Will Hasselblad cease all production and selling of V system?

[king_fung1]

Hasselblad has ceased production of all its 200 series cameras and

the 501CM, so are many of the accessory for V system, on the other

hand, new Hasselblad lens promised by Zeiss has never come out to

the marker. Will Hasselblad cease all production and selling of V

system in the near future and only concentrate on the selling the

Fuji-made H system?

[donald_ingram1]

I hope not !

 

But after waiting for 5 years, I'm starting to give up hope of seeing a 503CW upgrade with

a " +/o/- " exposure meter onboard. The lack of value for money prevented be buying a

200 series body. ... plus knowing that ..

A meter could be done with about $10 worth of electronics - a PIC processor and a few

LEDs. PIC development is so simple, even I could give Hasselblad a working in a month.

Likewise, the mechanical side can't be that difficult for Hasselblad to sort out.

 

If Hasselblad cannot commit to such simple development - new V series demand will fill

fade away. I'm never going to buy a H series - Zeiss Lenses, 6x6 and NPH is why I continue

to use my hassy.

 

PS: If there is any hasselblad repairman who would like to cooperate in the mechanical-

optical issues of retrofitting a meter into a 500 body, I'm willing to stand by the claim of

supplying the meter electronics.

[gr82bart]

No.

 

They so far appear committed to the H1 and the 503CW.

[roland_haid]

Hasselblad will produce the 503CW as long the market wants this camera. As it is hand assembled and fairly simple (but precise), there isn't a big economy of scale. It will remain (together with the 905CM) the only camera of the V-System in the future. I think, the accessories list will be shorter, but there is already a big used market for this. In principle, Zeiss need staedy orders from Hasselblad, but as the lens line is already outsourced to Prontor (Zeiss subsidiary), IMO, they can produce on limited scale for a longer time.

 

A metered 503CW would be nice to have, yes the electronics are there and are cheap. But, the lens has to be fully coupled to the body. For the aperture coupling, we have the CFE-lens, but there is no shutter coupling yet. The mechanical Prontor shutter has no device to wire the shutter times to the body. Without this there is no effective metering possible. All would bring the cam to a 60'ies 35mm SLR. Second, the changes in shutter, machining the body for the LCD would make the camera an the lens even more expensive, which is not a good idea today.

 

For most professionals, this is not an issue, not in the studio with controlled light, not on location where it is much more conventiant to meter with an external meter, if you work with a tripod. Remember that professionals will bracket anyway. For amateurs, like me, a 505CE would be great. It will not come.

[gr82bart]

All you need is the PME90 or PME45 prism to use the metering capabilities of the 503CW. The lens doesn't matter.

[q.g._de_bakker]

<i>"[...] these models [V System] all have low volumes and therefore are potentially risking to be discontinued. However no time schedule for this possible case has been set [...]" </i><br><br>That was in december last year.<br><br>Meanwhile, the recent (june 2005) Hasselblad Masters (advertising) campaign's call for candidates produced this little gem:<br><br><i>"[...] As part of this drive, the Hasselblad Masters project is being profiled to reflect current interests."</i><br><br>Note that "current interests" bit.<br><br><i>"In practice this means we would be inviting images produced by H system users, particularly H camera and Hasselblad Ixpress digital back combinations."</i><br><br>There we have it: only H-system is "current interest", and only photography 'perpetrated' using H1 cameras and digital backs will be considered deserving the title "Hasselblad Master".<br><br>In short: the end is nigh...

[donald_ingram1]

Roland,

 

>> For the aperture coupling, we have the CFE-lens, but there is no shutter coupling yet.

The mechanical Prontor shutter has no device to wire the shutter times to the body

 

Thanks for this info. I had assumed there was a encoder to pass back both aperture and

shutter information back to the 200 bodies. As E12 backs have also been discontinued,

there is clearly nothing in the works.

 

As Art suggests, the only meter possible would have to work as a integrated MPE style EV

readout. This might have been enough 3 or 4 years ago, but I guess the corporate

strategists wanted to push for lower manufacturing cost / high profit margins ( H1 ) and to

clear out excess old Inventory ( 203/205 ).

[michael_j._kravit1]

A meter is not really a must have for a MF camera. I own a Hasselblad 905 SWC and a Flexbody. neither of which have integral meters. When in doubt I use a handheld meter, but most times I just go by experience and bracket.

 

I really hope that the V-System hangs around for a while and would love to see a 503 AF be developed parallel with the H series. Although I don't see that happening because digital backs such as the P25 take advantage of the 645 format.

[w_r]

I worry less about Hassies, they obviously won't be expanding the V line - fortunately, the V bodies will last a long time. I'm more worried about film production stopping. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Kodak was ceasing BW paper production at the end of this year ...and then the WSJ article mentioned that it was in Kodak's long range plan to cease film production sometime in the future. Of course, no timelines were given and you can't believe everything you read. But still, I want film to be around for 20 years to be used in my Hassie. My prediction, in 10 years, Hasselblad won't be making V series anymore.

[raymond_tai]

Hasselblad isn't going to invest anymore R&D into the V serie so this is really the end of the line. Also exotic glass with lead is no longer available and recomputation of lenses using this glass isn't practical. Even Zeiss admits the 905 isn't as good in the center compared to leaded SWC versions. The high Euro isn't helping new camera sales given used prices are low due to pros going digital. I don't see a business reason for the V series to survive. Certainly if I owned shares in Hasselblad or Shriro I would want to see the H series succeed given this is Hasselblad's future.

[q.g._de_bakker]

I would even want to see them produce a Hasselblad '35 mm' digital camera, packed full with Imacon technology, to compete with (and take market share away from) Canon and Nikon.<br>Like the ones Kodak sold for a while, they could be made to take Canon and Nikon lenses. Or Fuji lenses, of course.<br><br>That's where all the money is going to right now, so it would make sense to 'get in there', and be quick about it. It's not like they do not have the technology already (Imacon. Fuji partnership can provide the body), is it?<br><br>And for starters, a full frame (!) digital version of the X-Pan might be a good thing too.<br><br>Who knows... We'll see what the future holds, when it gets here. ;-)

[ed_jack]

A digital X-pan would be a real Gem, but as Leica is strugling to make a normal frame M-serries range finder, don't expect this hurdle (namely large inclident to sensor light angle leading to CA/vignetting), which is larger for the X-pan to be overcome quicker.

Yes I know epsom have a working range finder, but it has lots of problems, not to mention a small sensor!

I suspect that 35mm film will be discontinued BEFORE 120 roll film, as this will be hte preserve of the loyal quality seeking MF shooters, who can not afford their digital backs (Yet)! So in this sense, the X-pan might be the most endangered - unless ofcourse you don't mind developing you own film.

 

Ed

[q.g._de_bakker]

Now that you mention Leica, the Leica Digital-Modul-R shows that Hasselcon/Imablad has all they need to make a 35 mm camera go digital.<br>So all they need to find is a body. ;-)

[gr82bart]

"I suspect that 35mm film will be discontinued BEFORE 120 roll film"

 

Film is not going to be discontinued people. Let's stop the mongering.

 

Art.