Does anyone know what Hasselblad is up to?

[henrikfoto]

"The only thing I expect from the company is to stay in business for a long time to keep my equipment working."


This is the biggest worry! Is Hasselblad allive in 3 years?
If nothing new comes up, I think not..

Henrik

[design_freak]

Hmmm,
I would like to remind once again that it is not equipment, photographers take pictures.
When it comes to free time, it depends on many factors: 
- The level of organization of the time
- Are you an "artist" photographer, or just a "craftsman" photographer

[Bernd B.]

If you want to buy a new 645 system, you can either buy a P1 / Mamiya or a Hasselblad. So it is 50/50.

The body of the P1 / Mamiya is crap. The weak point is the finder. The prism. You can design new generations of focusing screens every three years, but the finder stays what it is. There seems to be no money for a redesign of the prism. There does not even seem to be any awareness of the problem (I can even hear you say: "No, no, the finder is GREAT!")

I appreciate the new Schneider lenses with the new leaf shutters, but with my H3D I had a leaf shutter in every lens, from the moment I bought it. I don´t have to worry, if the very lens I need for the job happens to have a leaf shutter or not. Many of the pictures I did during the last 4 1/2 years (for example a businessman in the midday sunlight), I could not have done with a focal plane shutter.

So WHY should Hasselblad not be there any more? And why do YOU worry?

Best,

Bernd

[chaosphere]

Bernd, you're so right... all those speculations about the health of Hasselblad  ... while some are asking questions about the futur of the company, others are taking photos and are working on their art, their business, thinking about how to build their career or improve their technic. You can do professional pictures with every already Hasselblad existing equipment, so why waiting the next business plan ?

I've read someone who told "there is no pro using all Hassy equipement"... hum hum... should see what Jarvis, Grecco, Napolitano can do just with the "kit".
The only thing that makes me dream, is bigger sensor size, not pixels. What about a 6*7 or 6*6 sensors... with 0,9µ pixels That's the true futur of MFD !
 

[Cineski]

I gotta admit, only here will you find photographers bickering and mad because the price of a camera came down.     That said, I do believe Hassy and Phase may be having issues because the photography market is not exactly doing stellar right now and from what I understand of others in the mid-high end commercial market, there's more photographers using 35mm equipment then ever before.  And why not?  If photo budgets are plummeting, are photographers as a whole really wanting to spend $50k on a MF system?  And have you seen the quality of some ad campaigns of late?  It's like society's expectation of quality has plummeted.  What Hassy has done poorly from my point of view is to close the system off so severely to other manufacturers.  Even with the H4, at least they brought film back into the mix (yes, there are many photogs still shooting film) and outside backs but you can't use Hassy backs on it from what I understand?  I want MF to do extremely well but I believe they need to stay extremely competitive and come up with some innovations and stop with the closed design games.  Hassy might also be smart to get into the high end 35mm range finder game and target the Leica market.  Another issue to fight is the dumbing down of consumers driving the viewpoint that the D800 is a MF killer.  I mean really, how many times have you heard that phrase in the past few years.  It's like consumers are so wanting MF to do off because it makes them get that shiver up their leg that their camera is better than what the top pros use  .

[sbernthal]

The body of the P1 / Mamiya is crap. The weak point is the finder. The prism.

Can you please tell me what is the problem with the Mamiya 645 viewfinder+prism?

I own this body for a few years and I didn't know there was a problem.
Is it that it's not big enough?

[shadowblade]

I'm just hoping for a medium-format panoramic body with some ultra-ultra-wide tilt-shift lenses to match, and live view capability! Something along the lines of a digital X-pan would be nice.

[Kagetsu]

Can you please tell me what is the problem with the Mamiya 645 viewfinder+prism?

I own this body for a few years and I didn't know there was a problem.
Is it that it's not big enough?

I can't say what Sbernthal says, but I use the DF, and have to say there are a few things I have issues with, in regards to the view finder.

First and foremost is the focus circle in the middle. I have been using it for a year, and it just doesn't accurately portray where the focal point is exactly... Sure in the middle but it's sloppy, and doesn't allow me to be precise.
The Prism is a little disappointing. When you make the switch from cropped to full frame, and then full frame to MF, you expect the image to be a little larger and crisper, but I honestly don't get that impression. I mean it's good, but not amazing. You certainly get this impression when you sit behind a hasselblad's viewfinder. It's large bright, while still showing what you need.
My biggest killer though, and is the one thing I want from the replacement for the DF, is a waste level view finder. I know some say 'meh' to the idea, but as I'm so tall, it makes a hard and stressful day when I spend most of it hunched over, or sitting on a wheelie stool to get to the models level.

[EricWHiss]

Can you please tell me what is the problem with the Mamiya 645 viewfinder+prism?

I own this body for a few years and I didn't know there was a problem.
Is it that it's not big enough?

Just go check out a H4 or Rollei Hy6/AFi and you'll see immediately.   Being able to change out the finder to 45 or 90 degree prisms, lupe style or WLF finder is just icing on the cake.   
But another big issue I had with the DF finder is the long long time it is black between frames.  You click, then the mirror goes up and its black then a long time later the shutter fires, then a long long time later the mirror goes back down.  On the DF this seems like forever compared to the Hy6.   You lose your position with the model or subject in that time.

[John.Williams]

I wonder *if* I will ever really witness the day when some of these 6 year old debunked myths will finally fade away...(exactly how long did it take once proven the world was round, to extinguish flat-world arguments?)

If you have not had a good experience with the Hasselblad camera and software, then I would invite you to spend a few professional minutes with a competent operator who can show you how it works for many photographers who are busy delivering files to clients. For money. To pay for stuff.

Bang the drum, Hasselblad has a new color "What were they thinking?" Again. To sell red cameras to photographers who want to buy them. Not for everybody - but enough demand to make and sell them. The key point here is to understand about making the right product for the person who wants to buy it.

I agree 1000 times over that Hasselblad could improve the Alice in Wonderland impression of what's going on behind the curtain to avoid speculation that leads to Tales of Wizards. I find in business, few companies are wide-open when in talks of mergers/acquisitions, so I get it. FaceBook IPO, right?

Nick-T and several others are right, Photokina will be the proving ground of what's new.

Feel free to reach out to me if you believe any of the above statements are inconsistent with what you know to be the truth, I enjoy providing additional insight and information to contribute to your personal decision.

...and maybe showing you some stuff about the 'blad you may not have known

John