Hasselblad

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Hasselblad is a Swedish manufacturer of high-quality still photography cameras based in Gothenburg, Sweden. The company was established in 1841 as a trading company. In the 1890s, Hasselblad began distributing photographic products from Eastman. The photography branch grew, and during the second world war Victor Hasselblad was commissioned to develop an aerial camera for the Royal Swedish Air Force. After the war, camera production changed into civilian cameras. Introduced in 1948, the Hasselblad 1600F was a medium format SLR that became the camera of choice for many professional photographers.

Perhaps the most famous use of the Hasselblad camera was during the Apollo Program missions when man first set foot on the moon. All photographs taken during these missions used specially modified Hasselblad cameras.

Hasselblad cameras are still widely used by professional and serious amateur photographers. One reason is the superior image quality of 6x6cm size rollfilm over smaller film and digital sensor formats, along with a reputation for long service life.

In August 2004 Hasselblad merged with the Danish company Imacon A/S. Imacon is a manufacturer of digital photography equipment, e.g. digital camera backs.

1 XPan
2 H Series
3 V Series
4 Trivia
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] XPan

The Hasselblad XPan and XPan II are rangefinder cameras that allow the creation of panoramic photographs on 35mm film. They are re-branded versions of the Fuji TX-1 and TX-2. The XPan II has every feature of the original, but grants the user the ability to record thirty minutes exposures compared to the old max of three minutes. Electronic exposure information in the viewfinder is another additional feature of the XPan II.

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[edit] H Series

The H Series cameras are Hasselblads SLR medium format cameras. They are designed to to be used with both film (6 by 4.5cm format) and digital backs.

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[edit] V Series

The Hasselblad V series evolved out of Victor Hasselblad's desire to develop a flexible camera system. This system includes interchangeable bodies, lenses, viewfinders, winders, film magazines and holders, and other accessories. Problems with the focal plane shutters in the 1600F and 1000F cameras led to the development of the manual leaf shutter based medium format 6x6 (6x6 cm or 2¼x2¼ in.) 500C SLR camera in 1957. The 500C was then joined by the Superwide Camera (SWC), a point and shoot wide angle camera using the excellent Carl Zeiss Biogon 38mm f/4.5 lens, and the motor driven 500EL SLR camera. These three cameras formed the core of the V-system and shared most accessories (with a few exceptions).

Throughout the life of the V Series, Hasselblad has been incrementally updating the cameras. The 500C gave way to the 500C/M, the 501C, and finally the 501C/M as the basic manual. The SWC was replaced by the SWC/M, the 903 SWC, and finally by the 905 SWC. The 500EL's replacements included the 500EL/M, 500ELX, 553ELX, and the 555ELD. Added later to the line were cameras that included TTL/OTF (through the lens/off the film) flash metering the 503CX, which was replaced by the 503CXi and the 503CW. Also added was the 2000/200 series of focal plane shutter cameras starting with the 2000FC, 2000FCM, 2000FCW, 2003FCW and then followed by the 201F, 202FA, 203FE, and 205FCC, which added a level of automation to the V series. There were also two series of medium format view cameras developed related to the V series: the FlexBody and the ArcBody.

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[edit] Trivia

A Hasselblad camera is used by the comic book character Valentina by Guido Crepax.
12 Modified Hasselblad 500EL bodies and attached lenses remain on the moon.