What's cool about this gear is that it inspires such eccentric devotion.
It's like if Hasselblad were abandoning an intelligent, well mannered child, and all of us that mutually admire the child are perplexed by the action of the parent.
If I were to speculate on errors in judgement by Hasselbald it clearly would have been the abandonment of the 200 camera not the 500. If that system had continued development think of what it could have been by now.
As to the H system, if you use it and get the results it is capable of, it quickly worms its way into your heart. Results talk, and bullshit walks. And while I am faced with commercial demands, I still am a wide-eyed amateur at heart, and hope to stay that way.
There is an aspect that is at the core of anyone seriously making photos as part of their artistic life ... beginner, advanced amateur or grizzled pro ... and that's a sense of confidence when you pick up a piece of gear to make images. For me, who uses both the V and the H system extensively, this is the commonality that is Hasselblad. I take either in hand and it inspires confidence that my artistic will ... will be served.
I, in all honesty, can NOT say that for many cameras and systems I've used over the long years of making photographs.
I play no favorites now. The siblings are both intelligent and well mannered. Different as children often are. After all they aren't twins, but individuals, each with their own personality and abilities.
On longevity: I will be dust and my children will be dust when the V camera is no longer a viable creative tool. Their quantities probably out number the Chinese : -) ... and like '57 Chevy taxis in Havana, will be kept running by the ever resourceful devotees of the ever resilient modular design, digital ready, 6X6 sensor ready, film ready, V system. The kid's got at least another 50 years left in it ... even if it is just an odd curiosity practiced by the eccentric few of us that live to be 120 years old and are still kickin' out the frames.
It's like if Hasselblad were abandoning an intelligent, well mannered child, and all of us that mutually admire the child are perplexed by the action of the parent.
If I were to speculate on errors in judgement by Hasselbald it clearly would have been the abandonment of the 200 camera not the 500. If that system had continued development think of what it could have been by now.
As to the H system, if you use it and get the results it is capable of, it quickly worms its way into your heart. Results talk, and bullshit walks. And while I am faced with commercial demands, I still am a wide-eyed amateur at heart, and hope to stay that way.
There is an aspect that is at the core of anyone seriously making photos as part of their artistic life ... beginner, advanced amateur or grizzled pro ... and that's a sense of confidence when you pick up a piece of gear to make images. For me, who uses both the V and the H system extensively, this is the commonality that is Hasselblad. I take either in hand and it inspires confidence that my artistic will ... will be served.
I, in all honesty, can NOT say that for many cameras and systems I've used over the long years of making photographs.
I play no favorites now. The siblings are both intelligent and well mannered. Different as children often are. After all they aren't twins, but individuals, each with their own personality and abilities.
On longevity: I will be dust and my children will be dust when the V camera is no longer a viable creative tool. Their quantities probably out number the Chinese : -) ... and like '57 Chevy taxis in Havana, will be kept running by the ever resourceful devotees of the ever resilient modular design, digital ready, 6X6 sensor ready, film ready, V system. The kid's got at least another 50 years left in it ... even if it is just an odd curiosity practiced by the eccentric few of us that live to be 120 years old and are still kickin' out the frames.
