A peek into the future for Hasselblad

[brian_walton]

For those who have not read this link in may be of interst.

 

http://digitalphotography.weblogsinc.com/entry/1234000957064522/

 

So long as somebody somewhere still makes 120 film (probably in India

within 10 years) I'm a happy chappy.

 

Brian

[disneyry]

I must confess that I did not read the entire article for which you posted the link. Even though...

 

"He showed some staggering sales graphs where film sales and digital sales made an almost perfect ?X?, with a 1-year 30% drop in V-System sales"

 

Of course they did. What does one digial back equal to the number of film backs? To the number of camera sets?

 

What they should be working on is a full frame back that fits their already (militantly) loyal fan base. A full frame digital back that fits on the 500 series bodies is an instant success.

 

The V-series is a classic with one overriding quality. IT'S MODULAR. Take advantage of that fact, quit being so blood-sucking that you would make everyone that would want to take advantage of the digital age abandon an already gold-standard brand/system.

[flying_tiger]

This is just lossy analogy and crappy article. Films have been around for over 100 years and will be around for many many years. For me, digital is just an immature technology which I have no fun using it. In one word, I could care less.

 

I hate to see every photography eventually becomes a robotic shooter of digital stuff, without much thinking before "shooting" the picture. Technology is not necessarily a good think, especially when it's immature and expensive (i.e. MF sensor). Forget about 35mm DSLR! Those are "toys" that cannot deliver the quality of 120 films.

 

Enough said. Keep shooting films and enjoy!

[rick s]

Bummer. But not surprising.

[gaius1]

What I find interesting is that 'blad don't seem to associate "V" and "digital"... but it's just a back. I doubt square-ness has fallen out of favour, so maybe manual focus has.

[Brian]

You're right. The marketing wizards have decreed that autofocus is a must-have, despite the fact that many of us don't want it and don't need it for our work. So they can't inherently conceptualize the sales paradigm for a non-autofocus camera.

[king_fung1]

Future for Hasselblad is to keep V system in production and make us full frame (6X6) digital back at reasonable prices. So a Hasselblad V user can shoot film (no battery needed) and digital (with battery of course) by means of changing backs. The mechanical design of the V system is really unbeatable that even in sub zero degree, the Hasselblad V can still fully function. No current digital camera, even the expensive EOS 1Ds Mk. II can do.

[tarashnat]

Brian,

 

There is an interesting link

 

http://digitalphotography.weblogsinc.com/entry/1234000957064522/

 

that has the following statement attributed to the Hasselblad CEO Poulsen.

 

"His final though was on sensor size: he doesn't think we'll ever see a "full frame" 645

camera, at least not from Hasselblad, because the expense of manufacturing a sensor that

large will probably never be justified by the minimal improvement in quality."

 

I posted this message in the following thread:

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00DF3H

and Q.G.'s response to it is quite interesting.

 

Taras

[king_fung1]

I urge everyone reading this link to go out and buy a brand new Hasselblad V camera/lens/film back from authorized dealer in your area so Hasselblad will have to continue to produce V system according to the increasing demand of the beloved V system.

[tony_estcourt]

I've had a serious think about digital recently and come to the conclusion that the sensor material isnt the problem for me. As mentioned abouve its (a) autofocus - a pain in the bum for landscape, (b) oblong formats - I really like the square © prism viewfinders and (d) zoom lenses - which I cant get along with.

 

The newer camera designs assume that we all need this stuff, which isnt true. I could live with the digital sensor but the doo-hickey add-ons get in the way of my photography, as witnessed by all the automatic SLR's Ive tried (and havent used sucessfully) over the years.

[tony_estcourt]

I forgot to include DoF scales on the lenses, an absolute essential for my landscape photography on MF and virtualy absent on the H1 (and many DSLR lenses).

[35mmdelux]

As long as there remain alot of cameras - and they number in the millions - someone seeking a profit will manufacture film.

[desmond_kidman]

Tony....I agree with you. I was saying the same thing. I hate oblong format....I need total manual operation....menus give me brain-lock. And they stole my depth of field markings!

 

But it's so hard to work in film these days when you need quick turnaround for ad or web that had to try 36 x 24 anyway. I quickly realized I could put in manual focus mode, manual exposure mode, mirror lock-up mode, and bought screens to mark for 4 x 5 and 6 x 6. And I use the mm markings on my RZ to calculate f-stop for DOF, I can use pencil markings on the focus ring of the 35mm lens the same way, like measuring movement of a standard of an LF camera. The learning curve sure was fast. Instant high-res proofs! Wow! Instant high-res feedback on lighting ratios, and changes in ratios of 1/3 f-stop!

 

We could argue quality levels all day long, argue "particular look of the medium", but the business world is a large driver in these expensive digital camera sales. When the dslr world can grab a medium/large format, manual focus, manual exposure, computer hating, menu loathing guy like me, watch out Mamiya, Hasselblad, and the rest. You better come up with something with REAL advantages over the 35mm dslr guys, or your day in the sun will very sadly.

 

Don't sell me on the advantages of film, I will be taking film cameras to Italy to continue work on a book. I'll be shooting 67 and 6x17. Yes, there will be niche companies making film for the millions of film cameras in the field. Film, chemicals, paper will all be available for a very long time. I'll use them, most folks on this forum will. But sustaining a large MF camera company is a lot harder than sustaining a little film company. I very much hope that Hasselblad and Mamiya can come up with something in time that will keep them around. Sadly, I find myself doubting this more and more.

[ilkka]

I would like them to make a digital back for the V series that looks as elegant as the one on H series. I cannot understand why a digital back manufacturer under same company ownership cannot design it so that it even remotely looks like it fits the system. Now it looks like it was made at the Lego factory a bit further south.

 

"I urge everyone reading this link to go out and buy a brand new Hasselblad V camera/lens/film back from authorized dealer..."

 

I did just that last year. And I would buy another if they would get a digital back the shape and size of A12 costing not more than five times as much. No need to be full frame either.

[q.g._de_bakker]

Ilkka,<br><br>They had just that in about 1996.<br>Hasselblad then used the Philips "full frame" 24x36 mm sensor in a project that should have resulted in a new digital camera. The camera never materialized, but they had a working digital back, consisting of the sensor with electronics crammed into a regular A12 back.<br><br>The project was summarily scrapped not soon after by the then new owners: investors looking for a quick profit, who thought digital was not the way to get that, not where the money would be. (Now would you like people like that manage your investment portfolio...? ;-))<br>Hasselblad, so they directed, should start building a modern 645 film* camera, similar to the 645s of other manufacturers, that did sell very well then.<br><br>* Note that, contrary to what many apparently believe, the H-System was not (!!!) intended to be 'digital'. Quite the contrary.

[j_robinson2]

Hasselblad pissed on its entire customer base when they came out with a 645 autofocus system. Why not a square system? That way you could still get the great 5x5 proofs for clients and just use a 645 back if you wanted the evil tiny rectangle photos.

 

50+ years of "The square was given directly from God" and then they do this!

[q.g._de_bakker]

J.<br><br>The first 645 Hasselblad appeared in 1956. So next year, it will be 50 years of "the choice is yours".<br><br>I know, the H-system no longer offers that choice. But do consider that the 645 auto-everything H-System came about because sales of 645 auto-everything machines then were good (see also all the other auto-everthing machines that appeared at the time), while sales of 'traditional' MF systems already left much to be desired.<br>So the choice was made by the "customer base". Your fellow photographers "pissed" on you.<br>