End of Hasselblad V, Zeiss M RF, ...

[Vickko]

... I wonder if Leica M film cameras are next.

I haven't shopped for a new film camera in ages, but, are they still available?

 

[redisburning]

some are, for sure the M7, MP and several voigtlanders are.

 

[thegman]

There is a pretty decent range of new film cameras still, and some are actually fairly new releases. Off the top of my head...

DHW Fototechnik - Rolleiflex and a few others.
Fujfilm - Klasse, Natura, GF670, GF670w.
Leica - MP, M7
Fotoman - Several, including the very tempting dMini.
Alpa - Several very nice looking cameras.
Voigtlander, of course.
Lomo - Loads of different things.

Some of the above seem pricey, like the Rolleiflexes, but I guess people pay more for a top end Nikon, Canon, or Leica.

Lots I'm forgetting I'm sure, and there are very many large format camera makers too.

 

[MarylandBill]

I think it is safe to say that film and film cameras will be with us for a very long time. At the very least, I suspect that some company will find it worth while to make at least a couple of B&W films in 35mm, 120 and large format. And I suspect 3D printing will help make sure that cameras remain available as well. Though frankly there are probably enough old cameras out there that can be serviced to keep most of us shooting for the rest of our lives.

--
Bill

 

[nikon_sam]

I own two Nikon F4's and an F5 (three of my newest cameras)...I'm pretty sure these will be in my line-up for a long time...I also have other 35mm cameras (Pentax, Canon, Olympus) that should continue to work for sometime too...I'm not too concerned with nor am I currently looking for any more 35mm cameras...what I have would last two lifetimes...
There are enough used film cameras out there in decent shape to last us for quite some time...
My plan is to try to wear out at least one of these cameras...

 

[Vobluda]

Klasse and Natura has been discounted.

There is a pretty decent range of new film cameras still, and some are actually fairly new releases. Off the top of my head...

DHW Fototechnik - Rolleiflex and a few others.
Fujfilm - Klasse, Natura, GF670, GF670w.
Leica - MP, M7
Fotoman - Several, including the very tempting dMini.
Alpa - Several very nice looking cameras.
Voigtlander, of course.
Lomo - Loads of different things.

Some of the above seem pricey, like the Rolleiflexes, but I guess people pay more for a top end Nikon, Canon, or Leica.

Lots I'm forgetting I'm sure, and there are very many large format camera makers too.

 

[sevo]

Well, there still are modular medium format (D)SLRs.

The Hasselblad H system (Fuji GX645) still is around, with a film back on list - but we can't know whether they actually still do production runs of the latter or ship old inventory.

The current Mamiya cannot drive (Mamiya legacy) film backs any more, due to changes in the body/back communication protocol that dropped the film commands - but if old bodies should grow scarce enough, it would not be that hard to modify either the firmware or the backs.

 

[YYV_146]

I do feel for the Ikon. I liked the camera but never got around and bought one.

Zeiss still services those, if I'm not mistaken, so you might as well as get a used set.

 

[kossi008]

You can still buy a new Zeiss Ikon, too. They're still selling off the last production run, I guess.

 

[Jamie123]

... I wonder if Leica M film cameras are next.

I think for now they're fairly safe as they are much more stable as a company unlike Hasselblad who seem to change owners faster than it takes me to get through a roll of film.

As far as the Hasselblad V system is concerned, I can't imagine they were still producing them anyways. I heard a rumour years ago that they had already stopped making them and were selling what they had in stock. Probably now the stock is coming to an end so they had to announce it was discontinued.

 

[S.H.]

Well, 75000+ 500C and 240000 500C/M have been made before 1994. Even if half of them were written off (lost, uneconomical to repair, ...), that is still a good number of bodies. So it should be hard for Hasselblad to sell the same gear now at a high price. No wonder they pulled the plug, they were just competing with themselves.

Same with all the others. Just look at the sheer number of F/F2/F3/F4/F5/F6 bodies : how Nikon could sell a film body more appealing than those, and cheaper?

There is far more old film gear than current film photographers.

 

[Snapper_uk]

There is a pretty decent range of new film cameras still, and some are actually fairly new releases. Off the top of my head...

DHW Fototechnik - Rolleiflex and a few others.
Fujfilm - Klasse, Natura, GF670, GF670w.
Leica - MP, M7
Fotoman - Several, including the very tempting dMini.
Alpa - Several very nice looking cameras.
Voigtlander, of course.
Lomo - Loads of different things.

Some of the above seem pricey, like the Rolleiflexes, but I guess people pay more for a top end Nikon, Canon, or Leica.

Lots I'm forgetting I'm sure, and there are very many large format camera makers too.

Don't forget Mamiya - The Mamiya 7, RB67 and RZ67. Are the RB and RZ the last remaining Medium Format SLRs still left in production? And I wonder for how much longer?

 

[thegman]

Well, 75000+ 500C and 240000 500C/M have been made before 1994. Even if half of them were written off (lost, uneconomical to repair, ...), that is still a good number of bodies. So it should be hard for Hasselblad to sell the same gear now at a high price. No wonder they pulled the plug, they were just competing with themselves.

Same with all the others. Just look at the sheer number of F/F2/F3/F4/F5/F6 bodies : how Nikon could sell a film body more appealing than those, and cheaper?

There is far more old film gear than current film photographers.

I guess that going to be a problem when you build stuff to last. Also, it's a problem when you products cannot be made to be considered "obsolete", i.e. You can put brand new Portra 400 in a camera made 50 years ago, so you can't upsell someone to the next big thing like you can in digital.

 

[mugent]

It's not surprising there are very few film cameras being made anymore, as the best ones have already been made decades ago, the industry reached as far as it could go, there are many, many, damn near perfect film cameras. We are nowhere near that in digital yet.

If I want the best 35mm/120 camera, it's already been made years ago.

 

[jsrockit]

... I wonder if Leica M film cameras are next.

I haven't shopped for a new film camera in ages, but, are they still available?

Well, Leica is niche enough to keep making some film cameras. However, there has not been ANY mainstream film cameras introduced in a long while.

 

[S.H.]

I guess that going to be a problem when you build stuff to last. Also, it's a problem when you products cannot be made to be considered "obsolete", i.e. You can put brand new Portra 400 in a camera made 50 years ago, so you can't upsell someone to the next big thing like you can in digital.

Exactly. What is good for customers is not necessarily good for the industry. My parents still have their first fridge, bought used 😱. Still works. Now they know better, some parts are designed to break, you are not supposed to buy a fridge, oven, camera, ... and be good for the next 20 years.

The Hasseblad V is a victim of its own quality, and of the greed of our system. Sad really.

 

[Jamie123]

Exactly. What is good for customers is not necessarily good for the industry. My parents still have their first fridge, bought used 😱. Still works. Now they know better, some parts are designed to break, you are not supposed to buy a fridge, oven, camera, ... and be good for the next 20 years.

The Hasseblad V is a victim of its own quality, and of the greed of our system. Sad really.

Believe me, many parts in Hasselblad cameras can break, get loose, loose tension etc. etc. And having a Hasselblad camera, lens or back fixed is not very cheap. I still have a couple of Hasselblads and I actually consider my Canon 5DII to be much more reliable.

I think the main problem was that Hasselblad V cameras were amongst the most popular cameras for pros at one time who then, for the most part, all switched to digital around the same time. This resulted in a massive amount of Hasselblads on the used market, thus driving down the price. If you can get a 503cw for $1k it's hard to justify paying $4k+ for a new one.