Anyone excited about the Hasselblad rumor and Photokina this year?

[gerald.d]

You probably did not see me type my post with a straight face...

The S2 is a great modern camera. Pentax pushed that a little further down the technology road. It looks like the both Pentax and Leica are looking for new sources for sensors and will be sporting CMOS. I guess live view is coming to the MFD world. It will interesting to see what is revealed. If Hasselblad, Pentax, and Leica go with live view, I wonder what Phase and Leaf are going to do. They have tried to push CCD technology to have live view, but it is not really that great and the lack of an integrated body makes the cameras a bit of a compromise.

Conversely, you could claim that the lack of an integrated body makes the backs incredibly adaptable.

I can mount my Phase One back on a Phase One AF, Fuji GX680, Hartblei HCam, or Alpa TC.

Kind regards,

Gerald.

 

[Shashin]

Gerald, it is simply part of the compromise. Phase/Leaf are a back system. And as that type of system, they work well. My point was more directed at the camera as a unit and the separate back limits what can be done. I think Hasselblad, Leica, and Pentax are looking at an integrated system. I am wondering how that will impact the Phase/Mamiya line. There are Phase/Mamiya shooters that don't mount their back on anything else. Will the technology benefits of CMOS and an integrated system affect Phase/Leaf? Certainly there is a class of customer that is very used to sophisticated technology in their cameras. Could the move of MFD to CMOS be a large driver in market share for some of these companies? I am just speculating.

Predicting is hard to do, especially about the future.

 

[RVB]

Conversely, you could claim that the lack of an integrated body makes the backs incredibly adaptable.

I can mount my Phase One back on a Phase One AF, Fuji GX680, Hartblei HCam, or Alpa TC.

Kind regards,

Gerald.

H4X with I.Q back is a very tempting combination..

 

[ptomsu]

Must say I would love anything which comes from HB - yes I admit I am a big fanboy

But honestly, the next big step could be a full frame 6x6 back / camera system based on CMOS and a high end mirror less (EVF).

Maybe dreaming but I would be signed in for that

 

[gerald.d]

Gerald, it is simply part of the compromise. Phase/Leaf are a back system. And as that type of system, they work well. My point was more directed at the camera as a unit and the separate back limits what can be done. I think Hasselblad, Leica, and Pentax are looking at an integrated system. I am wondering how that will impact the Phase/Mamiya line. There are Phase/Mamiya shooters that don't mount their back on anything else. Will the technology benefits of CMOS and an integrated system affect Phase/Leaf? Certainly there is a class of customer that is very used to sophisticated technology in their cameras. Could the move of MFD to CMOS be a large driver in market share for some of these companies? I am just speculating.

Predicting is hard to do, especially about the future.

There's no question that the Phase/Mamiya bodies are extremely basic when compared to almost anything else out there. Coming from a Canon 1D4, I found the auto-focus of the POAF to be so limiting, that the lens collection I've built up for it is almost entirely MF (that of course had an advantage that it kept the price of the collection down significantly).

Personally, I don't really see the live-view benefits that CMOS would bring to be an advantage at all. People talk a lot of the time about wanting decent live-view to be able to confirm focus before shooting, but the reason they want to do that - in my mind - is that they don't trust the focussing of the camera in the first place.

Don't treat the symptom. Cure the disease.

Get something approaching the focussing of the 1D4 in a MF body, and who needs live-view for focus confirmation? I really don't think many professional sports/wildlife shooters using the 1D4 or 1Dx use live-view for focus confirmation. They don't need to. They know that - used properly - the camera will pretty much nail it every shot.

What I'd like to know is what is stopping MF manufacturers from bringing out a body that auto-focuses well enough* that live-view becomes a non-issue?


/edit
* for clarification, I should probably have said "a body that has great AF functionality such that..."

 

[Shashin]

What I'd like to know is what is stopping MF manufacturers from bringing out a body that auto-focuses well enough* that live-view becomes a non-issue?

Nothing. Pentax did.

 

[D&A]

Nothing. Pentax did.

I would agree with this! I wouldn't say the Pentax 645D is on par (AF wise) with say a D700, D3s nor D4....but in a number of ways is somewhat competitive with many mid level DSLR's and for a MFD body body, that's pretty good in my opinion.

Dave (D&A)

 

[fotografz]

"don't like it, don't buy it"

That's the point, whatever your financial resources, need or preferences are, there is only Fuji/Mamiya - similar design approach and quality standard, a future Hasselblad-system (EVIL needs new lenses anyway) could be a vast improvement and Zeiss would be an ideal partner.

The "Zeiss" 45-90 was made by Kyocera, the last designs for Hasselblad (300/350Sa, 40IF) did show what is possible with re-designs, but Hasselblad decided against it to cut costs, that's not what Hasselblad was about.

:deadhorse:

Sorry, I have zero issues with the build quality and engineering of the H camera, and I used the V system for 40 years prior to that. The camera body is made by Hasselblad ...

"The H-System is largely designed and manufactured by Hasselblad, with Fuji's involvement being limited to finalizing Hasselblad's lens designs and producing the glass for the lenses and viewfinders"

Just to be clear, since your statement implies the relatively recent 45-90 zoom lens was a Kyocera lens and not a Zeiss ... The 645 Contax 45-90/4.5 was a Carl Zeiss designed lens and was manufactured by Kyocera under the watchful QC control of the Zeiss Institute in Japan ... like most of the Contax 645 and 35mm Contax N lenses were. The Hasselblad HC/35-90 is a much better lenses in almost every way.

Kyocera Americas | About | 2002 » CONTAX Introduces New Carl Zeiss Zoom Lens For The 645 System

Just keepin' it real

-Marc

 

[Stefan Steib]

This thread is getting comical.

For me this thread is a relief - it shows that there is still life here and people still want MF - after the 35mm wave with the D800E lately I was already fearing, this is really the begin of the end now.

Greetings from Lindenberg
Stefan

 

[Stefan Steib]

A more interesting rumor is that Pentax/Ricoh may be updating the 645D.

Pentax working on second generation of the 645D medium format camera | Photo Rumors

The Pentax is really the only modern MFD camera out there...

oke:

The pentax IS by far the most modern MF camera if you take a look at the PRICE TAG ! The market is somewhat loosing a significant slice of the highend segment and especially in "normal" production studios a 40-50k $ camera will not pay off, a 10k $ will !

Greetings from Germany
Stefan

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Just read Pentax has 9 press releases next week. Some obviously 35 stuff but my bet a version 2 of the 645. The S2 and Pentax both need new sensors for anything new announced so it's going to be interesting as clues from Hassy, Pentax and Leica are starting to show up. Honestly I got my eye on Hassy as doing something unique in MF. The rest are maybe just some upgrades and improvements. BTW Nikon and Pentax are releasing on the 13th . I'm sure the rest will follow as Photokinia is very close.

 

[Stefan Steib]

I would not be too surprised if the new Hasselblad would be a rebadged Fuji XPro. Easy to do, probably working for many people, a marketing coup that will immediately generate Turnaround. Ventizz is clever. They know that the MF market is shrinking. Bring the brand into another market segment where there is growth. Much easier than using the brute force method doing the full monty.

Let´s see what happens.....

Stefan

 

[stephengilbert]

Suggesting that Hasselblad rebadging the Fuji would be a marketing coup is an insult to Hasselblad fans.

I have an ALPA. Do you think I'd snap up a Fuji if they put an ALPA logo on it?

 

[KeithL]

I would not be too surprised if the new Hasselblad would be a rebadged Fuji XPro.

I'd be flabbergasted and I doubt I'd be alone :facesmack:

 

[Stefan Steib]

This would generate plenty NEW CUSTOMERS. Whatever the existing customers may say, additional turnaround in a mabe 3-5 fold larger scale could be pretty healthy for a company like Hasselblad. Just for better imagination - a max of 3000-5000 bodies sold a year at an average system price of maybe 15-20k compared to maybe 50-100000 cameras at maybe 5k$ (body at a higher price with 2 -3 lenses) will immediately nearly triple the tournaround. At 3k$ system price this would still be 150% gain.

Hasselblads most valuable asset is it´s brand recognition.

1+1=2

Anyone who would not take such a chance ?

regards
Stefan

 

[KeithL]

If Hasselblad were merely going to produce a re-badged Fuji XPro then why the delay? The camera has been around the block and isn't without short-comings; I rejected it within weeks of release.

I don't doubt Hasselblad are seeking to considerably expand their user base but a re-badge wouldn't win many new friends or sales and would devalue that valuable brand recognition.

Perhaps a little more imagination, Stefan?

 

[Stefan Steib]

What makes you think this must be exactly the same camera Keith ?
Didn´t you think it may have been easy to use this body with a tad larger format, maybe factor 1,2 or 1,3 or a significantly higher resolution chip or both ? Sony´s Nex is 24Mpix a new APS-C Canon 7D MK2 will be about the same. The lenses are probably up to the task. A 24 Mpix body with some modifications, a better Imageprocessor and a refined finish on the Body design and a Hasselblad Logo on it may well be worth a 1000 $ more for many people.
Spread some "handselected lenses with Hasselblad Logo" , quality improvement, better Swedish design.......stuff ....and there you have it.

Easy !

Regards
Stefan

 

[KeithL]

Stefan, I'm on record as saying that further colaboration between Fuji and Hasselblad is likely and would be welcomed. What you are describing is not a re-badge.

Two weeks and counting.

 

[Stefan Steib]

yes I am as curious as you are. This is what I would have done if it was my company. Fuji is not a premium brand, the pricing for a possible Premium Brand as Hasselblad is comparable to Leica, the margin is significantly higher. add this to the power of Fuji to build plenty of cameras - FAST - quite the opposite of Leica and then there is the one competitor who should really be concerned !

As I said - I estimate the new investors are intelligent people, well they are german and sometimes we tend to be very strategic.

Regards
Stefan

 

[stephengilbert]

Stefan,

You just post these silly things for fun, right? This isn't serious.

If you ran Hasselblad this is what you'd do. Great. Why not start a series of threads about what you'd do if you ran Hasselblad, and Leica, etc?