Hassleblad Jumps the Shark

[ambaker]

The new (2011) owners are looking for ways to increase revenue.

This could be best called embarrassing...

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/07/22/Hasselblad-announces-Stellar-Sony-RX100-based-20mp-compact

Or possibly more correctly a travesty...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[omaha]

So sad.

 

[Kevin Caulfield]

Oh dear. Yes it does seem to me that Hasselblad have jumped the shark.

 

[Barry S]

How long until a Hasselblad clothing line and Hasselblad phones? Hasselblad is the new Polaroid.

 

[Tom1956]

What else CAN they do? The computer has ruined everything for everybody. We live in a day and time when nobody makes a single thing I would want to buy. It's over. There's government and computers, and that's about all there is.

 

[omaha]

It's over. There's government and computers, and that's about all there is.

True that.

Digital cameras are inherently disposable.

 

[Moopheus]

What else CAN they do?There's government and computers, and that's about all there is.

And ice cream. There's still ice cream.

But, yeah, "bought by an investment company" seems to be code for "will shortly cease to exist."

 

[polyglot]

They already did the exact same thing with the Sony NEX-7 and got the same opprobrium. Lightly rebranded, identical construction and firmware, slightly uglier presentation.

 

[Tom1956]

My first thought about this Hasselblad thing was they took one of the 2 handles off a handgun and bolted it on a cheap digital camera. Big deal. In other news, Apple turned in a good quarter and the stock went up $16 dollars in after hours trading. So there's your digital camera market right there.

 

[lxdude]

One of the beauties of Hasselblad used to be that their design was clean and functional. Never gaudy.

 

[L Gebhardt]

At least they recognized the need for a grip. The cameras without one drive me nuts.

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

ugh... they continue to go off the deep end. those wood grips remind me of those older flash brackets.

 

[Dr Croubie]

ugh... they continue to go off the deep end. those wood grips remind me of those older flash brackets.

If anyone here has got one of those wooden Pentax 67 grips, can you bolt it to a NEX (or any other cheap P&S or Mirrorless) and see if it looks any better than this Habbelsad?

 

[Tom1956]

Reminds me of a digital camera born with a genetic condition with an extra chromosome from a handgun. The Down's Syndrome of the camera world.

 

[LJH]

We live in a day and time when nobody makes a single thing I would want to buy. It's over.

Really? Not a single thing?

So, you wouldn't want a new Ebony? Any of Schneider or Rodenstock's current lenses? Film?

 

[analoguey]

Hmm, the article linked out to another Hasselbad - the Lunar.
I think I have seen enough screwed up designs for today.

Although going by their digital MF bodies, one wouldn't really know if they have deviated much in "design" terms

Sometimes, one wished these guys learn a little bit from exotic supercar makers. Ferrari, for example, haven't made a rebadged Punto.

 

[Steve Smith]

If Victor Hasselblad were alive today he would turn in his grave!


Steve.

 

[lightwisps]

That new Hassy will look good in ones hand getting out of their pimp mobile.

 

[analoguey]

Missed pointing out this - learned a new phrase 'jumping the shark'. May not be useful to hassie much though!

- via tapatalk.

 

[RattyMouse]

Hmm, the article linked out to another Hasselbad - the Lunar.
I think I have seen enough screwed up designs for today.

Although going by their digital MF bodies, one wouldn't really know if they have deviated much in "design" terms

Sometimes, one wished these guys learn a little bit from exotic supercar makers. Ferrari, for example, haven't made a rebadged Punto.

Hassy has studied with Ferrari.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

There was that period of the brightly colored Hasselblads. Where's Art Liem? He has a yellow one.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

That just makes me sad. Especially as a Swedish citizen, once very proud of the accomplishment that Hasselblad represented. Amazing design, first class products that are a joy to use, and with great results.

The emotional side of me still can't fathom what they have done to their reputation and their brand; somebody is seriously trying to milk the brand to death. All those decades of building up a stellar reputation, down the drain in a couple of flushes. So short sighted. So stupid.

The rational side of me realizes that camera manufacturers sees much increased competition from nontraditional competitors - manufacturers of phones, tablets/iPads, even eye glasses (Google) - they realize they can't keep selling something that is increasingly perceived by the general public as something big, bulky, impractical, etc ad nauseum. So they have to do something in this marketplace of commodities.

To me, they should have focused on building premium products, and maintain the ergonomics and design that they have become so famous for. Why not build a camera that is modular and upgradeable? How many of us are tired of things that become obsolete every few years? Example, my iPhone 4 is not only two years old, and even though it's as shiny as it was when I first got it, it feels old somehow. If I could have one where the buttons wouldn't wear out, and I could instead upgrade the 'guts' of the phone, and pay less than I do for a brand new phone, I'd do it in a heart beat. But instead I will eventually have to replace it, because that's how it works these days.

 

[Slixtiesix]

The biggest problem I see with this particular camera – apart from the whole re-branding strategy – is that this seems to be the old model of the RX100, not the new and drastically improved RX100 II. So when the Stellar will eventually hit the market (which I don´t expect to be soon, remember the Lunar) it will be based on a camera which by then may be had for 1/15 of the price of the Stellar on your supermarket´s clearance sale.

 

[cliveh]

I suppose cameras are becoming novelty items. I read an article the other day that seemed to suggest that digital cameras will soon be obsolete, as phone cameras now produce such good quality images.

 

[semi-ambivalent]

My first thought about this Hasselblad thing was they took one of the 2 handles off a handgun and bolted it on a cheap digital camera. Big deal. In other news, Apple turned in a good quarter and the stock went up $16 dollars in after hours trading. So there's your digital camera market right there.

Apple turned in a good quarter only when applied to the "market's expectations". These were set up days earlier by sapper analysts who overstate, with full knowledge, their expectations of Apple's price drop. Apple "beats the street", everybody cheers and the charade goes on. Fact is Apple was down, what, 22%? I'm OT enough as it is but, believe me, there's a rogue Nobel out there for anyone who studies stock analysts's "failures" rather than their methods.

A collaboration with Ferrari is a not-so-rare marketing ploy. Colnago did it too: More curves, that paint color, that horse, done. Enzo too would be as heartsick as would Hasselblad.

s-a