And the sacrifice of the V system.
Amen
Amen
As a long time Hasselblad user, I find it sad to see such a rumor … again.
Personally, I don't subscribe to the usual "reasons why" as discussed here. I believe the root of their problem is/was poor marketing decisions that directly affected the product, and even worst communication with their targeted consumers regarding the good decisions they did make.
There is an adage in marketing that says "Perception Is Reality". Hasselblad violated that on a regular basis. Whether out of arrogance or ignorance is irrelevant, only the long term net results count.
Hasselblad launched the H camera with perceptual mistake #1. They severed their long time relationship with Zeiss to make lenses for the H system. It doesn't matter what the reality of the H lenses may be, how good they actually are, or who designed them and who made them, it created a perceptual inequity that persists to this day.
They insisted on making the H camera "Plain Jane" grey, ignoring the over-whelming majority preference for a black camera.
Hasselblad ignored the fact that their backs could not be used on a technical field camera, effectively handing all that potential pro and growing enthusiasts business to their competitors. The recent clip-on battery for the H5 is too little, too late.
Hasselblad and Imacon became one, but the camera seemed to dominate in innovations, while the DBs consistently trailed Phase One DB innovations. A clear case of the tail wagging the dog. It is medium format DIGITAL, not MEDIUM FORMAT digital. Their camera was already ahead of the game, so they should have concentrated on the DBs.
Instead of using their lead in camera development (perceptual or real), they closed the H system to use of other DBs. In reality, there were some good reasons to unify all components … but it defied "Perception is Reality", and Hasselblad never clearly communicated the technical reasons why they closed the system, so the perception was universally negative with no mitigating argument for doing what they did. The H4X marketing was yet another "mean move" that pissed off even more photographers.
In their most recent act of "Marketing Suicide", they ignored the reality that photographers intuitively know a "digital con" when they see one. Not to mention that photographers are visual people, and usually know ugly when they see it. No single act they have done has had the perceptual impact of the Lunar Lunacy.
There is more, but the slow road to oblivion seems the path Hasselblad kept choosing one decision at a time.
- Marc
