Hasselblad and DJI strategic partnership

[rmueller]

Hot off the press:
Hasselblad Press Lounge

If that brings some money for MFD R&D its a good thing IMO, lets see.

Regards,
Ralf

 

[T.Dascalos]

I'm happy with this post... It's good to see a historic firm to secure survival, but also, it is great that the (obvious) web trolling that was suggesting for competitive companies to take control of it and was aiming to harm the company sales in favor to competition by creating a negative marketing image for Hassy, comes to an end...

My opinion is that there is technological reasoning behind this partnership, as both companies use imaging sensors and both should aim to have that (very important) aspect under full control... It seems to me that Leica's example of moving to exclusive for them sensors than sharing 3rd party technology with competition, both differentiates the product and pushes costs down... The later product decisions of Hasselblad seem to have an opposite direction than the previous (catastrophic to them) "closed" system policy, if they concentrate to advance imaging by offering products that use solutions that are exclusive to them, it shouldn't be long before they grow back to challenge competition for market leadership... good news.

 

[rmueller]

I think its a good move as well. I believe that aerial photography using drones
might become a key differentiator for professional photographers, simply
because a professional photographer will get permission to use a drone much easier
than any hobby photographer. So its only natural that HB wants to get into this
field IMO.
In the professional video world those things have started already with companies
like Blackmagic producing specialised video cameras, remote controls etc.

So lets see what comes out of this, exciting times ahead.

Regards,
Ralf

 

[Paul2660]

I wish them the best. I also am thankful in the US the National Park service had the foresight to outlaw all drone photography.

Normally I welcome changes, as I did digital vrs film back in 1999, but personally I find drones totally obtrusive and feel they should only be used on a close shoot. Professional or hobbies it doesn't matter. They are loud, most photographers using them seem to go out of the way to go out of bounds with them. In the US, it's amazing how many idiots are still using them in totally restricted airspace. Not just airports, but in controlled airspace like where fire fighting is being done, and forcing the National Forest service to close all air operations. Signs of the times.

I know I am a voice in the wilderness, and won't be signing up for a 50MP drone with a 50c on it.

Paul C

 

[rmueller]

Hi Paul,

i completely agree with your statements below, wherever there is a tool there is potential of abuse ;-)

I'd like to give two examples of where drones might enable a different perspective and view of things:
- Hans-Georg Esch, a popular (at least in Germany) architecture photographer, see
http://www.hgesch.de/art-photography/chinaflug/
- René Staud Studios: They started using drones for commercial car photography and attach a Leica S2 to a drone,
https://vimeo.com/99859600

I do agree that this might get annoying in many places but in controlled situations or in remote areas one can get
stunning results out of it.

Just my 2 cents,
Ralf

I wish them the best. I also am thankful in the US the National Park service had the foresight to outlaw all drone photography.

Normally I welcome changes, as I did digital vrs film back in 1999, but personally I find drones totally obtrusive and feel they should only be used on a close shoot. Professional or hobbies it doesn't matter. They are loud, most photographers using them seem to go out of the way to go out of bounds with them. In the US, it's amazing how many idiots are still using them in totally restricted airspace. Not just airports, but in controlled airspace like where fire fighting is being done, and forcing the National Forest service to close all air operations. Signs of the times.

I know I am a voice in the wilderness, and won't be signing up for a 50MP drone with a 50c on it.

Paul C

 

[Speedgraphic]

I wish them the best. I also am thankful in the US the National Park service had the foresight to outlaw all drone photography.

Normally I welcome changes, as I did digital vrs film back in 1999, but personally I find drones totally obtrusive and feel they should only be used on a close shoot. Professional or hobbies it doesn't matter. They are loud, most photographers using them seem to go out of the way to go out of bounds with them. In the US, it's amazing how many idiots are still using them in totally restricted airspace. Not just airports, but in controlled airspace like where fire fighting is being done, and forcing the National Forest service to close all air operations. Signs of the times.

I know I am a voice in the wilderness, and won't be signing up for a 50MP drone with a 50c on it.

Paul C

The wedding video teams are THE WORST with drones. All of your points above are true. They also produce completely classless overhead shots meant to add drama, and just end up looking ridiculous. And I have to edit them out of my shots. I saw some really neat landscape work done with a drone, but no-one seemed to be around to be bothered by their little RC copter. If I were a wealthy man I'd be shorting DJI (no idea if they're even traded) stock just like they did with GoPro. This little drone bubble is gonna burst when people get bored of them.

 

[robmac]

Interesting move to see given Hassy's start in aerial. With all the commodity drone competitors coming out of woodwork, could see DJI moving upstream with larger, more powerful & robust drones with larger more complex payloads going after high-end commercial , tv and movie studios as an alternative to helicopter time.

 

[T.Dascalos]

I think that there is a much wider picture than drones or Aerial photography that one must look at, as to judge the future of companies in imaging. Arri's new Alexa 65 was introduced earlier this year with a huge sensor of 2.1:1 ratio and over 52mm width, they converted the whole series of Hasselblad's lens line to adapt them for cinema as to have lenses up to the demands of the sensor, https://matthewduclos.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/arris-new-alexa-65-demands-medium-format-lenses/.

It seems that the pro marketing demands for hi-end motion and stills convergence as it has happened with the FF sensor DSLRs... Leica (again), seems to have understand this and they are the only MF maker that has hi quality video offered on their later products... The Sony MF Cmos sensor of 44x33mm size seems to have been designed with the ability to offer 8k (8192 rows) & 4k (4096 rows) cinema video using its full width, while if one uses a cropped version with its height for base, he'll find that it provides just the rows needed for 6K & 3K video... (no surprise here as Sony wouldn't deal with providing a sensor for MF stills as to have orders for only a few hundreds of them per month as the current MF market requires), yet none of the MF makers (yet) uses the same sensor for the purpose...

I believe that the future of the makers will highly depend on how well their products will cope with the convergence of technologies as the pro market requires... and surely this partnership looks to have all the background required so that both companies will expand to new offerings by using ones the others experience... DJI for Aerial stills and lenses and possibly cameras, Hasselblad as to access the know how to high quality video and both as to have exclusive sensors developed for their products.

 

[f8orbust]

Good move for HB. Agree that the whole business of buying, selling and flying drones needs to be heavily regulated for all our sakes. When used for imaging there should be one person flying, one taking the photos / video. Safer for everyone, and the end product will be better. Taking a good aerial photograph is difficult: the novelty of the high viewpoint doesn't last for long. Just had a look at a recent book of aerial photos (mostly drone) done single-handedly by a well known photographer. Sunsets over headlands in the main; pretty boring.

 

[richardman]

Business sense this is not about drone and aerial. Probably just a way for "take over".

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Terrific news! Two companies with complementary technologies. A great combo. DJI will have to grow in the professional market as there will be more restrictions on amateur drones, and this seems to be a great way to do it. I look forward to the Hasseldrone

And think about the marketing possibilities. Some drones even look a bit similar to the Lunar Module

"The Hasselblad Lunar II. A camera that will take you closer to the moon."

 

[DucatiTerminator]

Terrific news! Two companies with complementary technologies. A great combo. DJI will have to grow in the professional market as there will be more restrictions on amateur drones, and this seems to be a great way to do it. I look forward to the Hasseldrone

And think about the marketing possibilities. Some drones even look a bit similar to the Lunar Module

"The Hasselblad Lunar II. A camera that will take you closer to the moon."

DJI is already positioned quite well in the professional market. The white-bodied quadcopters are entry level compared to their S1000 series hexa and octocopters that carry higher end gimbals and controllers. Their "prosumer" Inspire model is quite capable as well and hardly considered an amateur drone.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

DJI is already positioned quite well in the professional market. The white-bodied quadcopters are entry level compared to their S1000 series hexa and octocopters that carry higher end gimbals and controllers. Their "prosumer" Inspire model is quite capable as well and hardly considered an amateur drone.

They are, but an integrated solution with Hasselblad's aerial camera will be even harder to beat. It won't be cheap though.

 

[DucatiTerminator]

They are, but an integrated solution with Hasselblad's aerial camera will be even harder to beat. It won't be cheap though.

I'm not so sure. Until Hasselblad offers a good video solution, I think that they will face a lot of stiff competition, especially in the pro market. Personally, I'm a still shooter at heart, however, it seems that the majority of drone imaging is video, and it's not like there aren't any other badass specialized aerial solutions like PhaseOne Industrial for those that have high end requirements where cost may not be as much of a factor.

I think the amateur drone bubble will burst in the not so distant future, leaving only the pros and prosumers as the potential market demographic. If I end up getting a drone for play/experimentation/occasional work, I'd likely get the controversial (LOL) Leica SL which looks like it will shoot both great stills and video while giving me a lot of AF lens options. GH4 video is great (to me) but I think the stills are still lacking (no pun intended, lol), and I don't think I would have the cajones to send up an S2 like in the video mentioned above even if I had stellar insurance and state of the art parachute recovery system.

 

[iiiNelson]

I've been recently getting more interested in aerial photography and drone building as a hobby. I don't think the bubble has burst yet and as technology becomes more readily available/mature I think the safety aspects will greatly improve. As of now I think costs and product maturity are the major factors to more widespread use. It's one thing to hang a $300 GoPro from a Prosumer/Entry level professional sUAV and another to mount $60K of Red Cinema camera off of a $15k+ professional sUAV.

Id like to see the technology gain more public acceptance but I understand the security/safety/privacy risks of the technology. As more features like geofence, more greatly stabilized avionics, more relevant able data links, etc. become available I think the pricing will come down and we will see more responsible ownership beyond the "affluent kids" whose parents buy them $3,000 toys that they get bored with within the first few weeks.