Should a Hasselblad be Black or Silver?

I tend to use black cameras, and my first Hassy, inherited from my father, has been black, so this is how it started. However, I have long ago forgone the idea to use the Hassy as a stealth street shooting tool 🙂 , and I always pull out a tripod if I want to shoot one of them, so I believe the chrome ones would also have a lot of sex appeal ;-)
 
My SLR is a Hasselblad and this is the camera I always come back to. Black or Chrome? There is a practical perspective to choosing one over the other. Black bodies tend to scratch easily at least easier than chrome bodies which hide rub marks and other blemishes better. So if you are buying second hand a "mint" black CM or whatever will likely be used much less than a "mint" chrome body. I kind of like the look of a black SWC but chrome 503CW looks very classical. The entry level 501C was made in black only so that was how Hasselblad felt about black I guess. So if you are buying new then choose chrome so it hides the wear for better resale; and choose black if you are buying used.
 
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I bought my black one second hand so colour was not an option, but if you use your black `blad hard enough it`ll soon start to chrome. So, yes it is harder to tell if chrome ones have had a hard life.
 
When I was shooting 120 I bought whatever was priced right. I had a mix of scarred up black optics and scratched up chrome ones, all with clean glass though. I was able to pick up a meter prism with a broken meter for a small fraction of what a used meterless prism was worth.

About the only comments I've ever heard from a client were along the lines of "WOW, what stories that camera could tell!"

Check with Cameraleather and pick out some exotic snake or lizard skin. That's a more important consideration than "black or chrome". Make sure that it matches your necktie and doesn't clash with your eye color.
 
I never had a preference but there is a fellow around here who thought they should be white. Yes, he'd buy a brand new VH piece and immediately paint it. More than once it caused an issue when a warranty issue arose.
 
Since this thread came back from the dead...
DSCF2860.jpg


Pretty light on a bored morning...Dig the tea set? My aunt got it for me for my birthday.
 
I've owned both. 503CW and 203FEs, both ways. I generally like black cameras, but the Hasselblad just looks more like a Hasselblad with chrome accents. Sorta like a Rolleiflex wouldn't be quite so Art Deco swank if it were all black....
 
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