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Is that a Hasselblad?

Ever been asked "Is that a Hasselbad?"

  • No.

    Votes: 294 37.0%

  • Yes, while shooting 35mm or smaller.

    Votes: 25 3.1%

  • Yes, while shooting Medium Format

    Votes: 219 27.5%

  • Yes, while shooting Large Format

    Votes: 97 12.2%

  • Yes, and it was a Hasselblad!

    Votes: 228 28.7%
  • Total voters
    795
I used to own a Hasselblad (a nice 500c with chrome trim) and on two separate occassions, I was asked if it was a Brownie.
 
Weird thread, yet...

...while out shooting some achitecture in town with my Shen Hao HZX45, a passerby commented, "Nice camera! Looks like a Hasselblad." Well, I have yet to ply my way through this thread, but the recollection of that comment was personally filed under weird and unexplanable. The horrible thing is that I replied, "Yes, it is!", a hasty reply considering that the initial remark did not quite make it through the debabbler yet.
 
dianna said:
I used to own a Hasselblad (a nice 500c with chrome trim) and on two separate occassions, I was asked if it was a Brownie.
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This has to be my favorite post from this thread!

gene
 
A guy at a local lab once popped the question when he saw I was getting back square negatives. It's funny how excited people get.
 
In the general public's perception Hasselblad is probably a generic name for any professional looking camera because its the only one they've heard of.
 
I was asked the ITAH question last weekend while actually shooting one. I think it's funny when I've been out shooting with my 8x10 Ansco and someone asks me if it's digital.
 
colrehogan said:
I was asked the ITAH question last weekend while actually shooting one. I think it's funny when I've been out shooting with my 8x10 Ansco and someone asks me if it's digital.
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Hey -- it's gotten to the point that I'm just plain pleased if people know that there is another kind of camera.
 
jstraw said:
Mostly I get people convinced my 18 year-old Zone VI is an antique.
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That sort of thing happens all the time to me as well LOL:confused:
 
Black Dog said:
That sort of thing happens all the time to me as well LOL:confused:
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I tell people my view cameras are antiques (even my Cambo Legend, which looks like it's pretty much out of the box), just because it saves me from having to explain why I'd bother to shoot large format to begin with.


As to the Hassy, I bought mine last winter, and within a week of buying it two different people on the street asked me if it was a Hassy. And some kid asked me if it was a 16mm movie camera.
 
My new policy is going to be to just answer "yes" to all such questions.
 
At the last but one UK Gathering someone saw me winding on my C330 and asked if it was "an old movie camera"...
 
Just for fun, a ITAH Club?

Remember the fad of the "Turtle Club", way back when? (apparently it still exists: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Order_of_Turtles).
Someone would ask you, "Are you a turtle?", and if you were, you'd answer with the password phrase, "You bet your sweet a*s I am", and ostensibly, go out for a drink together.

I would like to hereby propose a similar stupidity with the question, "Is that a Hasselblad?".. How about an incongruous response such as, "Not with my wife, you don't!", to see if the questioner is in-the-know, or just another techno-weenie (which we all are before being blessed with GPE -((Great Photographic Enlightenment. Harp music, please. Hub hub).

Then, instead of going out for a drink together, you could do something even more worthwhile: exchange addresses of the last photo outlets on earth who still sell film!

Just a thought..


Christopher

(PS - "Not with my wife, you don't!" also works well as a response to, "Is that a Deardorff?", or "Hey, where's the twenty bucks you owe me?", or as a punchline to numerous jokes about chickens, three men in a boat .. and many other jokes and questions. Strange looks and scratched heads are guaranteed ... but people will definitely leave you alone to finish taking your photos).
 
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Ditto

FrankB said:
At the last but one UK Gathering someone saw me winding on my C330 and asked if it was "an old movie camera"...
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Know what you mean Frank, I was using my C330 in the city last year with the L grip, prism, and 180mm lens pair, and a passer by asked if I was from the local TV company.
 
I will tell anyone who asks that my LF cameras are antiques. If I were to tell them how old they really are, they'd think "replica"...
 
I've had "ITAH?" when shooting with Fujica 6x9s, P6s, Exakta 66s, a Century Graphic, Pentax LXs and an MZ-S and - most oddly but also most correctly, my X-Pan. Never had it with LF though.

I've had "are you with [insert name of local newspaper]?" with most of the above too. Once, while doing the shots for a calendar, that was quite useful: by the end of the series of shoots I had a pretty good idea which publications to advertise it in.

My usual reply to "is that digital" is that I prefer film - but when the questioner seems more interested in misguided digi-snobbery than in an actual answer I say (truthfully) that my clients prefer film. That shuts them up. I have also, once, and truthfully, replied that "chicks dig film", which sent the guy away looking worried.

I get asked fairly often if I'm a professional. The oddest time though was when I was on holiday, shooting hand-held with a couple of very old Pentax Spotmatics, for fun, not for work. I think what made my questioner ask was the patience with which I was waiting for my shot to be free of people.

I think the question is more often an expression of genuine interest, however mild, than anything else, so I try to answer in a friendly way.



Peter
 
Last time somebody came up to me and asked me why the hell my camera needs to take 2 photo's at the same time. I was holding a Flexaret VI TLR. Harharhar, guess she never realized what it was what I was holding.
 
ITAS

Oh, and there is another one: "Is that a Sinar?", which I've had twice when shooting with Arca-Swiss monorails. Not as stupid as the ITAH? version, but somehow more annoying!


Peter
 
I was asked ITAH once when I was out with my 3x4 Crown Graphic. The person who asked turned out to be a visitor from Germany.
 
Bandicoot said:
Oh, and there is another one: "Is that a Sinar?", which I've had twice when shooting with Arca-Swiss monorails. Not as stupid as the ITAH? version, but somehow more annoying!


Peter
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I suspect you are a bit too caught up in your equipment (but then again, so are a lot of us). I have been shooting LF for 22 years and I doubt if I could tell the diff between a Arca-Swiss and a Sinar.

My theory on LF is... it's a big light-tight box. The quality of your lens is more important than the frame you carry it on.

tim in san jose
 
On countless occasions when I've been out shooting with my C330s, somebody has come up to me and said " oh I used to have one of those". Maybe if we took all the ex C330 owners and laid them end to end they'd reach to Pluto and back LMSO.....
 
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