carstenw
Active member
My apologies for not starting on a positive note, but that is life.
In another Hasselblad thread, I wrote the following in response to a comment:
David, I don't feel you have addressed that in your post. You ask if Hasselblad should cancel the two mentioned lenses, because they don't cover the 60 fully.
To me that misses the point. The built-in crop factor in those lenses is minimal. I postulate that if Hasselblad had known that they in such a short amount of time would also produce a near-full-frame sensor, they would not have designed two lenses with such a minimal crop factor, but made them cover full frame, be slightly larger, and cost slightly more. Then they would have worked across the entire range with no limitations. Hence my comment about Hasselblad management's ability to see their own future. There are other examples, but this one is a biggie.
---
David, I respect you and your work here, and I respect Hasselblad as a digital medium format company. I don't think that this means that I should not be able to post a negative comment.
For the record, my opinion (only) on Hasselblad positives (many I am lifting from Hasselblad owner commentary, since I have no experience myself):
- The most complete MF system today
- A lens range of near-uniform high quality (there are maybe one or two lenses not as strong as the rest; easy to work around)
- The brightest viewfinder in the business
- A very high degree of integration, with a single battery, etc.
- HTC15
but also some negatives:
- Grey on brown. What can I say, I find it horrendous. I have never heard a single positive comment on this. Photographers are boring and predictable, yes, but just give them the black camera they want. Somehow I am sure that you have asked for this personally
- Hasselblad switched from open to closed with no warning to existing owners, some of whom were caught out by this (read: H2+P1 back owners).
- Hasselblad announced a new full-frame format and released two lenses for it, only to revert to standard FF-645 notions in short order.
- Hasselblad has largely (not completely; see CFV-39 etc.) ignored their legacy users. I understand that at a certain time in Hasselblad's history, wrong priorities made the company nearly fail, and the new system saved them, but there are still untold thousands of V cameras and lenses out there, with owners who would like a bone thrown in their direction from time to time.
There is more on both sides, but I'll stop here.
In another Hasselblad thread, I wrote the following in response to a comment:
David Grover from Hasselblad jumped in:The 28mm and the 35-90mm zoom are HCD lenses (as opposed to HC) and won't cover full frame, i.e. they cannot cover the H4D-60, AFAIK, at least not at the same quality level. However, the difference is minimal, so they might still be acceptable for some uses.
Personally, I find it to be an acceptable limitation, although one does have to wonder about Hasselblad management's ability to foresee their own future. In short order they have moved from one full-frame definition to another (at least the 28mm lens's focal length is actually equivalent, on a 36x48mm sensor, and not the real focal length) and then back again, and in the short time in between, released two lenses which are not fully compatible with the latter definition. Not so impressive, but again, not so serious, in this case.
The part of my comment which appears to have upset David is the questioning of Hasselblad's management's ability to see their own future.Carsten,
Apologies for being a little bit aggressive but this is a muck raking post to me, regarding 'Hasselblad management's ability to foresee their own future'.
People forget that we do not alone make the H4D60. There are existing users of 22MP cameras and not forgetting the current 31,39 and 50 models. Therefore the 28mm and 35-90 are extremely useful to all those customers. They form a significantly larger proportion of users than potential 60 customers.
Should we therefore cancel those two lenses because they are 'only' compatible with 4 out of 5 sensors? No, I don't think so.
Also with regards to the 60 the 28mm only loses about 5% of sensor area and on the 35-90 it is only at the widest setting. There is no issue with quality level.
I have explained this many times before, but if you want to keep mentioning it, please go ahead.
David, I don't feel you have addressed that in your post. You ask if Hasselblad should cancel the two mentioned lenses, because they don't cover the 60 fully.
To me that misses the point. The built-in crop factor in those lenses is minimal. I postulate that if Hasselblad had known that they in such a short amount of time would also produce a near-full-frame sensor, they would not have designed two lenses with such a minimal crop factor, but made them cover full frame, be slightly larger, and cost slightly more. Then they would have worked across the entire range with no limitations. Hence my comment about Hasselblad management's ability to see their own future. There are other examples, but this one is a biggie.
---
David, I respect you and your work here, and I respect Hasselblad as a digital medium format company. I don't think that this means that I should not be able to post a negative comment.
For the record, my opinion (only) on Hasselblad positives (many I am lifting from Hasselblad owner commentary, since I have no experience myself):
- The most complete MF system today
- A lens range of near-uniform high quality (there are maybe one or two lenses not as strong as the rest; easy to work around)
- The brightest viewfinder in the business
- A very high degree of integration, with a single battery, etc.
- HTC15
but also some negatives:
- Grey on brown. What can I say, I find it horrendous. I have never heard a single positive comment on this. Photographers are boring and predictable, yes, but just give them the black camera they want. Somehow I am sure that you have asked for this personally
- Hasselblad switched from open to closed with no warning to existing owners, some of whom were caught out by this (read: H2+P1 back owners).
- Hasselblad announced a new full-frame format and released two lenses for it, only to revert to standard FF-645 notions in short order.
- Hasselblad has largely (not completely; see CFV-39 etc.) ignored their legacy users. I understand that at a certain time in Hasselblad's history, wrong priorities made the company nearly fail, and the new system saved them, but there are still untold thousands of V cameras and lenses out there, with owners who would like a bone thrown in their direction from time to time.
There is more on both sides, but I'll stop here.
Last edited: