The Hasselblad D-FLASH 40 is a dedicated flash for Hasselblad cameras with automatic TTL/OTF flash control. The flash is connected directly to the TTL-connector on the camera body without any need for an adaptator. It is designed for the utmost simplicity in use as well as versatility and flexability for various lighting conditions, specially suited for an on-site news coverage and portraits. The circular all metareflector is ideal for the 6x6 square format, providing symetric illumination of the image without any additional needs.

The reflector can easily be adjusted for use with normal or wide angle lenses or removed entirely for "Bare Bulb" use, i.e. extreme wide-angle applications. The flash head can be tilted and swivelled for indirect lighting, and also tilted down for close-up work.

There are three different power supply alternatives available : 6 pcs 1.5v AA Alkaline batteries, corresponding rechargeable NiCd batteries or a rechargeable external power pack, availbale as accessory. The external power pack is mainly intended for demanding professional use, providing a large number of flashes and requiring a very short recharging interval between flashes.

Remarks :

D-Flash 40 is in fact made by Sunpack for Hasselblad. The quality of the light is very good and the TTL is a real advantage. But the quality is nethertheless not as high as with true Hasselblad accessories. A few problems emerged since I use it :

• The metallic shoe is clamped to flash plastic body with a large screw which went loose quite soon. The body shell was easily opened (4 screws) and the screw tightened again. Some varnish will help to block the screw.
• The tilting head of the flash is controlled step by step by a mechanism which went completely loose. Consequence, the head didn't stay any more in its position. Solution : I opened the flash head (being very carefull not to touch the condensators) and removed the mecanism. Nothing was broken and after retightening the different screws and blocking them, everything went back in order.

The only manual mode available with the flash is the use of the full power. The guide number calculations will be done with 40 in N position and 33 in W position.

The flash is made to connect on the top of a viewfinder prism. But it makes a big unstable edifice. The solution is the snap-lock flash grip which is much more confortable (in a quite impressive size).