Ventizz to acquire Hasselblad

[fredjeang]

Hi,

Is it an educated guess, wild guess or a piece of knowledge?

Going MF from 4/3 would be a nice leap for Panasonic.

Best regards
Erik

A wild wish.

If MF could benefit the R&D of such a giant wich have demostrated to be very aware of tech imagery, the story would be diferent very soon, and maybe pros like Cooter or my boss(es) would invest back in the system in the future.

It's like the Sigmas...when everything just turns around their sensors...but the story is told.

I would I loved Panasonic to buy a MF manufacturer and if it was Pana Michael was talking about, I think a great oportunity has been lost. 

[David Grover / Capture One]

....as the old H2's have had more battery resets than they can obviously handle....

Regardless, good luck with Ventizz.

It's statements like this that lead me to believe that somebody (Phase One Dealer?) is feeding you bum information.  Resetting a battery has no adverse affect on the battery, body, anything(!) even repeated on an hourly basis!

Any lithium battery can be prone to deliver the wrong charge information, which is why nearly every device in the land has the ability to reset them.  (This includes your MacBook Pro!)

I would agree that as H2's need to be replaced, some Phase One users would then naturally buy a 645DF.  Equally there are plenty of users who junked the Phase One back as they had a lot of investment in H lenses and wanted to keep using them and the superior camera body.

Thanks re Ventizz!

David

[Graham Mitchell]

In fact I find it fascinating that both Phase, Leaf and Hasselblad us motion imagery on their websites to sell their still cameras.
I think that tells you something.

And Red, Arri, Sony all use still images to sell their video cameras
There will always be a demand for both.

[fredjeang]

And Red, Arri, Sony all use still images to sell their video cameras
There will always be a demand for both.

Yes, but the both was made by 2 different sort of professional while today and tomorrow, the both is and will be done by the same guy/team.

Convergence is the reality. I was reading an article on Vincent Laforet's blog pointing that convergence has changed the game and will be
each time the ruler. I concur with this idea, like it or not.

It reminds me when we started to get the mobile phones. A lot of people (me included) was saying: I don't need that...

Not every pro is Mario Testino, who can use a Blad and shoot Arri within the same session with a 20 peopl's team. For most of the professionals, the need to keep budgets in the reasonable and therefore the need for an all-in-one
reliable gear is the grail or at least equipment that will allow them to move forward within the current reality.

[Graham Mitchell]

Yes, but the both was made by 2 different sort of professional while today and tomorrow, the both is and will be done by the same guy/team.

Indeed, now the wannabes can do 2 jobs badly at the same time
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/shooting-twice-at-once/

[David Watson]

Hasselblad way ahead in terms of global sales - I am sorry, but this is not the case at all. And how would you know? And what criteria are you using? Total installed base, including legacy users? Or just total sales in 2011? 2010? Probably a pretty close call in terms of unit sales the past couple years. I could say I think Phase is still ahead, but how would I know? I do think I know enough that unit sales are not way ahead in favor of either company the past couple years.


That you cannot fit a Hasselblad back onto a Leaf/Mamiya system is not the fault of Leaf/Mamiya (or Phase). The camera is open. The back from Hasselblad is not.


Steve Hendrix

Steve

No idea on sales but it is an indisputable fact that, as I said, the global installed user base of Hasselblad systems far exceeds those of Phamiya.  Please do not dissimulate regarding the so called openness of your system.  If you did have an open system then Capture One (a chargeable and very nice software package) would recognise hasselblad raw files just for a starter.

[design_freak]

I can't read the much.

What are you guy talking about?

Please slow in short.

thanks. 

No one is working here.

 I'm trying to keep my nose to the grindstone :0

;-)

[design_freak]

Okay, we are waiting for news. I hope that will be their lot with the new capital.

[Ben Rubinstein]

Just as a matter of interest would anyone buy a 'blad now before the dust settles and we find out what the future is going to look like?

[eronald]

Just as a matter of interest would anyone buy a 'blad now before the dust settles and we find out what the future is going to look like?

As far as I'm concerned, rather a current Blad than an upgrade to that Mamiya.

I don't have anything against Phase backs, apart from the dinky screen. But that body is a PC.

Edmund

[Graham Mitchell]

Just as a matter of interest would anyone buy a 'blad now before the dust settles and we find out what the future is going to look like?

Perhaps they need a camera that works now? There's always a new model around the corner. Hasselblad is no different in that respect.

[design_freak]

I wonder that why PR does not work now. Prior to the sale were very active. Now, silence. This can result in stopping the sale for several months, if the president did not present a specific development plans. Customers will wait for the news. But this is obviously my opinion.

[JV]

Just as a matter of interest would anyone buy a 'blad now before the dust settles and we find out what the future is going to look like?

I don't see why not.  The H4D-40 is an excellent camera and after it receives the firmware upgrade that recently was made available for the H4D-60 it will be even better.  In my eyes it is easily as good a solution as the corresponding Phase One 645DF + IQ140 combo.

[fredjeang]

Graham,

All that is not new. In any profession, each time a craft is instaured and settled comes the orthodoxy.
Then, every X time comes a revolution that gives a kick in the a.s and clean the spider webs and dust.

And each time we hear the same things: that's not going to work, it's gona be crap, this is not profesional etc...

Do you remember AF ? I remember the reactions although I was young...now you talk to the pros to shoot manual and they all bark...

Same will happen with convergence and there will be very good pros at it and in a question of years nobody will remember anymore the stills-only period.

[design_freak]

I don't see why not.  The H4D-40 is an excellent camera and after it receives the firmware upgrade that recently was made available for the H4D-60 it will be even better.  In my eyes it is easily as good a solution as the corresponding Phase One 645DF + IQ140 combo.

Because we do not know whether it will cut prices. Or that it will be presented H5D in autumn....

[eronald]

I wonder that why PR does not work now. Prior to the sale were very active. Now, silence. This can result in stopping the sale for several months, if the president did not present a specific development plans. Customers will wait for the news. But this is obviously my opinion.

I think some discounts will quickly solve the waiting issue if it exists. Price the H4D30 at $6000 and you'll sell a bunch of them.
Of course, if the customers are waiting for the discounts, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy

I would expect an announcement of some minor upgrades, eg. the H4D60 screen on the low-end models, which would also justify a discount on the current range. And in the mean time, some backroom meetings in smoky rooms with the competition do decide what the next sensors will need to do, and what will happen to dealer margins. Two can tango.

Edmund

[JV]

Because we do not know whether it will cut prices. Or that it will be presented H5D in autumn....

The same thing could be said of Phase, why buy a 645 DF now while there are 2 new bodies around the corner...
There is always going to be rumors about the next thing...

[David Grover / Capture One]

I don't see why not.  The H4D-40 is an excellent camera and after it receives the firmware upgrade that recently was made available for the H4D-60 it will be even better.  In my eyes it is easily as good a solution as the corresponding Phase One 645DF + IQ140 combo.

If not better.  

While I appreciate Mr. Freaks armchair analysis, I can assure you the H4D line is as competitive as it was before any announcements.

[eronald]

On a point of information, here is more, albeit older, relevant news.

http://www.gim-international.com/news/id5374-Teledyne_Technologies_to_Acquire_DALSA.html

I wonder whether one can make an MF camera without a sensor; Kodak and Teledyne probably both have other larger fish to fry. In this context, the Ventizz buy-out is in fact reassuring because they are smart guys and wouldn't invest in a dead end.

However I don't think either Kodak or Dalsa will be investing in true Liveview or video capable CMOS MF sensor unless this is technology they can recycle from another platform. So w're probably going to be looking at more of the same in the near future.

Or maybe RED will be the last billionaire standing

Edmund

[Ben Rubinstein]

My question wasn't really whether there will be new models released soon or prices dropped but rather whether it's worth waiting to see if the current dealership, warranty, etc structure will remain. I wouldn't want to invest in something which might have the carpet yanked out from underneath it in a years time whether it be in a change of corporate structure or a new system with the old one unsupported after time or whatever. I'm thinking it might be worth waiting a bit if you require not just a camera but also the ability to buy into a brands philosophy.