the black kit ships with a black folding hood (42323), the chrome kit with a chrome one (42115)

501CM chrome:

  • Satin-chrome trim with black leatherette; '501CM' on the front nameplate
  • Hasselblad product number 10238 in the 501CM/503CW manual's parts list; supplied with the chrome folding focusing hood 42115
  • No winder coupling on the body side and no TTL/OTF flash socket — the two visible differences from a chrome 503CW

501CM black:

  • Black-finished body; '501CM' on the front nameplate
  • Hasselblad product number 10240 in the manual's parts list; supplied with the black folding focusing hood 42323 in place of the chrome 42115

Serial-range notes

two-letter date code with numeric prefix, e.g. 10EU… (1997) to 10SC… (2005)
Hasselblad bodies carry a two-letter year code read with VHPICTURES (V=1 H=2 P=3 I=4 C=5 T=6 U=7 R=8 E=9 S=0), so EU = 1997, ER = 1998, EE = 1999, SS = 2000, SV = 2001, SH = 2002, SP = 2003, SI = 2004 and SC = 2005. From 1990 a numeric product prefix precedes the letters; Hasselblad Historical says it is for factory records only. Dealer-listed 501CM bodies show numbers such as 10SP29657 and 10SP28845 — prefix 10, made 2003.

Specifications

Format
6×6cm on 120 (12 exposures with the A12; 220 via the A24). 6×4.5 by A16 magazine or by the format masks the 501CM/503CW manual describes, which also give a 6×3cm panoramic frame without changing the back.
Finder
waist-level, interchangeable (prism and meter-prism finders available)
Shutter
none in body — auxiliary rear flaps; exposure by the lens leaf shutter · 1s–1/500 and B, set on the lens (Prontor CF/CFi/CFE/CB or Synchro-Compur C) · flash sync all speeds (leaf shutter) · no self-timer
Film advance
Crank on the body right side, cocking shutter and mirror and advancing the film in the magazine; the manual reserves the detachable crank for the 503CW
Back
interchangeable magazines — A12, A16, A24, A16S, 70mm, Polaroid; format masks for 6×4.5 and 6×3 panoramic
Meter
None built in; metering only via a meter prism (PME series) or a hand-held meter
Motor drive
Not compatible — No winder coupling: the 501CM/503CW instruction manual marks the Winder CW as "503CW seulement", and Hasselblad Historical files the 501 series apart from the 503s on exactly this point.
Weight
590 g
Dimensions
180 × 114 × 110 with folding hood, Planar CFE 80mm and A12 magazine (Hasselblad brochure); body-only dimensions not published mm
Country
Sweden
Original price
US$2,695.00 for the kit (body, 80mm Planar, A12) in a 1998 Calumet catalogue and $2,895 at B&H in December 2000, both as quoted by forum members recalling the period; in Britain, Robert White listed the body alone at £829 plus VAT in 2001. No Hasselblad list price has been located. (today $5,190)
Accessories
A12, A16, A24, A16S and 70mm magazines; Polaroid backs · Format masks for 6×4.5 and 6×3 panoramic frames · Acute-Matte D focusing screens (42215 standard; grid and split-image types) · PM45, PME45, PM90 and PME90 prism finders; the PME types carry the only metering available · Flash quick-coupling grip 45169 · Multi-Control rear protective cover 51070 · Teleconverter 1.4XE and PC-Mutar 1.4× shift converter · Not compatible: Winder CW (503CW only)

Folding focusing hood with a 4.5× magnifier over a user-changeable Acute-Matte D screen (part 42215 in the manual). The Gliding Mirror System, taken from the 503CW of 1996, gives a full finder image with long lenses — above 100mm per Hasselblad Historical, above 150mm per German Wikipedia.

Where sources disagree

Film advance (detachable crank)
  • Fixed on the 501CM — the 501CM/503CW instruction manual heads the crank-removal section 'Manivelle d'armement (503CW seulement)' and lists the crank locating mark as 503CW only; the 501CM kit contents omit the 44086 Winding Crank E that the 503CW kit includes
  • Removable — Jo Geier's V-system guide says the 501CM's crank 'can now be swapped again', and Matt Osborne (mrleica.com) lists a removable wind knob as a 501CM difference from the 501C

Better supported: Fixed, per the factory manual

Hasselblad Historical's table lists the non-detachable crank against the 501C and says nothing either way for the 501CM.

Weight (grams)
  • 590 g body only — Hasselblad's 501CM brochure/specification sheet
  • 521 g — Kamerastore's weight for one listed 501CM body

Better supported: 590 g

The brochure figure is the manufacturer's and presumably includes the focusing hood; a dealer's scale reading for one example is not a specification.

Gliding Mirror System threshold
  • No finder vignetting with focal lengths over 100mm — Hasselblad Historical model table
  • No finder vignetting with focal lengths over 150mm — German Wikipedia

Both describe the same mechanism; they differ on where cut-off began on the older mirror.

Kit lens
  • Planar 80mm f/2.8 'new C' T* (the 501C's lens, no F setting) at launch, then the CB Planar, then the CFE Planar after 2000 — Jo Geier; Kamerastore likewise has it paired with the 80mm Planar New C at release
  • Planar CFE 2.8/80 — Hasselblad's own 501CM brochure and the 501CM/503CW manual, both of which post-date the CB line

Hasselblad Historical's table says only 'available as a kit or standalone body'. No dated Hasselblad price list has been found to fix when the kit lens changed.

What reviewers say

History

The 501CM is the second and last of Hasselblad’s 501 bodies, and the shape of it is set by the model it replaced. The 501C of 1994 had been the entry to the V system: Hasselblad Historical’s model table has it “only available as a kit, with 80 mm C-Planar”, black only, with a new wide shutter-release button and the Acute-Matte D screen, but without the body-ready indicator and with a winding crank that could not be taken off. Camera-wiki lists the lens that came with it as a “late C” Planar 80mm f/2.8 — a Synchro-Compur lens made again in the mid-1990s, which Jo Geier notes has no F setting and so cannot be used open-shutter on the 2000/200-series focal-plane bodies. The 501C was cheap by Hasselblad standards and the mirror inside it was the 1957 geometry, which cuts off the top of the screen image with long lenses.

What changed in 1997 was that mirror. The 503CW of 1996 had introduced the Gliding Mirror System, a longer mirror that lifts on a sliding path rather than swinging about a fixed hinge, so that the finder shows the whole frame with any lens in the line; Japanese Wikipedia describes the 501CM’s mirror as “a little longer” and moving “in a scooping motion”, with the cut-off reduced accordingly. Hasselblad’s own history page puts it in one sentence — the 501CM “improved upon the 501C, using the new mirror design of the 503CW” — and Hasselblad Historical’s table gives the same delta, adding that the camera was sold as a kit or as a standalone body, in chrome or black. Where the older mirror began to vignette is stated two ways: above 100mm per Hasselblad Historical, above 150mm per German Wikipedia. The 501CM/503CW instruction manual also credits both bodies with format masks giving 6×4.5cm and a 6×3cm panoramic frame without changing the magazine.

What did not change is what separates the 501CM from the 503CW it shares a manual with. The 501CM has no TTL/OTF flash electronics and no coupling for the Winder CW, which the manual labels “503CW seulement” at every mention. The same manual settles a smaller point that the web has wrong more often than right: the section on removing the winding crank is headed “503CW seulement”, the crank locating mark on the body is listed as 503CW only, and the 503CW kit contents include a 44086 Winding Crank E where the 501CM’s do not. Jo Geier’s guide and Matt Osborne both say the 501CM’s crank became removable again; the factory document says it did not. The parts diagram shows no body-ready signal window on either camera. Product numbers were 10238 for the chrome body and 10240 for the black, each delivered with the Acute-Matte D screen 42215, a strap, a front cap and the Multi-Control rear cover 51070; the black body took the black folding hood 42323 instead of the chrome 42115.

The kit lens is the part of the record that moved. Jo Geier has the camera launched in chrome only, with black following by the end of 1997, and supplied first with the 501C’s “new C” Planar, then with the six-element CB Planar T* 2.8/80 — whose Zeiss data sheet gives 6 elements in 5 groups in a Prontor CB shutter — and after 2000 with the seven-element Planar T* 2.8/80 CFE (7 elements, 5 groups, cat. no. 10 22 11). Kamerastore’s description likewise has the camera paired with the 80mm Planar New C at release. Hasselblad’s own brochure and the 501CM/503CW manual, both later documents, show only the CFE lens and quote 590g for the body, 1565g and 180 × 114 × 110mm for the kit with hood and A12. No dated Hasselblad price list has been found to fix when each change happened; forum members recall the kit at $2,695 (USD) in a 1998 Calumet catalogue and $2,895 at B&H in December 2000, and the body alone at £829 plus VAT from Robert White in 2001.

Dating an individual body is straightforward. Every Hasselblad body carries a two-letter year code read with VHPICTURES, as Q.G. de Bakker’s page on Hasselblad Historical explains, so a 501CM will read EU (1997) through SC (2005), preceded from 1990 by a numeric product prefix that Hasselblad kept for its own records; dealer-listed examples read 10SP29657 and 10SP28845, both 2003. Production ended in 2005 per Hasselblad Historical and Hasselblad’s history page, after which the 503CW carried the V system alone until 29 April 2013.

What remains open: whether the shutter-release lock that the 501C dropped came back on the 501CM (the manual describes a pre-release button and a cable socket but no lock); how many were built in each finish, for which no source gives a figure; the exact dates of the New C → CB → CFE kit changes; and whether any American list price, as opposed to dealer pricing, was ever published for the body alone. Nordin’s Compendium presumably resolves some of this and has not been consulted here.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Hasselblad 501CM
Hasselblad 501CM with the CFE 80mm — Dmitry Makeev, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $3,600 across 14 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $2,700–$4,200). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $3,600.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$3,600$2,700–$4,20014
2026-09-06$3,600$2,700–$4,20014

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 18 more listings

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Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Hasselblad 500 Classic · Hasselblad 500C/M · Hasselblad 501C · Hasselblad 503CW · Hasselblad 503CXi · Hasselblad 555ELD

Lenses for this body: Distagon 50mm f/4 · Distagon 60mm f/3.5 · Makro-Planar 120mm f/4 · Planar 80mm f/2.8 · Sonnar 150mm f/4 · Sonnar 180mm f/4 · Sonnar 250mm f/5.6 · Sonnar Superachromat 250mm f/5.6 · Tele-Apotessar 500mm f/8 · Tele-Superachromat 350mm f/5.6 IF · Tele-Tessar 350mm f/5.6 · Tessar 160mm f/4.8

Sources (19)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.