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Hasselblad responds to Lunar criticisms

Sep 19, 2012 at 19:45:24 GMT

CAMERA NEWS E-MOUNT HASSELBLAD MIRRORLESS

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Responding to the swift and negative reaction to its just-announced Lunar mirrorless camera, Hasselblad's business development manager, Luca Alessandrini, forcefully defended the venerable camera maker's partnership with Sony in an interview with the British Journal of Photography. Alessandrini stressed that, 'This [the Lunar] is not a NEX-7 camera, just because we are buying components from Sony'. He makes a pointed distinction between the Hasselblad-Sony partnership and the 'rebranding' arrangement between Leica and Panasonic. Alessandrini also says that the decision to use an unmodified Sony sensor for the first Lunar camera doesn't preclude the company from making sensor modifications for future models.

In seeking to explain the company's long-term strategy and product design decisions, Alessandrini says that unlike other makers who have distinct looks for different camera classes, 'What we're doing is designing three cameras – a compact camera, a DSLR and a mirrorless – with the same style'. And as for criticism generated by the Lunar's €5000 price, he adds, '...we're not robbing people by making a huge profit on the camera. Our profit margin is the same as everyone else's; we're just using more expensive materials.'

You can read the entire interview at the British Journal of Photography's web site.

Comments

Total comments: 608

I don't think people would protest too much if it is priced comparably to NEX-7. They would say, yeah weird design but someone may like it.
But to put a price 5x the NEX-7 on which it is undoubtedly based?
Are we such a shallow suckers that we will fall for it?

1 upvote

To each his own. But I don't think the "You're jealous because you can't afford it" arguement applies here.

2 upvotes

No, it not nearly as nicely designed as a Nex-7.
It is design for design sake - art with a capital F!

2 upvotes

It's a tough market right now, and the "true artists and serious pros" can also pick rebadged Panasonics from one of H's surviving competitors (why either survives is another story...).

I agree with a previous poster; one way to get an advantage in the "serious pro" market is to release a B&W version.

Alienating fans and customers with condescending press remarks can only go so far to sell a status symbol if the clients are specifically people that insist they are somehow visionaries and not fashion victims.

Be proactive: Remove features. If that still doesn't work, increase the price. Maybe get a few nutters to blog and write the brand name in capital letters (there's a "LEICA" fan online with big statements and little brains that comes to mind...). Add a name of a photographer to the model. If you can't afford to have one dropped on the moon, this time just drop it from a building. Put your logo in the middle of the lens; not even the red dot boys have thought of that and the logo will be right up front.

This can still be a success as long as it offers even less, costs even more, and captures the "self-absorbed delusional" market.

1 upvote

Exactly what was Hasselblad expecting?

Did they really think they would get high praise for pimping out a Sony NEX and charging $5300 more for it?

Come on. Lets get real.

4 upvotes

I'm really hoping they're playing the age old "any publicity is good publicity" ploy.

Unfortunately for them, I'm not sure there's ever been anything to back up that idea... Ahh well, that's a few less venture capitalists driving Ferraris this year. Shame ;)

I do love Roger Cicala's take though:
http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2012/09/product-announcement-lensrentals-looney

0 upvotes

I'm sure the chinese guys will give 50K$ cash for not only a gold-plated Lunar, but also ivory wrapped, tiger skin camera case, jade-made lens cover, 24 carat diamonds for the knobs. Oh yes, don't forget, silk strap.

0 upvotes

$ 4,000 worth of materials? Is that solid gold with diamonds? Come one. To another dog with that bone.

0 upvotes

Hasselblad to me will always be the 500C I had back in the 1970s; hey I'm an old guy. I had two backs, one loaded with TriX the other PlusX and a basement darkroom for processing. Today Hasselblad exists in name only; it's not the same company. Owners include UBS, Cinven and apparently some members of management. Well, that's a possible explanation for the Lunar, it was designed by committee and some members with limited photography experience. Oh, then the committee went to Sony for the innards, further complicating things. Oh boy, that 500C was wonderful.

1 upvote

Nobody in their right mind would want a Minolta hot shoe on a camera this expensive that has little or nothing to do with alpha lenses. Sony even ditched the hot shoe on their own latest cameras. How can you say this isn't just a gussied up NEX7 when it still has that same Minolta hot shoe? Do they think lots of Hasselblad users already have Minolta flashes laying around? Really? Or that people who are loaded enough to afford this wouldn't go out and buy a more modern flash? We're not THAT stupid.

Comment edited 32 seconds after posting

2 upvotes

"Alessandrini says that unlike other makers who have distinct looks for different camera classes, 'What we're doing is designing three cameras – a compact camera, a DSLR and a mirrorless – with the same style'"

That should squash all the criticisms completely then...

I think this bozo has missed the point, more than somewhat.

0 upvotes

Way to go Hasselblad. Defend the indefensible and tell your potential customers they are wrong. Lets see how many sales you get of your nex-7.

2 upvotes

Oh Hasselblad an in case you didn't notice a lot of the criticism is not just the price but the looks. The buttons in some of them look positively painful to use too.

1 upvote

Almost perfect street photography/candid camera!

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

3 upvotes

Not sure what you people are complaining about. This is clearly a niche camera aimed at the following person:

- wants a Nex-7
- hates low prices
- drives a '94 Ford Tempo with "woodie" conversion and chrome spinners
- likes being pointed at by people with perplexed looks on their faces

These people deserve cameras too!

4 upvotes

Make a B&W only version and be done with it.

0 upvotes

They would have made more money if they bothered to create a digital V-series back that had a 6x6 sensor and sold it for $6k. They'd probably be back ordered for months. This camera will sell maybe one or two a month.

1 upvote

There is one digital camera missing from the digital flora: A large sensor mirrorless system camera. Put a 4x4cm sensor in it, (possibly squeeze it up to 5x5cm?) design a new 60mm normal and 100mm portarit lenses (even throw in a 30mm wide angle, if they have the resources), sell it with a Hasselblad SLR adapter, and call it a day.
I think that kind of camera, especially with the reputation of Hasselblad, could make a few head turn, especially if they could keep the price close to Leica S.

1 upvote

These ideas sound feesible.
But I fear the real truth is Hassy is broke and about 2 months away from bankruptcy, and so this last ditch cheapo attempt to screw a few suckers over for their cash is all they have left in the suggestion box. Like the last gasp of a dying and visionless corporation.

1 upvote

And now the first sketch of the RX100 Hasselblad mock up camera is shown. Looks like a mini-lunar.

Best of luck “habblesad” (as I heard it referred too yesterday). Maybe there is some phantom unknown mysterious market of buyers with tons of cash lying around hiding like the Fremen on Dune or something.

Who am I to judge.

Carl

1 upvote

What happens when a small car (HB) crosses the center divider into the path of an oncoming big rig (Sony)?
You end up with a one sided smash up which this camera is.

0 upvotes

Reminds me of an old prop from a 1964 episode of Star Trek.
Trouble with Tribbles.

1 upvote

Hasselblad can say whatever they likes.

As a potential customer, as most of us are here, you have to ask the question, why would a I drop my hard-earned money, $6500 or so, on an ugly, overpriced NEX-7?

Money talks Hasselblad walks.

2 upvotes

Dear Sony and Hasselblad:

Do you wonder why there are so many horrid comments?

Trying to peddle an obnoxious design on intelligent beings will not work most of the time here on planet Earth...

Aaahhh so that's why it's Lunar!.... (finally got it..)

5 upvotes

I made peace with the fact that I am not the intended target market for this camera. That said, I can't quite figure out who is. If Hasselblad had come up with a full-frame DSLR with a square 30mm x 30mm sensor, now THAT would have gotten my attention. The square 6x6 format of film Hasselblads had many followers, and some would still like that as an option. In all of the digital world there is currently no sensor for that.

2 upvotes

Square composition, waist-level viewing have many virtues. This is just a design exercise. When Leica rebadges a Panasonic point and shoot, they do so reasonably and I will accept the implied value in any software tweaks and the way Leica stands by the customer. For example, at this price point, Hasselblad should have said "and the camera carries a lifetime warranty."

2 upvotes

They can learn from their competitors and from history. In fact they can combine lessons learned!

Put a red dot on it. Also add "Merrill" to the name.

It's now a serious tool for dedicated pros and artists that can see beyond hype and deliver stunning images. And it's better than the competition; not only is it overpriced but it's got both a red dot, and the name of a guy involved with a sensor that's different chiefly for the sake of being different, plus it's got an H on it and zebrawood. Unbeatable.

True photographers will find it essential. The rest are just point-and-shoot tourists.

1 upvote

Hasselblad is now finished, isn't it? Almost overnight the brand has a nasty odor.

7 upvotes

Unfortunately I have to agree. You can never fully trust a company which exhibits such a nasty poverty of insight.

4 upvotes

They really aren't finished.

They have just become the laughingstock of the industry. Whether this helps or hurts the sales of their well made medium format cameras remains to be seen.

3 upvotes

Who cares if Hassleblad go under FUJI can still sell the medium format cameras under their own name .......

0 upvotes

Oh! I get it now ! Most of the people are complaining here NOT about the looks of the camera but about materials which have been used to make it! This somehow appears to be an affront to photograpy ! So Hassy obviously has made the wrong decision , it should have made black plastic camera with a bit o rubber thrown in (aka Nikon or Canon) to make all of You guys drool over it! Then it would have been regarded as a proper proffesional tool even if the price was the same ! As for the twin dials - this really made me smile ! My car has four wheels - obviously it is an outrageous imitation of a Rolls Royce :)

0 upvotes

"This [the Lunar] is not a NEX-7 camera" .... then tell me why at least the twin dials, the Minolta Hotshoe and the EVF are exactly in the same place as on the NEX. Of course it is a NEX-7 in hideous drag. Go on, sell that Pimpcam to all those rich-but-tasteless Russian, Chinese and Arab showoffs, to those who think a Leica is too subtle, but please don't lie publicly.

9 upvotes

You are absolutely correct. He can talk round and round but it is a NEX-7. Maybe they will not make a huge profit selling it at $6500, with the added bling, but that's because Hassy has huge overhead and not much in sales. I don't begrudge them anything, but it is sad to see Hasselblad reduced to re-badging Sony cameras.

3 upvotes

@dragon, I don't know what to say about that personal insult. I can only assure you that you're dead wrong. In fact I'm utterly ashamed of the role my home country played at that miserable time and do not believe the slightest bit that we have just been a victim of the Nazi regime. We certainly still have very strong nationalistic tendencies around here. There is no other way to explain the huge success, the ultra-right-wing "freedom" party is having right now (which might even force me to leave my home town, should they gain control over it one day).

Considering my post - maybe you've misread me. I'd didn't say all Russian, Chinese and Arabs are rich showoffs. But I bet you that this is where 90% of all those fugly Franken-Sonys are ending up in the hands of exactly that clientele. And really, I don't have a problem with it, as long as it generates added value within Europe and keeps Hasselblad in business and maybe even helps to produce something more true to their 'blad heritage.

0 upvotes

Well said, Martin. By the way, your English is flawless.

0 upvotes

I wonder what the tenor of comments would have been IF Hasselblad had come with the Lunar before the NEX 7?

2 upvotes

Then people would have simply commented on the epic hideousness of the design, and the lack of value compared to an Oly or Pany.

It would have still been a PR disaster.

7 upvotes

They're doomed Captain Mainwearing, they're doomed! ;-)

1 upvote

Blaa blaa blaa. Me thinks he protests too much!

0 upvotes

After all that was written just for two days, I believe there is no turning back for Hassy. Redesigning, new project plan, new creative concept and also new mindset from Hassy towards the market and what their customers actually value in their brand. Photographers doesn't value, fancy wood, carbon or stylish polish super-duper Mg - Al body.

Photographers value and respect Hasselblad for what they are!

1 upvote

That is a kamikaze move, probably it is the only way they could come up with in order to stay in business. But the interview just shows that Hasselblad has no real arguments to defend its strategy.

3 upvotes

Sad because the photo community would welcome innovations in viewing systems, image processing, lens mounts, whatever. Look at Fuji in contrast. Even if not always 100 percent successful, it is trying to advance sensor array, viewing systems and, yes, design. Their newest high-end designs are refreshing because they use what has been successful in the past in intelligent and attractive ways and make sense functionally.

2 upvotes

They need a strap designed by Gucci and a camera case from Luis Vuitton.

3 upvotes

Yes, as has been said, what they need to do is to find the last rhinos, and tigers and rare snakes, shoot them dead, and make the hand grip with matching strap of that precious leather (the leica experience). That's what true photographers value.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 2 minutes after posting

7 upvotes

Well said Rage Joe.

2 upvotes

If all You guys want Hassy to survive as a pure photographic tool company then put the money where your mouth is! i.e. Rush in droves to the nearest photo equipment outlet to buy their regular cameras ! It's all too easy to say what other company should do to survive but it's quite different thing when it comes to give them ready recipes ! Maybe the price for this company to survive as a tool company is also to make separate fashion cameras which most of You guys will have to learn to ignore !

0 upvotes

I don't have the money they want and I don't want to sell my kidney !

0 upvotes

I understand your point, but your statement doesn't actually correspond with what Luca said on the interview. If they really need to survive on the market there are many other ways to do it, and this isn't one of them.

3 upvotes

Obviously he is not going to tell us that Hassy is in dire straits !
But I'm pretty much sure that they have realized that demand for $15K cameras is very limited. So on the one hand they want to expand their business but on the other they don't want to cannibalize their proffessional line. Thats in a way explains why this design (which I personally like ) is so radically different from their professional cameras. They also don't want them to make too cheaply because they risk devaluing the status of the brand ! (Look Leica )

0 upvotes

yeah but you see the point is, that their product is not worth buying from a photographers standpoint, so why should i try to save a company that obviously lost their mind?

3 upvotes

zavat, you are missing the point!
I want Hasselblad to survive as much as I wanted Rollei to survive - of Contax for that matter.

Nothing to do with that I want to buy all of these cameras, not one of them actually.

But these companies have been more than just iconic companies. They used to be at the forefront of the IMAGE.

Take Hasselblad. While never cheap, they were affordable in the analog age and certainly there was a lot value for money.

The point is: If you convert those companies to lucury brands then you basically kill them. The gold Rolleiflex did nit help Rollei at all.
But a new digital concept camera - be it based on Sony or whatever - could be a chance. See Oly, see Fuji and to an extend also Sony: These maklers do something special, sometimes more expensive (Fuji), but it has a value as a tool...

2 upvotes

One more thing! If there is one thing which I'm truly unhappy about this new project by Hassy it is their choice of the sensor! I don't understand why they haven't decided to use the new Fuji sensor! It would have been much better choice not to mention the fact that they have been are already using Fuji lenses !

0 upvotes

But how do you know that their new camera is not going to fit like a proverbial glove or that is not going to work like a proper camera ? We are all used to cameras from NIKON , CANON etc which most of the time look like soapboxes and somehow nobody regrets that they don't look the like cameras in the seventies (Oh maybe Oly and Fuji would disagree :) -question is for how long ) Let's wait and see what will come out of it and what proper camera reviewers have to say!

0 upvotes

@Andreas-AM You can't compare a $6000 re-design of the NEX-7 with the Fuji X100 or X-Pro1. Fuji's top models are about a lot more than just retro design. Fuji are doing innovative things with sensor design and VF technology providing a lot of value for photographers. Hasselblad is basically outsourcing components for ALL of the Lunar and hiring a designer to give the camera a luxury feel, but nothing new, and not much value for photographers. Not the same thing at all.

1 upvote

To survive in the marketplace, you have to provide a product or service that customers, in this case photographers, need and or want. Looking at the feedback, this camera is not needed or wanted. The one thing in the interview I found positive was that they plan to design a DSLR and a mirrorless ILC. Hasselblad has always been a professional camera company. They have products to meet the needs of pro's using medium format, but they don't have products to meet the needs of pros using DSLRs, mirrorless ILC's, or rangefinders. That is where they need to go, and like with their medium format products, keep it more about quality and less about style.

0 upvotes

Both Kodak and Fuji were once venerable companies in the film era. One survived and the other did not. While Fuji couldn't break into DSLR market, they did not sit on their collectives ar$$. They innovated and made and continue to make products relevant to the market and times. And so goes with Hassleblad and Leica as well. Too many missteps, and you are done (see Kodak). Don't just make the stuff expensive and expect people to buy it just because you are Hassleblad. The corporate vision of what made the company great has to reflect in each and every one of their product. Re-badged NEX is not it. At least not at this ridiculous price point. Yeah, Leica pimps rebadged Pannys but doesn't gouge the consumers excessively. Both companies need electronic expertise of other companies for survival. For now, Leica is doing it right, Hassleblad is not ...

Comment edited 21 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

Sad to see Hasselblad not trying to make the best camera, but the most expensive camera. I think the idea of Hasselblad was never about Luxury but about outstanding functionality.

If you want to produce something along these lines, which a lot of people will pay a lot of money for, just make a real 6x6 digital back!

4 upvotes

Lunar may be a hit for Hassi...

But certainly not the way it is now.
The huge and very emotional response from users all over the world tell a story: We, the people that actually use cameras (be it for profession or as an amateur) love the brand Hasselblad.

Gosh, I remember how desperate I was for a 500 C/M, what desire I had for the SWC - ....

I WANT Hasselblad to survive as a "tool company" - if I need to drill a hole, Makita or Hilti come to ming, if I need to take an ultimate quality photo (of a certain size) Hasselblad comes to mind.

I am sure that there is a good marketspace for special APS-C or FF cameras (see Leica), but

PLEASE DO NOT CONVERT THIS TOOLING COMPANY INTO A FASHION AND LUXURY BRAND - WITH MEANINGLESS PRODUCTS

If this is what the board of Hasselblad receives as a feedback, if they understand and come up with a NEX based creation that makes sense and gives us a better Tool - well, then this all was good.

3 upvotes

Long way from those wonderful brochures on 6x6 photography, including a great one from Ansel Adams. Still have it.

1 upvote

This is decadence at its purest, not because it is producing for the exclusively rich, but because it has a cheap sense of profit greed behind it – all of that many people really hate about recent capitalism and its proponents. Hasselblad got it all wrong. It is a cheap product for a horrendous price.

So, folks, it is not overpriced, it has the price it deserves!

6 upvotes

...I hope now you understand that photographers are not just a bunch of consumers, ready to play with every new toy on the market. Profit is nothing compared to your name in the industry. Please do yourself a favor by redesigning this concept before it's too late.

All the best,
Freemindset photographer

5 upvotes

And I hope they you guys finally will understand that this isn't a camera for photographers.
H4D is.
Lunar is not.

4 upvotes

Totally true! Hassy is not a jewelry company!

0 upvotes

If and when they want to **** the photographers let them go extinct. Good bye, you greedy hasslebad, no one needs this kind of ridiculous stuff.

Comment edited 50 seconds after posting

1 upvote

I'm a photographer. I've shot the H4D-31, 40, 50 and 60.
I bought a Nikon D800e because it offered great quality and excellent value for money. At over 5x the price the H4D-31 could not best it!

0 upvotes

Oh, and one more thing! There seems to be a lot of people who complain about the price of the new Hasselblad!
Whoa, I didn't know that so many people here are regular customers of that company! It looks that while it may be very easy for You guys to spend $14 000 on regular Hasselblad H4D-31 it simply too much for You to pay $5 000 for this camera! Figure this out?

0 upvotes

first of all i own a 500cm, and secondly: dont you get it, that its about the DESIGN???

5k for a premium camera is ok, why not^^

but read the other comments, its not about the price, even if someone mentions the price, their main argument is the design.

and even in your post, ok you pay 14000 for a MF top of the line hasselblad, and 5k for a rebranded sony? how does that fit? and again, its not the price itself its the price in relation to he product.

and then people compare it to leica hermes model, leica makes superrobust, compact bodies with excellent lenses, so once in a while they bring out a luxury model, with differentaterials, but thats not the same like hassi does here

this would be like if leica never built an M and suddently comes out with a re branded fuji x-pro1 in ostrich leather AND the design of the lunar, and charges the 50k hermes price.

5 upvotes

Free advice to Hasselblad's management team behind this concept - Go back to the drawing board immediately!

The potential in your cooperation with Sony is HUGE, but you are this close to make your worst strategic decision ever with this cameras. I have never ever seen in my practice as PM practitioner such a fail from the start of a product / project. I really respect you guys, Hassi is one of the biggest names in the industry. But come on - Luca's interview was lame, no offence Luca. Defence position in this situation makes things even worse. Who will believe in this product - Paris Hilton, King Abdullah, Roman Abramovich? Are they your targeted audience? Can't you see where the market is going? Did you notice the great success of Fuji's new old style cameras? Hellooo, are you blind or deaf? Do you remember Hassi XPan? Why not integrate Sony's technology in a new digital version of X-pan. Then you can try to sell it for 2-3k and yes you will have big chance to succeed....

8 upvotes

Poor Luca. The outcry was not on the principle. Sony is a great provider of innovative technology in the photography space, and the NEX7 is an excellent platform. It is/would be great news to know that Hasselblad is tinkering with that platform to improve it, through ergonomic changes to the body and the software, and to make its manipulation more "luxurious" (more responsive buttons and dials, better layout of commands, software user interface, etc). Hell, creativity in terms of shape and colours and material is more than welcome as well!

The outcry is about the outcome of that project: the design choices are awful. Just awful. They are a paramount of bad taste. They are the contrary of the declared aspiration. The design choices point clearly to the worst of Eighties/Nineties bling, and there was a clientele for that. So, perhaps, they know who they are designing this for. That is not a market segment I feel any affinity with. And has nothing to do with photography. Very sad.

Comment edited 4 minutes after posting

7 upvotes

We do not need titanium, carbon or exotic woods. The technology in this camera will date in a year. This is over engineering on the wrong part of the camera.

In your BJF interview you indirectly slag Asian manufacturing. The Japanese presently make the best cameras in the world. Asia is the worlds high tech factory floor. Don't build the camera in Sweden to subsidize your social government if it produces a bloated ugly overpriced product. As business manager you are running this business to certain death!

If Samsung can come out of no where and in a few years build pretty respectable cameras, shouldn't Hasselblad be able to do so much better?

Build us a good camera with proven materials at a reasonable price and we will buy it.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 2 minutes after posting

7 upvotes

The asian manufacturers provide you with all the needed tools. Performance, novelty, price, you have all that you desire from canon, nikon, sony, the lot. What leica and hasselblad are proposing is beyond that, because some people can't care less about the latest and the greatest, all wrapped in a good all-round package, some poeple desire luxury, uniqueness. H&M clothes are good enough, you don't really need armani to look good.

0 upvotes

I would take Japanese manufacturing over any other in a heartbeat. No culture is as anal-intensive as Japanese culture.

0 upvotes

Message to Hasselblad: Read this forum! You can still change direction! You would show strength and wisdom if you listened, you might even save the company.

8 upvotes

I have met many accomplished, and financially successful, artists in my life none of whom felt the need to use the qualifier "pro" to describe what they did for a living. As an earning a photographer I have been frequently humbled, when surveying a genuine work of art, to reflect on the huge gulf of creative skill between that required to produce it . . and mine own.
And yet I have never heard an artist attempting to elevate themselves by speaking, in sneering terms, at the tools chosen by their aspiring contemporaries.
I am also sure they would not work themselves into a lather over the packaging used by Windsor and Newton.
Buying esoteric equipment and giving up your day job does not make a photographer any more worthy than users of P&S cameras. Complaining about the appearance of the tools of the trade only confirms the fact that they are technocrats not artists.
Were they alive today I doubt that Ansel Adams or Henri Cartier- Bresson would feel the need to enter this debate.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 14 minutes after posting

1 upvote

LOL http://i.imgur.com/2Dq4K.jpg

LOL http://i.imgur.com/iAxhL.jpg

2 upvotes

that pimped Nexus looks reel cool imo. But when i see those Leica and Hassy prices I can't stop thinking of the thousands of children starving to death each day across the world

0 upvotes

Let horses think, they have bigger heads.

0 upvotes

@Shamael : considering your name, I should expect such reaction :/

0 upvotes

New game:

For the 5000€ asking price for the Lunar, what camera(s) would you get in stead ?

I start:
NEX-6 + 35mmF1.8 + 24mmF1.8 Zeiss + 55-210mmF3.5-6.3
plus an RX100

Alternatively:
Fuji X-E1 + 3 lenses
plus an RX100.

4 upvotes

For the price of some foie grass in monaco harbour, what could you get?

- 20 big macs, 14 cokes and 10 portions of fries or
- 10 buckets of crispy strips, 20 portions of fries and 10 cokes.

That's how your argument stands. Price is not a comparrison tool for one-offs and special editions, they cannot be compared to mass-marketed and consumer-optimised goods.

1 upvote

It is your analogy that is off.
Hassy Lunar is not analogue to foie gras in a fine restaurant.
It is a bic mac in a fine veneer box in stead of styrofoam.

Besides, if we are to believe mr. Allesandrini, Hassy Lunar is not supposed to be one-off. It is supposed to bring Hassy to a wider younger audience with professional aspirations.

If I were a young person with limited money to spare, but wanting for a great kit, I would go for one of the two mentioned sets.

I can imagine having a bic mac served in a fine veneer box would be a class statement in certain circles.

5 upvotes

@nicolaiecostel Except in this case it is 20 big macs with a foie grass bun.

0 upvotes

What a wasted opportunity. Hasselblad could have produced something unique and beautifully designed and technologically innovative at a reasonable price, thereby enhancing their brand image and reputation, creating a new market for themselves. Instead we get this HORRIBLE monster, totally overpriced to a point where it's insulting, and leaves everyone with the impression hat this company is not interested in creating photographic tools, but bling accessories for people with too much money.

3 upvotes

If they are after collectors or wealthy people at least they could have take the guts of the NEX-7 and put them in a mini 500c replica, of simple lines, square, with the LCD on top like a folding waist level viewfinder, with a fake film back where you could put an extra battery or keep a small flash or some memory cards... It would be a real homage and not just using a great name like Lunar for the sake of it. That's something I would be interested in even if I couldn't afford.

1 upvote

I have read some of the comments regarding new Hasselblad and I must say I am totally amazed by how emotional they are! I MYSELF like the look of the new camera hassy has designed ! Yes, it's very futuristic ...and that's what I like about it. I suppose if somebody had shown the 2012 Lamborghini Aventador to the people living in the nineteen twenties he would have been met by similar reception ! i.e. what an ugly contraption ! The beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder ! But sometimes fashion trends and the passage of time also changes our perception of what we regard as beautiful ( In Rubens times present day fashion models would be regarded as downright ugly ). In the end of the day we fortunately CAN CHOOSE of what we like and what we buy ! Vive la difference !!!

1 upvote

I agree with you, Lamborghini Aventador is SUPERB. It's truly designed and built by Lamborghini, not simply wrapping up a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord (even though both are nice cars). I personally don't have such bad feeling about the futuristic design too, but it may not be good for Hasselblad to become Hassy Fashion or Hassy Boutique, simply wrapping up Sony using different costume.

0 upvotes

But there is no actual information that this is NEX-7 in Hassy fashion! I would like to remind You that even Nikon and Olympus not to mention Pentax are not using their own sensors (Nikon in fact uses Sony's) And as for the lens mount , the MicroThird is an open standard for which 4 or 5 lens companys are now making their lenses and somehow nobody says that Olympus has sold it's soul to the devil. In fact Hasselblad has never made their own lenses! They were and are mostly made by Zeiss or Fuji !

0 upvotes

Oh, and one more thing ! Even in the presently made Hasselblads sensors ARE produced by other companys! The cost and the complexity of sensor manufacture is simply beyond the capacity of such a relatively small and esoteric company!

0 upvotes

I agree with you. Certainly there's nothing wrong to use components from different made. Lunar is 50% or 70% Sony made, no big difference. You're right, we CAN CHOOSE to buy what we like. Nowadays I don't think there is any product can guarantee that it's 100% self-designed and self-made. Lamborghini Aventador is using Pirelli tyres, not "Lamborghini" tyres (http://www.lambocars.com/aventador/aventador_lp700-4_specifications.html, hope this is not China made). Hasselblad had also the very nice compact camera XPan in 1998, made by Fuji. What I really feel sad is that, after all these years, with the Hasselblad mighty power and hi-tech for space use, they can only join (or start) their new market segment in this way, similar to the Leica way. So sad, Zenza Bronica had to come to an end, may be, because they didn't accept this way.

0 upvotes

The Lunar IS a sony NEX in a different "Dress" its got no Hassleblad components (Or Designs) other than the (Very Ugly)Outer caseing
Which is why people think its a CON ....

Hassy's Medium Format cameras are Also rebadged FUJI's

0 upvotes

6 month from now this guy will be unemployed ...

14 upvotes

No matter what they say about me, just let them say my name all the time correctly. Or so, whatever the original quote was.

I just realized that they got a great marketing noise FREE just because of us making this news one of the most discussed on this site ever.

Now they've made a first mistake so far - they started to respond to the criticism with excuses. A big mistake!.

They just planed to sell several pieces of this pimped NEX7 overpriced enough to make profit on a small series. They would sell it no matter what general public think. Now they are trying to excuse themselves - this is what may cause pimp-taste-millionaires cancel their pre-orders...

1 upvote

Too many banana daiquiris with love merchants and oil and gas millionairs in cocktail parties. Hans couldn't control himself. An entire Hasselblad image thingy has been diluted to one tenth the titre.

2 upvotes

Total comments: 608


Behind the scenes of the Hasselblad H5D advertising campaign Mar 20, 2013	Sony and Hasselblad announce partnership with DSLR on the horizon Sep 18, 2012	Hasselblad announces 24MP Lunar - an 'ultimate luxury' mirrorless camera Sep 18, 2012	Hasselblad introduces H5D medium format camera series and 24mm F4.8 lens Sep 11, 2012

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GR and X100s side by side shots	24

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