Hasselblad first sold itself in 1996. Two years later it started selling rebadged cameras with the Xpan, which was made by Fuji, followed by the digital H-System, also made by Fuji. In 2003 a new company bought out the old with a majority stake, and they then bought Imacon the following year. Then in 2011 yet another company – Ventizz – bought Hasselblad. If you think you’re getting anything special with Hasselblad you just haven’t been paying attention.
Responding to the swift and negative reaction to its Lunar mirrorless camera, Hasselblad’s business development manager, Luca Alessandrini, forcefully defended the venerable camera maker’s partnership with Sony …
The current Leica ownership has nothing to do with the original Ernst Leitz company. Rolls-Royce belongs to Volkswagen/Audi, and Jaguar belongs to the Tata company of India. They’re just labels.
The Hasselblad Lunar (limited edition) was voted the worst camera of 2014. The Lunar is based on the Sony NEX-7. The person who made the decision on the Lunar is gone … It’s now on sale with a 5500 dollar discount. Am I a lunatic for thinking that for 1200 bucks this is a nice camera to take snapshots. Sure I would offend some purists but combined with a good eye and an interesting subject it could facilitate efforts to tell a visual story. Nothing more, nothing less.
That reminds me about the guy who breaks a wrist and asks his doctor: “Doctor, will I be able to play the piano after this heals?” The doctor replies “Absolutely, no problem!” The man laughs, and points out that that’s great because he never could play the piano before!
Buying a Bösendorfer doesn’t mean you can play the piano. Buying a great camera doesn’t mean you can create compelling photographs. Good pianists can play on anything and a good photographer can make great images with a disposable camera.
Anyway, I ended up with a Hasselblad H2 and I'm loving it...