Not really. I am NOT speculating in explaining the business background for why the current owner wants out of Hasselblad, why DJI may want in, and why the change of control is NOT a portent of horrible things for Hasselblad. I know that from years of experience. That's hardly the same as providing a hard number as to the number of X1Ds Hasselblad is currently capable of making per month. Nobody other than Hasselblad has a clue. And it certainly doesn't make a wild guess any more accurate to reference Leica's experience with the S cameras. Did Leica have the number of preorders for the S that would compel them to ramp up production? Is the X1D as a mirrorless camera anywhere close to the S camera body (or a rangefinder M) in terms of complexity of manufacture? Did Leica have an owner like DJI that has experience with higher volume manufacturing?Howard
Please ...almost everything in this thread is opinion ..including most of your posts. When you see an opinion that you don t agree with you call it “Speculation “ . Belittling others opinions isn t in the spirit of this forum.
The point Lou was trying to make was ..that HB is very small and is set up to hand make high end cameras . This is low volume ,exactly work done by skilled labor . If you have ever seen how they assemble Leica M bodies in Germany ...its small work stations ,organized into small groups (called manufacturing cells) . Leica was producing less than 50 M bodies a day when the M8 was introduced . It took them months to get to 1000 a month on the M8 and years to get to 1500 a month .
The S body by contrast was pegged at 100 month to start ..just as a frame of reference.
HB with 30 million in sales must be producing the H bodies in quantities closer to the S body . Just a quick reasonableness check .....assume sales value of $10k (wholesale) and you can see 100-200 per month is reasonable for a $30M company .
The point being made is that the challenges of ramping up manufacturing to achieve even the original 3000 units forecast is a important consideration in understanding HB.
Fuji by contrast have the people that know how to do this . They have years now of experience in introducing new products ,scaling production etc etc . They will approach the production of the GFX in quite a different way .
My background including doing projects with clients ..was exactly like the situation at HB . Nobody wants to hear my perspective ...I get it ....its depressing when we all want HB to be successful. I wish HB the very best in 2017 ..this is a critical product launch that will define the company and maybe the whole MF market .
Personally I don t want a mass produced product aimed at the high end of the DSLR market . I share the vision of the HB CEO .... a company focused on premium cameras ..with superior craftsmanship .
Saying that Hasselblad can only make 100 X1Ds per month is simply provocative. It has zero basis in fact and completely contradicts any conceivable estimate as to the length of time it will take Hasselblad to fill the thousands of preorders. Unless of course you think Hasselblad is lying, in which case come out and say it.
I personally couldn't care less if Hasselblad makes a slew of X1Ds and they institute certain mass production techniques to get them out the door promptly, beautifully made and at a reasonable cost. What makes the X1D attractive to me is NOT its scarcity value.
Last edited: