Buy Hasselblad Camera
Hasselblad H series cameras offer the benefits of medium format digital photography along with an ability to use different camera backs, swap viewfinders, and use a full range of interchangeable lenses. Hasselblad medium format cameras have sensors that vary from 43.8 x 32.9 millimeters to 53.4 x 40 millimeters.
buy hasselblad camera
The H series camera system is fully modular. It's based around a body that controls the basic camera functions. The camera sensor, housed in a separate camera back, attaches to the camera body, as do various interchangeable lenses. Each lens houses an integral leaf shutter, the design of which allows for a wide range of flash synchronization speeds. Viewfinders are interchangeable to accommodate different sensor sizes, while providing the traditional medium format option of a waist-level viewfinder. Some cameras such as the Hasselblad H5X medium format DSLR accept a range of third-party digital backs. The brand manufactures a full range of Hasselblad H series accessories that include tilt and shift adapters, teleconverters, battery chargers, filters, and lens hoods.
The most obvious difference between DSLR cameras and Hasselblad H series medium format DSLRs is size and weight. Less obvious is the different perspective caused by the wider view and a shallower depth of field, thanks to the use of longer lenses with the Hasselblad cameras. Image quality is first class, and in most instances, superior to that of full-frame DSLRs. Standard camera backs use a 50-megapixel sensor, but Hasselblad also offers backs with a larger 100-megapixel sensor as well as a multi-shot version providing an effective 400 megapixels. Hasselblad's large sensor pixels have exceptional light collection properties, providing up to 15 stops of dynamic range, 16-bit color definition, and premium reproduction.
All Hasselblad H series lenses are fully compatible with its latest cameras. There's a general-purpose zoom lens and several prime lenses covering the range between 28 and 300 millimeters. Use the Hasselblad CF lens adapter to attach older Hasselblad V series lenses, but bear in mind that some features such as automatic focusing and automatic shutter cocking don't work. The manufacturer designed Hasselblad aerial lenses specifically for aerial photography and mapping. They feature a preset fixed infinity focus and have higher shutter speeds for capturing sharp images from fast-moving aircraft.
There are two types of camera bodies in the H series. If you only work with digital media, choose the Hasselblad H6D camera, which is fully compatible with the 50, 100, and 400-megapixel digital backs. The Hasselblad H5X body and the H6X body accept several types of film backs as well as conventional Hasselblad and several third-party digital backs.
Nonetheless, we are consistently seeing rising prices for film cameras on the used market (as well as vintage lenses). New producers of film enter the market frequently and both black and white and color 35mm, 120 (medium format), and 45 film are readily available.
We have broken options down into three categories (SLRs, TLRs, and rangefinders) with three price-based subcategories within those (Budget, Mid-Range, and Premium). While there are some very budget options, such as the Seagull 4A or Lubitel TLRs, I find no point in recommending mediocre (or downright awful), unreliable cameras simply because they are the absolute cheapest.
Mamiya, at the time known for its C series of 6x6cm TLRs, Mamiya Six, Mamiya Press, and RB67 6x7cm medium format cameras released its first 64.5cm camera body in 1975. The 645 format had not been used in forty years, making the Mamiya 645 the first medium format SLR to use the 645 format, which allowed for 15 shots on 120, or 30 on 220 (the more popular 66 format would produce 12 shots on 120 and 24 on 220).
In 1969, Asahi Pentax released one of the few medium format cameras that essentially operates like a massive 35mm SLR. From the traditional pentaprism finder shape to the lever-operated film advance, the DNA of standard 35mm SLRs is clear from the get.
In 1957, Hasselblad debuted the 500C, the first model in its new series of cameras using interchangeable leaf-shutter lenses, eliminating the issues inherent in the focal plane shutter of the 1600F/1000F and allowing flash synchronization at every speed. A modified variation of the 500C would become the first camera to see outer space in the Apollo and Gemini flights.
The cameras were fitted with a hand-grip on the left and the film was advanced via a pull-push mechanism on the right-hand side, allowing for very quick shooting (hence the name Rapid). Above the pull-push film advance is a large knob that moves the entire lens block via a rack-and-pinion system to focus. As the knob is turned, pins on the rear of the lens interact with a rangefinder focusing system, and the user determines focus via the rangefinder patch in the middle of the viewfinder.
The Koni-Omega Rapids are very fluid in use and quite lightweight compared to other 6x7cm cameras of the time, largely owing to the rangefinder design. The lens lineup is slim compared to medium format SLRs, but such is the nature of non-Leica rangefinders. The standard lens is a six-element/five group 90/3.5 Super Omegon or 90/3.5 Hexanon, yielding an approximate 45mm full-frame equivalent field of view.
All three cameras share nearly identical bodies and capture images in the 64.5 format on either 120 or 220 film. They feature a lightweight, folding body, a bellows system for focusing, leaf shutter lenses with speeds from 1 to 1/500 of a second and a built-in LED light meter, powered by two LR44 (also known as A76 or SR44).
The Fujica GS645S Professional Wide60 was released the following year, fitted with a new EBC Fujinon W 60/4 Zeiss Orthometar-type lens with 7 elements in 5 groups. The 60mm lens (about 35mm full-frame equivalent) was chosen after the 45mm f/5.6 (about 28mm equivalent) lens of the scale-focusing GS645W was criticized as being too wide. Like the GS645, the camera has a parallax-corrected rangefinder, though with a slightly lower magnification of 0.5x.
Since these rangefinders transport the film horizontally, unlike most other 64.5 cameras which move vertically, images are captured in portrait orientation when the camera is held normally. This can take a little getting used to, especially if you primarily shoot in landscape orientation.
Plaubel, a German camera maker founded in 1902 by Hugo Schrader, became famous for the Makina series of press cameras, which were first introduced in 1911. By the 1970s, Goetz Schrader, the son of Hugo Schrader, decided to sell the company as he was growing old, and the Kimio Doi of the Japanese Doi Group purchased the company in 1975. Quickly thereafter, Doi had Plaubel begin the development of a new camera with a specially developed lens by Nikon.
Want to stage your own moon landing? Pick up one of these nice Hasslblad cameras for $35K or so and take some pictures of a flag waving on a windless moon while your partner and a boom mic is reflected in your dome-like helmet.
Hasselblad is a Swedish manufacturer of camera systems, lenses, and image scanners. The Hasselblad camera has always been the pinnacle of the photography world has to offer. The company is known for manufacturing some of the most renowned cameras the world has seen.
Hasselblad shares this appeal with another iconic brand, Ferrari. Just like a Ferrari is hand-assembled and custom-made to order, and only a few are made every year (the most mass-produced Ferrari takes about three weeks to assemble), Hasselblad also makes only a few cameras each year.
One important reason I have already mentioned above is the low production output of Hasselblad compared to the high labor cost involved in manufacturing these cameras. Hasselblad does not reveal how many cameras they produce every year. Yet, It is safe to assume that they do not manufacture a lot of cameras the way Nikon, Sony, or Canon does. However, the steep cost of manual labor needs to be absorbed, which is why the per unit production cost of Hasselblad cameras is so high.
Interestingly Hasselblad cameras did not always fetch such exorbitant price tags. Back in the 1940s, a Hasselblad camera cost only about $500. If you compare the camera price after accounting for inflation, it will come down to only $5900 today.
Even in the 1970s, the cameras made by Hasselblad were not as expensive as they are now. The price tag of Hasselblad cameras began to skyrocket when the digital camera movement came into existence, and camera manufacturers started shifting toward digital technology. The simple reason for this is that it costs a lot of money to produce a digital medium format sensor.
Manually done using a proprietary process, Hasselblad cameras are calibrated to ensure that they capture accurate color tones, such as skin tones. This is extremely important for certain types of photography.
Hasselblad camera systems are built to withstand almost everything you or Mother Nature could throw at them. They can easily take in any amount of abuse that they are likely to come across in the work field.
Notwithstanding all that has been said above, Hasselblad understands the growing consumer demand for affordable cameras. The cheapest Hasselblad you can buy right now will push you back nearly $6000. But even for that price, the camera is nowhere near having the same features and functionalities as some of its competitors.
Hasselblad, just like Leica, is a premium camera manufacturing company. Hasselblad cameras stand out for their high quality, exceptional build, superb resolution, and precise calibration, placing them in a league of their own.
Hasselblad was first founded in 1941 becoming a household name from 1969 when its cameras were used to record the historic Apollo moon landing. Despite this the firm struggled to make the move to digital and changed hands twice since 2000.
Hasselblad specializes in medium-format cameras, which in an earlier era meant larger frames of film for higher-quality photos but today means larger digital image sensors. Because large image sensors are so expensive, the transition to film to digital was terminal for some camera makers. 041b061a72