1) "surely you know that the so called "Hasselblad" H system is more a product of Fuji than of the Hasselblad division of Danish based company Hasselblad-Imacon" On what evidence do you base this wild assertion? Wait, I can tell you... NONE!
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I base that on various items I have read including articles in photography magazines, but I do not have all the evidence at hand, and I am open to the possibility of being in error on some points. My understanding is the final assembly is done in the Swedish facilities of Hasselblad-Imacon, but a large portion of the previous steps including design leadership are from Fujifilm.
Since you make a number of specific claims about the leading role of Hasselblad and later Hasselblad-Imacon, can you direct me to your evidence? In particular, do you have any evidence for your apparent belief Fuji 645Fujifilm GX645AF Professional is essentially a licencing of a Hasselblad product, rather than having a substantial contribution from Fujifilm?
2) "Hasselblad has not really designed a new product since the 500 series, since the Xpan was essentially a rebranded Fuji product."
... Apparently the entire 2000/200 series of cameras (1977-2004) escaped your attention.
... The Flex and Arc systems don't get your notice either.
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My wording is apparently confusing; it would have been better to say that from the Xpan and H series forward, design of Hasselblad branded cameras has been done in partnership with Fujifilm, with the latter having the lead role.
I mentioned the 500 series since I believe that the most recent "pure Hassleblad" or "Hasselblad-lead" designs are the latest products in the 500 series, where development continued after it had stopped on the now discontinued 200 series. I was not at all suggesting that there has been no Hasselblad-lead innovation since the _start_ of the 500 series; my apologies if it sounded like that.
And I was thinking of the now discontinued Flex and Arc systems loosely as part of the 500 series, though I suppose that is inaccurate in the case of the Arc body, which does not use the same lenses as the 500 series bodies if I recall correctly, while the Flex body does use the same CF lenses.
Also, Hasselblad has been researching, designing and producing products for electronic imaging since the 1980's. Then there is your fantasy that Hasselblad wasn't responsible for the "H" system design. The only thing you seem to be right about is the Xpan, which is indeed a Fuji product.
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That is interesting: which electronic imaging products are you referring to, beyond adding digital back compatibility to some bodies?
3) "The body designs are largely or entirely by Fuji" Your evidence of this? None. The "H" system was six years in development with Hasselblad in charge at all times.
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So far we have each stated different opinions on this, with no documentation to back them up. Can you point me to to sources for your claim? Not that I will insist too much or accuse you of errors, lies or mis-information if you cannot; after all I also cannot easily produce citations of all the sources on which my understanding is based.
4) "note that even purely Imacon products like film scanners are now branded as Hasselblad." Of course they are. The two companies merged. Why shouldn't they be marketed under one unified brand name? They're one company. Your point?
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My point is that although the name of the company producing these scanners is "Hasselblad Imacon", not simply "Hasselblad", and although its management team comes mostly from Imacon suggesting that Imacon is the lead parter in the merger, and though these pruducts come from the Imacon assets of the merger, the product is not branded "Hasselblad Imacon" or "Imacon" but simply "Hasselblad". This is a natural decision given the far greater recognition of the name "Hasselblad", but it indicates that the name "Hasselblad" is being used on products that have no "Hasselblad DNA" in the sense of coming from the resources that the former company Hasselblad contributed to the merged company. From what I have read, a similar thing is happening with the branding of the H system, though with a bit more "Hasselblad DNA" in that case, but with Fujifilm leading the design project.
It would be great to find solid sources on the way this design project actually goes, beyond the vague statement:
the GX645AF Professional, a 6 x 4.5 format auto-focus SLR camera with interchangeable lenses that was developed in collaboration with Victor Hasselblad AB.
at [a href=\"http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/about/review/index-imaging.php]http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/about/review/index-imaging.php[/url]
I suspect though that in such arrangements, the vagueness is deliberate so that each company can insinuate having a larger role that it actually has. Like the lens design partnerships between Kodak and Schneider Kreuznach, between Sony and Carl Zeiss, between Panasonic and Leica, and between Pentax, Samsung and Schneider Kreuznach. In all those cases I am betting on the Japanese lens producer being the project leader.