Hasselblad Discontinues V System

[mwmcbroom]

<p>I don't currently own a Hasselblad system, but I've always wanted one. A 501cm with a few lenses would make me plenty happy. But I'm curious, and I'm wondering if you folks who are very familiar with the V system cameras might have a better feel for used market prices. What do you think? Now that V system cameras and lenses have been officially discontinued, how do you think this will affect prices? Will they spike or dip? Short term vs. Long term trend?</p>

<p>I'm kinda hoping that what happened to Bronica after it was discontinued will happen to Hassy. Great Bronica outfits can be picked up often these days for a pittance. I know, I bought an ETRSi outfit a couple years ago for an unbelievably low price. Sure would be nice to fall into the same sort of deal with a 501cm. Hey, one can hope.</p>

 

[q.g._de_bakker]

A very short term, small rise, perhaps. Just in reaction to the news.<br>The long term is impossible to predict, but for now at least there is no sign of a shortage in the offing.<br><br>Hasselblads have been remarkably cheap for quite some time now. This news isn't that surprising, doesn't affect many people's buying decisions: there weren't many who wanted to buy new (and would now perhaps have to buy used), and those who didn't were fishing in the (very well stocked) pond already.<br>They're more expensive, perhaps, than Mamiya 67 models (though i still haven't managed to find a nice RB or RZ for as little money as people report they got one for. My luck.) or a Bronica. But still: cheap enough for consideration.<br>Some items (503 CW, 30 and 40 mm lenses, SWC, and such) still go for lots of money. But with patience (and a bit of luck), even those you should be able to find for not much.

[donbright]

<p>I took the opportunity to handle an H system camera at a Calumet store once. It's overall feel of instilled quality fits the Hasselblad standard that we've all long appreciated. What is sad to me is this sense that we're moving to perhaps a slippery slope downward in craftsmanship by allowing, or moving on from the amazing, tremendous concept of a fully mechanical picture taking machine. I suppose we could argue over what a machine is, but to me the marvel of the, 'V' fully mechanical camera is so akin to a fine mechanical watch. Mechanical watches are still made. Their expensive, but having one is more about the marveling over a high level of craftsmanship that is kind of like a strut, kind of like, hey this is what we can do. I'm not comfortable with this move by Hasselblad stopping the, 'V'. I hope they re-think this, and set aside some time for limited production releases, very small, whatever it takes for them to hold on to the DNA. It should be a concern.</p>

[benny_spinoza]

<p><em>I hope they re-think this, and set aside some time for limited production releases, very small, whatever it takes for them to hold on to the DNA. It should be a concern. </em>Maybe many decades from now, Voigtlander will make a batch of Hasselblad copies. Hey, they did it with the recent Fuji folder! Retro is in.</p>

[mwmcbroom]

<blockquote>

<p>I'm not comfortable with this move by Hasselblad stopping the, 'V'. I hope they re-think this, and set aside some time for limited production releases, very small, whatever it takes for them to hold on to the DNA. It should be a concern.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Yes, I suppose one can hope. You know, Hassie did have their "Classic" offerings for a while. Perhaps they might rethink things and re-introduce their Classics. Say, limited, commemorative editions, or some such. Priced at a premium, no doubt, but there may be enough takers to keep the mechanical Hassies alive.</p>

 

[q.g._de_bakker]

Don't count on it.<br><br>It would take keeping all the moulds, machinery, jigs and tools, plus the know-how concerning how to set them up and use them. If they would do that, they might as well (perhaps even need to) do a short production run every year and create a supply for the little demand left. And that's what they now say they stop doing.<br><br>I think we will see lots more of the Hasselblad-Sony partnership. The Lunacy we were shown last Photokina was just a beginning. The rich consumer market, attracted by bling rather than quality, apparently is where they see future growth.<br>The worrying thing is whether they risk the entire company, including the H-System, following that path. I don't think it implausible that before long (if not already), Hasselblad will be taken over by Sony entirely.<br>And as the Lunacy demonstrated, Sony is only interested in the brand as a way to boost the selling price of their consumer products. And Hasselblad (as also shown by the Lunacy) clearly isn't interested in building professional cameras, any cameras, anymore. They are just looking for a way to turn the brand name into cash.<br><br>Hasselblad now discontinued the V System. But the Hasselblad company has died quite some time ago already.<br>It's just that we perhaps didn't get a strong enough whiff of the smell of decomposition yet. Not, that is, until the Photokina Lunacy blew it straight into our faces, for noone to miss. And with the announced end of the V System it's getting even stronger<br><br>So don't count on it.

[benny_spinoza]

<p><em>Don't count on it.</em><br>

I wasn't being serious when opining that Voigtlander may someday bring back a Hasselblad copy. And I agree with you, Q.G., that we have seen the end of Hasselblad V. And yes, the Lunacy is a big disappointment. In some ways, Fuji with their X-mount cameras is filling a need for photographers that want a "film" feel to their cameras, but can't economically justify a digital medium format system. And except for the high-end digital photographer with actual paying clients, who really needs a digital medium format system? And Hasselblad must compete with PhaseOne, which has both great hardware <em>and</em> software products. Times they are a changing.</p>

[User_502260]

I have Bronica ETR, SQ and GS series cameras and lenses and enjoy using them. They were all bought after prices fell. This spring I have been using a 50/4.5 PG to shoot the blooming trees. With Ektar 100 a grainless 8X10 is a snap and a grainless 11X14 is just about as good. I am waiting for a 150/3.5 S lens I bought from an eBay seller for $87.50. It will go along with the 150/4 PS and will be used when the light isn't quite as good. Even at current prices Hasselblad equipment costs a lot more. I'm sure the Hassebad equipment is better in some ways but I would have to make a very large rectangular standard size print to see a better result from a Hasselblad then I get from the GS-1. Color print film choices are getting limited in 120. As long as Ektar 100 and the Portra films remain in production I can't complain. Still, it would be nice to have some less expensive stock like Fuji CN or Kodacolor 200 or the Agfa films. In b&w I still miss Panatomic-X, Plus-X and Verichrome Pan. These are the films I used in my High School and college Yashicamat 124G days. Back then I couldn't imagine having eight Bronica medium format SLRs and twenty-two lenses to go with them. My medium format cup runneth over.

[jeffrypittman]

I think it is sad news. While the cameras in circulation will last many years (no doubt beyond most of our lifetimes), future

generations will not have the option to experience these remarkable cameras and the perfection of Hasselblad

engineering.

[q.g._de_bakker]

[server thing]

[q.g._de_bakker]

They will, Jeff, just like we can still enjoy many old and long discontinued cameras today.<br>Things change when we get to all electronic cameras. An H4D, for instance, or a pimped Nex-7, will not be any good in 10-15 years from now. But would that be such a bad thing?

[fotografz]

<blockquote>

<p>And except for the high-end digital photographer with actual paying clients, who really needs a digital medium format system? And Hasselblad must compete with PhaseOne, which has both great hardware <em >and</em> software products. Times they are a changing.</p>

</blockquote>

<p> Need and want are two different things. For many of the reasons people wanted a MF film camera, they want a MFD camera. Price has always been the barrier to MFD, but there are more categories of photography than "high-end" work for paying clients. PhaseOne has openly acknowledged the importance of the advanced amateur for their sales successes. Hasselblad H still remains viable in this area also, and <em>still</em> produces a far better camera than the Phamamiya. The new H5 is quite a machine, where the much anticipated PhaseOne replacement is still vaporware. Not to mention Leica which surpassed their sales expectations with the dual shutter S system.<br>

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Hasselblad may seem to be making bone-headed moves, but I do not think suspending the V system is one of them. It was sapping resources to preserve the past at a time that their main competition is relentlessly intent on the future, and isn't dedicated to carrying any baggage forward ... like the AFi they acquired with the take-over of Leaf.<br>

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The Hasselblad Lunar is a totally different kettle of stinking fish ... but I'd bet they sell more of them than they did the 503CWs in the past few years ... and at a better profit margin if they retain the proposed luxury price point. However, the Lunar is also still vaporware ... existing only in marketing materials since its announcement in September 2012 ... since then the Sony NEX-7, on which the Lunar is based, has taken a $250 price reduction as demand wanes in the face of newer competition in that category of camera. <br>

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[q.g._de_bakker]

Just to clarify: in <i>"like the AFi they acquired with the take-over of Leaf."</i>, "they" is PhaseOne.<br><br>People with more money than sense, or so much money that sense it all doesn't matter any more, could have their Lunatic camera in the trim of their choice next month. The worrying thing is that Hony/Sasselblad haven't thought the reception their Lunacy got a reason to stop and rethink. They persist in this madness, as if they really do believe that we are all wrong, don't understand - as they actually said we did not - their brilliant idea.<br>Will they sell a few? Sure. More than they sold 503 CWs last year? I doubt it.

[donbright]

<p>Maybe this Austerity period in the world that we're in is partly to blame. There is an attitude that goes with it. Seeing the V go also isn't a matter of, you don't know what you've got til its gone. When you think of what that camera is, it's just a marvel. When I get mine back, I'll dig this thread up again and announce it. Some may say, What's the big deal anyway? Well, maybe the world of pictures won't be affected, but I think a Mechanical Hasselblad with a couple of lenses, in a small pack with a few rolls of film in it sets a tone of thinking how one goes about picture taking. There's a rawness about it that is a welcome change up, there's nothing like it. Yeah, I know I've got GAS over the Hasselblad. At least its a healthy one.</p>

[theodoros_fotometria]

<p>Well... the old fashion tradition is to choose a camera system because of its lenses the camera being nothing more than a "black box"... and I can use all the V-lenses (or the F ones) on my Contax 645 easy (not to mention the CZ Jena lenses of the Exakta 66 and the Schneider ones for the same mount)... additionally to the superb dedicated ones! So, I guess all the C645 users (and the Mamyia AFD ones), can be considered as Hasselblad V owners too... only they are using a ...BETTER "black-box". Just my two cents... </p>

[q.g._de_bakker]

Well... i don't agree Theodorus: the black box is at least as important as the lenses. All a lens can do is project an image. The rest, including making sure that the best use is made of what a lens does, is up to that black box<br>You too don't agree that the camera would be nothing more than a "black box", else you would not think a Mamiya or Contax black box a "BETTER" black box.<br>Old fashioned people, whose way it would be to choose a camera system because of its lenses, don't agree either. There were two brands, three camera systems, that could be used with the very same lenses. Yet they did not sell equally well.<br><br>And i don't agree either that the Contax 645 or a Mamiya AFD would be a better black box. Wouldn't know what they have, or do, or are that would qualify as better.<br><br>Anyway - (and this is what i wanted to ask you) what's the point of pointing out that you could use V System lenses on a discontinued camera system?

[theodoros_fotometria]

<p>Hi, the answer to your last question is simply that I could save the most part of my investment (i.e. my lenses) and still be able to use a multishot digital back, have focus confirmation, have all that glass and double or triple that in amount as far as choice is concerned, use as much film as there is stock, ...and have 10 times more customers waiting in the line (at considerably better prices with respect to the investment for the "black box") ...for whenever I want to make alterations in my system! ...in other words to <em>"keep a much better value" </em>for my system, "<em>without sacrificing a bit from its image quality".</em> Let's face it, the V, is the only camera that became famous, while the maker didn't ever provide a single quality lens... In fact, all that maker was ever advertising is that he was chosen (obviously because of the mechanical shutter and the Zeiss lenses) to ...."go to the moon". Well, now he can make a Luna camera and ask 10 times the price of a Nex... because (he thinks) that <em>he can...</em> In the mean time, they can look for a ...6th investor to save them in the last 10 years and still never made more than "black boxes"... since Fuji is making the glass for them. Regards, Theodoros </p>

[User_502260]

<p>Typo! "than I get from..."</p>