Hasselblad Lunar

[Fips]

Seems like the rumors were correct. Hasselblad apparently announced a mirrorless camera called the Lunar. Here are some more images drawings. Looks like they are pulling a Leica  

EDIT: ... and the back of the camera and the twin dial on the top immediately reminded me of some other camera. And then I read that the lens mount is speculated be Sony's E mount. I hope it's not really going to be a $5,000 NEX-7.

[michael]

It's going to be a $5,000 NEX 7.

Michael

[Fips]

   ... I guess that's the confirmation that technology has advanced to a point where small companies cannot compete on a larger market anymore without external help.
To me that thing looks like a woody wagon went to bed with a formula 1 car. Anyhow, I hope I will be able to see that thing in person on thursday.

[nad54]

Absolute Lunar - cy

Hasselblad seemed to have taken a look at Alpa and thought "if we take a NEX 7 and glue a wooden grip on the side we can charge an extra $5,000 for it just like those folks at Alpa do*

As a lover of and long time Hasselblad user it is so sad to see such a great company make such spectacularly bad business decisions.

No wonder David Grover (and others) jumped ship

It is pig ugly as well

*only joking about the Alpa reference - I'm sure they put more effort into their cameras

[RobbieV]

It's a bit depressing that this is a smart marketing move for them. To me it is a blatant waste of manufacturing resources, engineering and design as these mass consumer products with some wood and gold will become mantle pieces almost instantly. Well, maybe not engineering, as Sony has already done 90% of that and produced a decent tool without the burled walnut and texalium grip.

[gingerbaker]

Yes, very few of us this side of the pond will want a $5000 NEX-7.  But what if this was $200.00 option?

There is quite an accessories aftermarket in the auto industry, and it appeals to more than a few psychological profiles. There are those who want to hot-rod their 'rides', others who like the idea of replacing some sterile interior plastic surfaces with  the sensuality of rich wood. British-Bavarian automaker Mini owes a lot of their success to their decision to market individual customizations of interior and exterior options as a 'cool' exercise in expressing ones individuality.

And yet we have a 55 billion dollar camera industry with almost zero marketing of this concept.  Yes, there are some customizations available, but most of them are utilitarian, not aesthetic.  About all we see marketed by manufacturers are a few cameras with a choice of exterior colors.

Given today's computer-assisted 3-D scanning and 3-D sculpting technology, I am curious how successful a business model built around these ideas would be.  $55 billion is a gigantic market.

[shadowblade]

April Fool's Day was six months ago.

[imagico]

The title of Michael's comment - Hasselblad Announces its NEX Step - made me wonder if he had NeXTSTEP in mind.  If yes the logical conclusion might be: Hasselblad is going to be bought by Apple...

[francois]

…If yes the logical conclusion might be: Hasselblad is going to be bought by Apple...

And we'll see a QuickTake X early next year!

[Fips]

Hasselblad also announced a "compact camera" in the not-so-distant future. In that light the Sony RX1 suddenly makes a lot more sense. It's not just a halo product for Sony itself but they'll also sell it as an OEM to Hasselblad who will wrap it in carbon fiber, titanium, and whale penis leather and charge about $5,000 for it. As Michael already pointed out, they'll sell quite a few of those in Russia, China, and some other places.

[Doug Peterson]

 ... I guess that's the confirmation that technology has advanced to a point where small companies cannot compete on a larger market anymore without external help.

The Phase One IQ was developed entirely in-house (components like the LCD were obviously sourced from manufacturers of those parts, but all implementation/design/assembly was by Team Phase One). It uses it's own operating system kernel (yes nerds that's right, it's very own ground-up kernel), it's own in-house-developed touch layer (for the user interface), it's own CPU (designed by phase one specifically for this back), and it's own processing engine.

It's LCD and user interface, 18 months into the launch, are still head and shoulders above the LCD and user interface of every other pro camera out there - including all the Japanese dSLR makers.

So I don't think you should extrapolate one example from one company to a statement on the industry as a whole.

[Fips]

That might be true. But I wouldn't say it is targeted at a larger market. There will always be companies making high-end specialized products for applications where cost is no object.

[TMARK]

Seriously?  Lunar?  NEX-7 is Wolfs' Clothing?  LAME.

[K.C.]

 ... I guess that's the confirmation that technology has advanced to a point where small companies cannot compete on a larger market anymore without external help.

Actually that happened over a decade ago and it's not limited to the camera industry.

[LesPalenik]

Hasselblad seemed to have taken a look at Alpa and thought "if we take a NEX 7 and glue a wooden grip on the side we can charge an extra $5,000 for it just like those folks at Alpa do*

Or maybe Sony looked at Hasselblad and thought "let's create our own Lexus brand".
Next model to be announced - a 24MP FF Hasselblad Venus SLT99, in Ferrari red and yellow. Available in second quarter 2013.

[FredBGG]

The Phase One IQ was developed entirely in-house (components like the LCD were obviously sourced from manufacturers of those parts, but all implementation/design/assembly was by Team Phase One). It uses it's own operating system kernel (yes nerds that's right, it's very own ground-up kernel), it's own in-house-developed touch layer (for the user interface), it's own CPU (designed by phase one specifically for this back), and it's own processing engine.

Might explain why the USB does not work yet after more than a year...

[FredBGG]

It's LCD and user interface, 18 months into the launch, are still head and shoulders above the LCD and user interface of every other pro camera out there - including all the Japanese dSLR makers.

Just one little problem or two..

By the time you are done using the touch screen instead of buttons the screen is all full of finger prints... smudges etc... hardly conducive to viewing images.

Live view is crap, slow and not even close to DSLRs. I think it's safe to say that live view is a significant part of the user interface as is control of corner to corner right off the sensor auto focus.

[figure1a]

Guess that means the DSLR that Hasselblad is going to introduce next year will probably just be a rebranded Sony Alpha or something.

[shadowblade]

Just one little problem or two..

By the time you are done using the touch screen instead of buttons the screen is all full of finger prints... smudges etc... hardly conducive to viewing images.

Live view is crap, slow and not even close to DSLRs. I think it's safe to say that live view is a significant part of the user interface as is control of corner to corner right off the sensor auto focus.

Are fingerprints really any worse than nose prints?

[lowep]

if you cant beat the mamba join the mamba