What's wrong with Hasselblad?

I think there are two sides to the story. By all means we can make fun of their current products, simply slapping the name and some exotic materials on Sony cameras.
But to expect them to produce new innovative products is unreasonable. Hasselblad has no money. No R&D. Hasselblad as we know it does not exist any longer. They are simply milking the last cents before everyone forgets the name.
Everyone who expects more must be dumber than those designers coming up with Lunar or whatever that new Sony reincarnation is.
 
But to expect them to produce new innovative products is unreasonable. Hasselblad has no money. No R&D. Hasselblad as we know it does not exist any longer.
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I don't really agree with that. Until the last takeover you had some marvelous medium format stuff. Ok, there were Ferrari branded versions but that aside there was money and r&d and vision. The last management however has only a very narrow vision: get the last piece of money out of it and run.
 
But has Hasselblad really innovated in the last couple of... decades? They designed the H body, which in itself was nothing special, slapped third party digital back on it and third party lenses as always. They have been 99% in the rental business lately, which is no cash cow. Their products were very expensive and became in-competitive as DSLRs caught up. What was their choice? To develop another medium format camera? Those would still be expensive and R&D funds were drying up. Xpan? Even that was not their product back in the day, but would have been a huge risk today. People think RFF is THE market, but it's not. It's the niche of a niche. People wouldn't understand paying premium on panoramic while they could crop their DSLR output at fraction of the cost.
I personally think Hasselblad were doomed ages ago. I'm not surprised at all by their current actions (although admittedly I also get a chuckle out of it). They really do have no money. To save the company would require a genius new product, and that doesn't simpy come by hiring a little more competent management.
 
Spanik said:
I don't really agree with that. Until the last takeover you had some marvelous medium format stuff. Ok, there were Ferrari branded versions but that aside there was money and r&d and vision. The last management however has only a very narrow vision: get the last piece of money out of it and run.
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That Ferrari camera was really made by Fuji. All of Hasselblad's current medium format cameras are made by Fuji. Hasselblad does not exist as a company anymore; its a marketing name now, nothing more.
 
The H-series might be produced by Fuji, but that doesn't say who designed and did the R&D on it.

The electronic guts of the Lunar are from Sony, but the rest can be blamed on Hasselblad.

It's just the Stellar that is so horribly lazy.
 
Having worked in the past for a company that was bought by a investment group like the one that bought Hasselblad... It is a slow ride into oblivion :(. These guys never really truly understand the business (as much as they think they do), it is going to be a down hill ride... Just a matter of how long unless they get lucky in the future which I doubt w/ this series of Sony announcements.

Gary
 
The desease has a name :ventizz :D
Please note that there will be another two relabeld Sonys one P&S and one dSLR/SLT this year. ! http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=134975

At the high times of my xpan (years EE - SI) some dealers from east asia offered in the electronic bight wooden handgrips to replace the carbon one. Nowadays Hasselblad has overtaken this business :D
 
Phantomas said:
People think RFF is THE market, but it's not.
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I disagree. I think people here on RFF are well aware that they are not the market but just because someone will buy it, doesn't mean you have to sell it. Some people will buy snake oil too if you were to sell it to them. In fact, I expect Hasselblad to come out with its own brand of H snake oil soon.
 
So sad to see the company that designed the camera to go the moon and leave us with such incredible photos taken by astronauts devolve into a marketing scheme.
 
Hasselblad are obviously in a bit of a tight spot, their only real way of making money is selling medium format digital cameras and lenses for those cameras. The market is miniscule, probably not helped by the extreme prices and the fact that 99% of users could probably make do with a FF DSLR.

Apparently the market for medium format digital is about 6000 units a year, for all manufacturers put together, and I think that can only go down as FF gets better and better. Hasselblad need to make money elsewhere or not make money at all I think.

I don't think they are on the right path, but they need to do something if they're going to keep going.
 
Hasselblad changed hands so many times in the recent decade(s) I lost count. I like to amuse myself thinking of Hassy investors, looking at Leica's recent success going berserk thinking "dammit, why can't we do it?! we got the brand name that we heard was on par..." then dumping it on the next venture capital firm. Now the Ventizz think they got the smarts "guys, Hassie were doing it all wrong. What we need is a consumer-friendly camera that can be marketed as luxury, but be less complex and more accessible than those medium thingamajiggies, object of desire, and to those customers who want to own the NAME that command respect". Aficionados of the world, Medvedevs of photography. Why not? NEX7 is not a bad camera? Slap some bling on it, tasty stuff, becoming of photographic instrument. I hear those photog's on yachts know their camera. Now imagine you're on the Ventizz management team. You've got your targets, you've got business to rescue and turn profitable because you saw the potential, as above. You do your research. What's the market? Photographic blablabla, wait... there is a market that the name like "Hasselblad" should do well because of its legacy. It's occupied only by Leica. Good, less competition. Leica, from marketing perspective, possesses the same attributes as Hassie does. Leica's been doing well recently. So there's a potential. So how should we enter? We need a product. But.. we don't have (funds for) R&D or really any knowhow left. But we do command multiple market researches that point at what category of cameras would be suitable to go to the market with. We called Fuji, the phone was busy. We called (insert a name here), same. Sony answered and for some reason they thought that was an interesting idea at least from testing the market perspective. Why the hell not. So we took NEX7, which should be suitable for our purposes and is reconfirmed by all those market researches and a couple of techie guys we have left in consulting roles. In the same Yellow Pages we found Sony in we found an Italian design firm, which put together a kickass powerpoint presso and was totally in tune with our vision. We got the product, and we got competitive price. And seemingly both are well positioned to compete with Leica on this market. Now, let's sit back and watch those GfK research figures to see where it lends our market share in respect to Leica. We're not aiming for much, 15-20% of their market share should be good for starters. Which would mean 0.00(0)1% of total camera market. We'll see what happens next, coz as of now we have a company that sells 1,500-2,000 cameras per year worldwide, so that's not good. That didn't work. So we need a totally different approach, but being venture capital firm we have no technical experience. What we do have is a knowhow to turn a brand into profitability that is forecasted according to our expectations and is in line with acquisition investments. We will ensure continuity of business and profitability to achieve those targets by having the right strategy and product mix meeting those expectations.
:)
 
while i find lunar to be fugly, stellar look relatively more pleasant.
but how hasselblad is doing is really beyond my small brain, but i guess this is what all the premium brands are doing (hermes m7, g raw lx7, lunar, stellar, and i can imagine someone somewhere hello kitty everything)

whilst i hope there will be a renaissance of medium format into the mass market(still cost inhibiting for the sensor size and the mindless pursuit of mega pixel). none of the prestigious brands garner as much loyalty as leica. we had the dutch wedding edition and i am surprised no camera company had worked on a kate baby edition yet

pentax 645d was a noble attempt hopefully sony or samsung could do something similar (samsung being the better suited candidate with lots more money than losing money here.)
 
There hasn't been much R&D into MF for quite awhile. Those CCDs? They aren't that much better than whatever Sony stuffed into the D800, and will be crushed when someone actually makes a 50mp FF sensor with 20 stops of dynamic range. Medium format digital is dying, and Hasselblad can't do much about it. Scaling the current CMOS designs up to 645 size is going to take billions, neither they nor Pentax can come up with that much cash.

Leica pretty much did everything right where Hasselblad was wrong. They went small format digital early on, milked rich idiots with the Panasonic do-overs, and they now have a presence in the digital world. It's easy to survive when you have an extensive lens system, an in-house processor and is the only company that regularly releases great cameras. The M9 was sufficiently technologically advanced for 2009, so is the M for 2013.

Also, I think they sold their name better. My friends, even those who don't own a camera, knows Leica as "the brand for rich, cool, pro-level photographers", even as fewer and fewer professionals use them. That's an extremely valuable asset to a company, when they get rich they'll all want their own "Leica".
 
Mmmmh, all answers make some sense and I was not expecting Hassselbad to design their own sensor and a new line of lenses since it is clear that this is within reach of a just a few giants from Japan or Korea but what their are doing is really pathetic. These are not cameras "based" on some existing model, they are existing cameras made uglier and less user friendly by adding ridicolous accessories which, just in case this was not enough. are also so technologically simple that almost anyone could produce them in their garage. You know, a camera based on a Sony model but sporting a fixed focal length fast Zeiss lens, a sturdier body and some modifications such as a different AA filter a double card slot and some EVF possibly also coming from Sony would still be an "assebled" camera but could be interesting to somebody. These are just the same camera with a wooden grip...

GLF
 
The digital backs for the Hassy MF make the whole camera pretty clunky. They are a step back from the classic 500 series cube. And they are expensive (even more than Leica S).
What would be the incentive for owners of Hasselblad lenses to invest more into a system when they can have all their lenses fully functional on a modern ergonomically superior body like the Leica S2 ? I guess to come up with that H-to S2 adapter was very unusual but pretty darn smart of Leica. Not only at the time they were slow releasing the new S lenses with central shutter but pull in a lot of pros with Hassy lenses into their platform.
 
Hasselblad has -

Killed off the V camera sysyem (6x6)
Created the "Lunar" camera
And now they have created the "Stellar" camera

Conclusion: Hasselblad has gone insane. :eek:
 
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