Hasselblad Lunar

[imagetone]

Like a few others I am surprised and amused at the amount of scorn being heaped on Hasselblad here and elsewhere. The demise of MF digital is regularly forecast here, if that's true Hasselblad would be stupid not to enter other market segments and they do have brand capital to exploit.

The Lunar may be unattractive to many, expensive and based on a Sony "enthusiast" camera but Leica seem to do nicely tweaking and rebadging Panasonic compact cameras.

Perhaps those who feel the brand heritage is being betrayed will be critical of whatever Hasselblad does to diversify, as I sense some brand snobbery around the "serious photographer" and "professional" attributes which isn't so different from the desire for prestige that drives the "aspirational" and "luxury brand" purchases which are mocked here.

By the way, can someone explain why the Fuji designed and built Xpan is generally venerated whereas the Hasselblad/Fuji H-Series gets the called by the slightly dismissive "Fujiblad" name?  

And am I missing something or was a significant part of the Hasselblad "brand heritage" that people feel so strongly about based on lenses developed and manufactured by Carl Zeiss?

[NikoJorj]

Leica name (and value) recognition among general public is much better than Hasselblad, which is practically unknown outside photographers.

Not quite sure about that either - I still remember the ads in NGM "XXX used an Hasselblad to shoot YYY", and think too the brand got a huge publicity from its use by the NASA.

That said, I am definitely not the marketing target of this contraption, so who cares! 

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... Leica seem to do nicely tweaking and rebadging Panasonic compact cameras...

At least Leica is supplying lenses in that partnership. What is Hasselblad supplying, other than name? Also, the premium Leica charges is orders of magnitude different from the Hasselblad's one. It is a matter of taste, of course, but I find Leica versions of Panasonic simply more elegant (and, for me, worth the premium).

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Not quite sure about that either..

The problem with using two (or more) arguments simultaneously is that opponents usually pounce on the weaker one. The context I used the brand recognition argument went as this: it was initially argued that Hasselbad is doing the same thing as Leica, i.e., selling a luxurious version to the rich. My main argument, however, was that Leica, in contrast to Hasselbad, is selling itself, an already high-end, high-quality, luxurious product.

Speaking of brand recognition among the target market, i think that a fair gauge is the use among celebrities. As an anecdotal evidence, I can come up with a couple off the top of my head: Brad Pitt, Lou Reed... A quick googling unearthed the following list:

"... Other Leica users of fame is Bryan Adams, Seal, Annie Leibovitz [sic], Lenny Kravitz, Eric Clapton, Miles Davis, Ann Curry, Chow Yun Fat, Katie Hoff, Scarlett Johansson, Brendan Fraser, Jeff Bridges, Brad Pitt, Brigitte Bardot, Charles Bronson, Andy Lau, Woody Allen, Jamie Cullum, Paris Hilton, Kanye West, Yul Brynner, Wim Wenders, Bruce Springsteen, Posh Spice ... the list goes on..." as a part of an article on the Leica history here, with many more examples.

How many do you know that use a Hasselbad?

[FredBGG]

The problem with using two (or more) arguments simultaneously is that opponents usually pounce on the weaker one. The context I used the brand recognition argument went as this: it was initially argued that Hasselbad is doing the same thing as Leica, i.e., selling a luxurious version to the rich. My main argument, however, was that Leica, in contrast to Hasselbad, is selling itself, an already high-end, high-quality, luxurious product.

Speaking of brand recognition among the target market, i think that a fair gauge is the use among celebrities. As an anecdotal evidence, I can come up with a couple off the top of my head: Brad Pitt, Lou Reed... A quick googling unearthed the following list:

"... Other Leica users of fame is Bryan Adams, Seal, Annie Leibovitz [sic], Lenny Kravitz, Eric Clapton, Miles Davis, Ann Curry, Chow Yun Fat, Katie Hoff, Scarlett Johansson, Brendan Fraser, Jeff Bridges, Brad Pitt, Brigitte Bardot, Charles Bronson, Andy Lau, Woody Allen, Jamie Cullum, Paris Hilton, Kanye West, Yul Brynner, Wim Wenders, Bruce Springsteen, Posh Spice ... the list goes on..." as a part of an article on the Leica history here, with many more examples.


How many do you know that use a Hasselbad?

I can confirm this. I do mainly celebrity portrait/fashion photography. From a-list actors, bands, comedians, atheletes, billionaires and politicians.
Many have Leicas.

Above all the Leicas are small and clean designs. The are easy to carry and their design is clean and neutral looking good on everything.

The Hasselblad designs are way to pimped out, make the cameras heavier. It's just so stupid... the whole thing.

[PierreVandevenne]

I can confirm this. I do mainly celebrity portrait/fashion photography. From a-list actors, bands, comedians, atheletes, billionaires and politicians.
many have Leicas.
Above all the Leicas are small and clean designs. The are easy to carry and their design is clean and neutral looking good on everything.
The Hasselblad designs are way to pimped out, make the cameras heavier. It's just so stupid... the whole thing.

I have a few contacts in that eco-system and I can add that very few of those Leica owners have actually have paid for their kits :-). And you nailed it about the H design: we have the 1930's Sicilian mafioso version, the 1990s bad boy rapper, the 2000s Russian billionaire and the Kill Bill special whereas Leica is more Benjamin de Rothschild.

[hasselbladfan]

That's not true. Porsche was making a healthy profit pre-Cayenne. What they chose to do was to grow and diversify. That's not the same thing.

Porsche said it still hoped to be in the black in 1994/5 after extensive cost-cutting. According to Wendelin Wiedeking, chief executive, it will not be until 1996/7 when acceptable profits will be made again. By then it should have launched its low-priced, two- seater Boxster sports car. Porsche has cut its production workforce by 40 per cent to counter the problem of uncompetitiveness in its US export market. At its peak in 1986, Porsche sold almost 50,000 cars, half of them in the US. It expects sales of more than 16,000 in the current year.

Porsche was not always that healthy. Profits only increased by launching the Boxster in 1996 and the Cayenne in 2002. Without this diversification, Porsche would still be struggling.

[FredBGG]

Porsche said it still hoped to be in the black in 1994/5 after extensive cost-cutting. According to Wendelin Wiedeking, chief executive, it will not be until 1996/7 when acceptable profits will be made again. By then it should have launched its low-priced, two- seater Boxster sports car. Porsche has cut its production workforce by 40 per cent to counter the problem of uncompetitiveness in its US export market. At its peak in 1986, Porsche sold almost 50,000 cars, half of them in the US. It expects sales of more than 16,000 in the current year.

Porsche was not always that healthy. Profits only increased by launching the Boxster in 1996 and the Cayenne in 2002. Without this diversification, Porsche would still be struggling.

It adjusted to changing tastes in the US market with stronger growth in the SUV market.

[FredBGG]

This popped up in my news box.....

Rather funny....

HASSELBLAD SPILLS SECRETS BEHIND LEAK-FREE LUNAR LAUNCH
By Chris Cheesman   Monday, 24 September 2012
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Last week Swedish camera maker Hasselblad caught most of the photographic industry off-guard when it unveiled a plan to launch its Lunar compact system camera.

Unlike many camera launches of recent years, the firm was able to keep the launch leak-free.

Hasselblad's business development manager Luca Alessandrini has revealed how the Lunar – which is being developed in partnership with Sony – was kept firmly under wraps.

In an interview with Amateur Photographer at last week's photokina in Germany, Alessandrini explained that the firm was able to keep the news secret thanks to a small team and the covert operations surrounding the project.

Hasselblad's new Italian design unit was put into near-lockdown and it seems all communications regarding Lunar were on a strictly need-to-know basis.

‘There was nothing on the [door] bell,' said Alessandrini.

‘All the windows were covered. It looked like a warehouse.

'We didn't give out anything, we didn't print out anything at our office and we used the codename "Pink".'

Alessandrini said printing of all literature shown at photokina was carried out in-house, with nothing leaving the office.

‘We were transporting things [in and out], not in Hasselblad boxes but in [plain] cardboard  ones.

‘We couldn't send any pictures or mention the project in emails.

‘No mobile phones were allowed during meetings... We signed NDAs [Non Disclosure Agreements] everywhere.'

Alessandrini said nothing leaked out, despite four teams being involved in the project worldwide – in Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Japan.

Bragging about how they kept this project secret........

Let's see... developing a new REAL new camera requires all sorts of staff and suppliers...

Pimping up a camera with a skin.... totally different story.

And Hasselblad now has an Italian Design Unit.....

[kers]

" 'We didn't give out anything, we didn't print out anything at our office and we used the codename "Pink".'"

and pink it was ( a mission impossible)

[TechTalk]

THE ALARMISTS ARE COMING!

THE ALARMISTS ARE COMING!

[ondebanks]

Hasselblad's business development manager Luca Alessandrini has revealed how the Lunar – which is being developed in partnership with Sony – was kept firmly under wraps.

Ah, that's where they went wrong: they eventually took the wraps off and showed it to the world. It was all going swimmingly prior to that.

Ray

[gss]

A leak might just have saved Hasselblad from themselves.  Now that they announced, they're much less likely to listen to people's reactions to it.  Of course they could still come out with a statement that this was just a big joke, and announce a real camera...

[design_freak]

A leak might just have saved Hasselblad from themselves.  Now that they announced, they're much less likely to listen to people's reactions to it.  Of course they could still come out with a statement that this was just a big joke, and announce a real camera...

+1000

[PeteZ28]

A leak might just have saved Hasselblad from themselves.  Now that they announced, they're much less likely to listen to people's reactions to it.  Of course they could still come out with a statement that this was just a big joke, and announce a real camera...

That was exactly what I thought when I read that article.

[amsp]

I can't for the world of me understand why they opened an Italian design studio. Hasselblad became iconic thanks to the no nonsense "form follows function" design of the V-series, why would they go the complete opposite direction when trying to regain their previous enthusiast user base as they put it? This whole affair just reeks of a company that's lost touch, and it's a textbook example of what happens when you replace passionate innovators with bean counters if you ask me.

[FredBGG]

I can't for the world of me understand why they opened an Italian design studio. Hasselblad became iconic thanks to the no nonsense "form follows function" design of the V-series, why would they go the complete opposite direction when trying to regain their previous enthusiast user base as they put it? This whole affair just reeks of a company that's lost touch, and it's a textbook example of what happens when you replace passionate innovators with bean counters if you ask me.

It's also bizar how they managed to put together such a bad design team. Italy is famous for it's industrial design.

Giorgetto Giugiaro for example designed the Canon 1Ds body shape.

[amsp]

It's also bizar how they managed to put together such a bad design team. Italy is famous for it's industrial design.

Giorgetto Giugiaro for example designed the Canon 1Ds body shape.

Of course, I'm not saying Italy is not famous for design, I think everyone knows that, but so is Scandinavia. I'm actually half Swedish half Italian myself, and I studied design in Italy, so I'm intimately familiar with both design cultures. Considering Hasselblad's legacy and the many fine industrial designers in Sweden it just seems weird to open a design center in Italy, that's all. Maybe they thought "Designed in Italy" would appeal to the demographic they are targeting with the Lunar

[ondebanks]

Giorgetto Giugiaro for example designed the Canon 1Ds body shape.

And such rugged, perfectly functional, totally modular beauties as the Nikon F4 - my favourite SLR design.

Ray

[LKaven]

Yes, it is a blantant rip-off of an existing design, namely, this one: