Hacking a Blad 500 EL

[jstuedle]

I recently came across a deal on a Blad outfit, this was the topic of a thread in the equipment forum. I also won a Blad 500EL on ePay that seemed to work well. I was a little concerned about battery availability. So, I took the battery box/motor housing off and applied a hack saw "(gasp)" to it, and installed a 4 cell AA battery pack. The connector I used will also let me use a 9 volt battery instead of the 4 cell pack. It works super, and still charges with the standard charger. The standard battery is still usable if you so desire. If anyone is interested, and maybe a little crazy I can walk you through it. I only had the nerve to try it because the 43 year old camera was very inexpensive. In a couple hours and with a hack saw, Dremel, and a steady hand you can use AA penlight batteries in your EL.

P.S. I posted this here as I was afraid someone trolling trolling through might see this and ruin a perfectly good camera. If it should be moved, please feel free to do so.

 

[terri]

John, that's amazing. We might could move this over to the Collector's forum, where this kind of modification would be appreciated by other collectors and users of gorgeous classic cameras. Your call, just tell me what to do.

 

[jstuedle]

John, that's amazing. We might could move this over to the Collector's forum, where this kind of modification would be appreciated by other collectors and users of gorgeous classic cameras. Your call, just tell me what to do.

That would be fine Terri. (And thanks for the complement.)

 

[terri]

No problem.

 

[Mitica100]

Excellent job, John!! I also modified my ELM to take a 9V battery. I made an adapter from PVC pipe to which I added two metal caps and wired them to a 9V battery. Works well.

 

[usayit]

Awe man.. I passed up a good deal on a 500 EL a few months ago because it didn't come with batteries. Shucks... Now I am really really tempted.

Thanks for the info.