Get your €8500 A99 from Hasselblad

[bakubo]

http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/20 ... oat-of-pai

I suspect there are some people who really want a Sony A99, but are very status conscious and wouldn't be seen in public with something that is not upscale enough. For those people the Hasselblad HV may satisfy.

[pakodominguez]

I need one of those as a backup for my A700...

[Birma]

Hey - it comes with a nice looking lens and an absolutely fabulous case - perhaps it is worth it after all!

[bfitzgerald]

Seems a tad excessive even if you get a nice hard case for it
Not sure why they even bother, unlikely to sell many

[Dusty]

Barry, at that price they don't have to sell many!

Dusty

[bakubo]

Dusty, exactly.

Dimwit: How much are your photos?
Smartass: $100,000 each.
Dimwit: What?!? How many do you expect to sell at that price?
Smartass: I only need to sell one.

[peterottaway]

You do realize that on the Hassy price list this camera is going to look really cheap.

If Leica can do it for almost 100 years then why not ?

[Greg Beetham]

Initially it’s a tough to spot the extra $6000 or so value over just buying an A99 and a Zeiss 24-70 instead of the HV. As someone pointed out it’s the little extras like the camera top deck restyling with a genuine Hasselblad logo and a nifty (specially designed) case with two batteries instead of just one that make up the difference.
Maybe the market the camera is aimed at wouldn’t check such things, they just ask the butler to procure a decent camera because they want to take a few photos today or maybe tomorrow.
Although the ‘in the box’ doesn’t actually list everything that’s visible in the photo of the open case the brochure lists the contents or it seems to, well anyway it lists some extra accessories but it doesn’t actually say specifically if they are in the box so you are left feeling a little vague as to exactly what the situation is, maybe if you buy one you will find out. It’s all strangely similar to what it’s like going to Sony online and reading their vague ambiguous description of things, one almost gets the impression that Sony has bought into Hasselblad and is in charge of marketing.
Greg

[classiccameras]

Greg, the last bit about Sony buying into Hasselblad is a strong possibility, in fact I would mind betting Sony have a majority share holding or even own them. Hasselblad by comparison to other contempory camera manufacturers is tiny.
What more concerns me is the less than excellent reviews on some of the Zeiss lenses. They seem to have let things slip or is it Sony forcing them to cut corners to bring the price down. Leica, the other high end name from Germany has according to the 4/3 forum reviews and Panasonic maintained their very high standards in the M/4/3 lens market.

[bfitzgerald]

I never liked Hasselblad much, Rolleiflex were more interesting back in their day. Of course the modern Rollei cameras all 2 of them are an embarrassing gimmick/toy like.
Still I can't see the point of a re-badged A99, you can buy a lot of normal A99's for that price

Bar a re-style I bet it has nothing different about it at all. I've no idea why Sony and Hasselblad are wasting their time on this.

[bakubo]

Most people know Rolleiflex for their famous TLR models, but they also had some other cameras. They also had several 35mm SLRs starting with the SL65 35mm SLR that came out in 1970. The SL66 120 SLR that came out in 1966. The 35mm Rollei 35 compact camera that came out in 1966. Maybe there were others, but I don't recall.

[classiccameras]

Yeah, Rollei twin lens reflex, iconic camera, I had the 35-mm SLR SL-35 and 35-E both with Zeiss Planar 50-mm F/1.8 lenses, superb cameras. I still have my tiny compact Rollei 35 'SE' F/2.8 Sonnar 'T' lens, but never use it, perhaps I should. I still have my old Rollei 35-mm slide projector.

[bakubo]

Yeah, Rollei twin lens reflex, iconic camera, I had the 35-mm SLR SL-35 and 35-E both with Zeiss Planar 50-mm F/1.8 lenses, superb cameras. I still have my tiny compact Rollei 35 'SE' F/2.8 Sonnar 'T' lens, but never use it, perhaps I should. I still have my old Rollei 35-mm slide projector.

If I was tempted to shoot some film these days it would not be 35mm. I would shoot medium format B&W. I still have my old 120 film Yashica Mat-124G TLR. Looks almost new. Also, you can buy many kinds of MF gear pretty cheap these days. Developing the film is not difficult, but I wouldn't want to deal with normal printmaking. I would get a flatbed scanner to scan the big B&W negatives. I doubt if I would do any of this, but sometimes I start thinking it would be fun to use some of the old cameras.