Hasselblad and DJI forms a strategic partnership

[torger]

http://press.hasselblad.com/press-releases/2015/2015-11-05_hasselblad_and_dji_form_strategic_partnership.aspx

The partnership seems kind of far fetched to me, but still I'm happy that it's a hip drone camera company rather than a luxury fashion brand...

[Theodoros]

http://press.hasselblad.com/press-releases/2015/2015-11-05_hasselblad_and_dji_form_strategic_partnership.aspx

The partnership seems kind of far fetched to me, but still I'm happy that it's a hip drone camera company rather than a luxury fashion brand...

I'm happy with this post... It's good to see a historic firm to secure survival, but also, it is great that the (obvious) web trolling that was suggesting for competitive companies to take control of it and was aiming to harm the company sales in favor to competition by creating a negative marketing image for Hassy, comes to an end...

My opinion is that there is technological reasoning behind this partnership, as both companies use imaging sensors and both should aim to have that (very important) aspect under full control... It seems to me that Leica's example of moving to exclusive for them sensors than sharing 3rd party technology with competition, both differentiates the product and pushes costs down... The later product decisions of Hasselblad seem to have an opposite direction than the previous (catastrophic to them) "closed" system policy, if they concentrate to advance imaging by offering products that use solutions that are exclusive to them, it shouldn't be long before they grow back to challenge competition for market leadership... good news.

[Paul2660]

I wish them the best.  I also am thankful in the US the National Park service had the foresight to outlaw all drone photography in all National parks.

Normally I welcome changes, as I did digital vrs film back in 1999, but personally I find drones totally obtrusive and feel they should only be used on a close shoot.  Professional or hobbies it doesn't matter.   They are loud, most photographers using them seem to go out of the way to go out of bounds with them.  In the US, it's amazing how many idiots are still using them in totally restricted airspace.  Not just airports, but in controlled airspace like where fire fighting is being done, and forcing the National Forest service to close all air operations.  Signs of the times. 
 
I know I am a voice in the wilderness, and won't be signing up for a 50MP drone with a 50c on it. 

Paul C

[Conner999]

Interesting - and love it w/Hassy's  start in aerial. With more and more players entering commodity drone market, larger, upsized more sophisticated drones by DJI for the high-end commercial and movie industry. More flexible and far less costly than helicopters with more flexibility and access due to size.

[Theodoros]

I think that there is a much wider picture than drones that one must look at as to judge the future of companies in imaging. Arri's new Alexa 65 was introduced earlier this year with a huge sensor of 2.1:1 ratio of over 52mm width, they converted the whole series of Hasselblad's lens line to adapt them for cinema as to have lenses up to the demands of the sensor, https://matthewduclos.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/arris-new-alexa-65-demands-medium-format-lenses/.

It seems that the pro marketing demands for hi-end motion and stills convergence as it has happened with the FF sensor DSLRs... Leica (again), seems to have understand this and they are the only MF maker that has hi quality video offered on their later products... The Sony MF Cmos sensor of 44x33mm size seems to have been designed with the ability to offer 8k (8192 rows) & 4k (4096 rows) cinema video using its full width, while if one uses a cropped version with its height for base, he'll find that it provides just the rows needed for 6K & 3K video... (no surprise here as Sony wouldn't deal with providing a sensor for MF stills as to have orders for only a few hundreds of them per month as the current MF market requires), yet none of the MF makers (yet) uses the same sensor for the purpose...

I believe that the future of the makers will highly depend on how well their products will cope with the convergence of technologies as the pro market requires... and surely this partnership looks to have all the background required so that both companies will expand to new offerings by using ones the others experience... DJI for Aerial stills and lenses and possibly cameras, Hasselblad as to access the know how to high quality video and both as to have exclusive sensors developed for their products.

[Joe Towner]

All those technology cross licensing agreements finally pay off for Hasselblad.  I wager that DJI is considering this as just a form of insurance against a patent fight with other vendors.  I wonder how a drone would handle the mirror slap of a H5x....

[JV]

It's good to see a historic firm to secure survival, but also, it is great that the (obvious) web trolling that was suggesting for competitive companies to take control of it and was aiming to harm the company sales in favor to competition by creating a negative marketing image for Hassy, comes to an end...

+1.  Hopefully this works out well for Hasselblad and hopefully this also leads to slightly more realistic prices for their next generation products.

[mi-fu]

i think Hasselblad desperately needs cash now.
this may be the opening scene of Hasselblad becoming a Chinese company.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I wonder how a drone would handle the mirror slap of a H5x....

Obviously no mirror required, since you cannot use the viewfinder. 

I'm not all that confident about the partnership aspect, I thought it was DJI who bought an undisclosed 'minority stake' in the shares of Hasselblad. So what did Hasselblad gain from that, other than some money?

Cheers,
Bart

[BobDavid]

Obviously no mirror required, since you cannot use the viewfinder. 

I'm not all that confident about the partnership aspect, I thought it was DJI who bought an undisclosed 'minority stake' in the shares of Hasselblad. So what did Hasselblad gain from that, other than some money?

Cheers,
Bart

... probably enough money to keep Hasselblad afloat long enough to make a comeback. Hasselblad Aero Cam + DJI drone may be a viable marriage.

[Ken R]

Is Hasselblad partnered with Fuji? I know that Fuji makes most of the H system lenses but do not know how deep is their involvement with Hasselblad.

Hasselblad can benefit a huge deal with Fuji given their great rack record designing and manufacturing the awesome X system. I can imagine a really nice and resonably priced medium format mirrorless system. That would be huge.

I firmly believe that the future of interchangeable lens camera systems is their distancing even further from the small sensor compacts and smartphones in terms of quality and capabilities but prices should be lower that what they are now. Hasselblad has lowered their prices somewhat but they still need to be lower to gain much needed traction in the marketplace.

Regarding DJi they obviously want to improve their on-board camera systems of their drones. They obviously got the design and tech of the flight and control systems down.

[Theodoros]

Is Hasselblad partnered with Fuji? I know that Fuji makes most of the H system lenses but do not know how deep is their involvement with Hasselblad.

Hasselblad can benefit a huge deal with Fuji given their great rack record designing and manufacturing the awesome X system. I can imagine a really nice and resonably priced medium format mirrorless system. That would be huge.

I firmly believe that the future of interchangeable lens camera systems is their distancing even further from the small sensor compacts and smartphones in terms of quality and capabilities but prices should be lower that what they are now. Hasselblad has lowered their prices somewhat but they still need to be lower to gain much needed traction in the marketplace.

Regarding DJi they obviously want to improve their on-board camera systems of their drones. They obviously got the design and tech of the flight and control systems down.

Up to now, i was thinking that MF mirrorless was pointless, since one could have an FF mirrorlsess instead and have nothing to be jealous of, other than more sensor size (at a price) and perhaps more resolution (who pays for res these days when he has plenty already with FF sensors?)... However, I can't stop thinking lately that:
 
1. An MF mirrorless (with a modarate sensor size - 33x44 or a little less), would be the perfect camera to use instead of MFDB on a mini view camera if combined with wider circle MF lenses
2. An MF mirrorless would be perfect for serious motion captures (where mirror box is completely useless)
3. An MF mirrorless would make the additional DSLR system advantages (size, portability) disappear...
4. An MF mirrorless could combine enough resolution for all needs, but combined with large enough pixels to perfectly cope with view cameras...

Yeah! I changed my mind! Who will ever need an MFDB if MF was mirrorless?

[Phil Indeblanc]

I was just pricing a Drone operator for a project and he uses a Red Epic on it.  I hope Blad doesn't bleed adapting.

[NickT]

Interesting - and love it w/Hassy's  start in aerial.

Just FYI Hasselblad have been in the aerial market for a long time and very successfully.

http://www.hasselblad.com/special-applications/a5d-aerial

[NickT]

hopefully this also leads to slightly more realistic prices for their next generation products.

How about an H5D40 plus 80mm for under 10K Euro?

http://www.hasselblad.com/products/h5d-40-lens-bundle-offer/

[JV]

How about an H5D40 plus 80mm for under 10K Euro?

http://www.hasselblad.com/products/h5d-40-lens-bundle-offer/

That is why I said "next generation products".  As long as those are priced close to $30K I concur with Kirsty MacCall: No way, José!