Goodbye V System...

[Noble]

What I don't understand is the average person has no idea what a Hasselblad is. And the people who do know what a Hasselblad is are pretty into photography so they would never overspend and buy a disaster like the Lunar. The market for something like that is tiny. It is a money is no object I will drop thousands on something I don't even understand crowd. I personally only know a tiny number of people like that. None of my doctor, lawyer, banker friends would spend that kind of money without knowing exactly what they are getting. They might be frivolous about $600 but not $6,000. Hasselblad has a really piece of junk on their hands.

 

[DREW WILEY]

The thing that always sticks in my memory the most about Hassies is seeing ancient millionaires staggering around Pt Lobos with canes and
handheld Hassies pretending to be Edward Weston, meanwhile snapshooting wildly, making it perfectly apparent they didn't have a clue what
they were doing. Spend the most and get the best pictures? I don't think so. Any working 4x5 camera with a halfway decent lens has more
way authority.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

"Everything has its place in time."

So very, very true.

I can vouch for the build and quality of the digital Hasselblads (not to everybody's taste, I know, and I squirmed when I saw it, bristling with technology that I happily get on without with my Pentax!), but not for their $45,000 price tag. One of these heavy hitters was observed here in outback Australia on a shoot, excelling at night sky and star trail photography. I may seek out a 503CW to play with. I do like the 6x6 format (universally used in my pinhole camera) and no doubt the second-hand market prices for the V-series will drop over time. We can be assured that those not holding a V-series in perpetuity, if not actually using it, will keep the Hasselblad marque alive in the analogue spectrum for a good while yet, but using one with film is the best thing of all.

 

[semi-ambivalent]

...ancient millionaires staggering around Pt Lobos with canes and handheld Hassies pretending to be Edward Weston, meanwhile snapshooting wildly, making it perfectly apparent they didn't have a clue what
they were doing...

Perhaps they were waiting for their Charis to appear. Or remembering one who had.

s-a

 

[BrianShaw]

The thing that always sticks in my memory the most about Hassies is seeing ancient millionaires staggering around Pt Lobos with canes and handheld Hassies pretending to be Edward Weston...

I wish you had smiled and waved at me rather than sneering. Oh... and that "cane" was a monopod.

 

[PKM-25]

I wish you had smiled and waved at me rather than sneering. Oh... and that "cane" was a monopod.

And here he thought you were happy to see him...:w00t:

 

[Tom1956]

I absolutely believe if Hasselblad had put more into advertising and less in R & D of copycat digital junk, they'd be selling 500 series cameras by the thousands.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

I absolutely believe if Hasselblad had put more into advertising and less in R & D of copycat digital junk, they'd be selling 500 series cameras by the thousands.

Well, not quite. The professional market is driven by digital need-it/want it-now. Not analogue "be with you in two shakes of a lamb's tail...".
Hasselblad is no doubt responding to the booming market. A boom, incidentally, I am quite happy to bypass.
Apparently Hasselblad are moving heaps of those high-end H-series cameras. God, they cost as much as a nice new car here in Australia.

 

[Tom1956]

Everybody is a "professional" now. What "professional market"? Advertise them on Dancing with the stars, or some such foolishness. Quality doesn't have to drop on account of volume. The volume would probably never be any higher than it ever was--and quality didn't drop then. Trying to compete with cellphone companies is pointless. Digital junk is pointless.

 

[lxdude]

Everybody is a "professional" now. What "professional market"?

Actual professionals are just that- they make their living through photography. Many people claim to be professionals, but are not. They are professionals- not "professionals".
There is certainly a professional market. Who do you think is buying most medium format digital? It always was that pros bought most new medium format SLR's, and that has not changed.
It takes more skill and savvy than ever to do well, as outlets like stock are so much less lucrative. It takes as much lighting skill as it ever did to make a product look good, and it takes more creativity than ever to make an image stand out. Companies are not entrusting the image of their product or company to someone with a cellphone camera, or someone who just got a DSLR and is claiming to be a pro.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Actual professionals are just that- they make their living through photography. Many people claim to be professionals, but are not.
There is certainly a professional market. It takes more skill and savvy than ever to do well, as outlets like stock are so much less lucrative. It takes as much lighting skill as it ever did to make a product look good, and it's harder than ever to make an image stand out. Companies are not entrusting the image of their product or company to someone with a cellphone camera, or someone who just got a DSLR and is claiming to be a pro.

That sums up the situation exactly.
I have great respect for professionals whether they are working in analogue (not very common) or digital. It's bloody hard work and the competition to be just that much better is ferocious. Good on them for affording whatever tool does the job — name loyalty is nothing unless it is proven. But don't ever knock them, or their equipment. Or digital. It will one day in the future undetermined be all that we have.

 

[BrianShaw]

But don't ever knock them, or their equipment. Or digital. It will one day in the future undetermined be all that we have.

That sums up the situation exactly.

 

[Dinesh]

I absolutely believe if Hasselblad had put more into advertising and less in R & D of copycat digital junk, they'd be selling 500 series cameras by the thousands.

I suspect that is why you aren't a marketing professional.

 

[Noble]

I absolutely believe if Hasselblad had put more into advertising and less in R & D of copycat digital junk, they'd be selling 500 series cameras by the thousands.

To who?!

As has been stated numerous times there are TONS of Hasselblad V series cameras on the used market. Who is going to pay thousands of dollars more than the going price just to get a new one? It's a camera not a car. The whole point of the camera is to be simple and reliable. A well cared for Hasselblad that gets a CLA will give you years of flawless service. All of that can be had for a fraction of the price of a new Hasselblad.

Face it the high end photography world is driven by professionals. If professionals with their tax write offs aren't buying the equipment on a regular basis the new market dies. I don't know a single person who owns a Hasselblad or any medium format camera for that matter... let alone a new one. I know plenty of people who make six figures and they don't say to themselves, let's shoot film this weekend. And the Lomo crowd ain't buyin' Hasselblads.

 

[lxdude]

And here he thought you were happy to see him...:w00t:

What- Brian? Monopod? BWAhahahahaha!

Pinky, monopod... snort, giggle...

 

[darkosaric]

It's all my fault.
first I bought into Topcon; they went out of the 35mm business
Then I bought into Contax; DOH!
Don't forget Deardorff!
Then I bought Hasselblad in Dec..
I am a one man camera company killer.

Buy some dSLR from nikon, canon and other as well Maybe you will turn the wheel around