New Term

"Hasselbling"

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(Wish I could take credit. Coined by Mike Chisholm, not me. This is the only other use of the term I could find [warning, shield your eyes].)

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Mike

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Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Mikal W. Grass: "Gross. I just went blind."

Mike replies: Made me laugh.

Featured Comment by Daniel R. Fealko: "Geesh, Mike, that warning to shield my eyes should have been in large bold font and underlined! Please, for God's sake, don't trick me like that again!"

Featured Comment by Peter S: "In case you haven't seen it, there's already a more moderately priced alternative: The Lensrentals Looney, available for only $4,500."

Comments

[Stephen Gilbert]

It's a close call, but I think I'd rather own the camera than the photo.

[David Mantripp]

Caption entry: "Finally! A camera I can feel comfortable to be seen with!"

[Kurt Friis Hansen]

Hee... Love it!

It's the f[bleep]ing best bling-bling of the whole show!!

Regards, hurting eyes and laughter from
Kurt Friis Hansen

[Paddy C]

It's just so hard to believe this is not a joke. Especially with the price tag.

[Doug Dolde]

Looks like it's made for a Klingon...or a rock guitarist. Hard to believe Hasselblad could do such a thing.

[John Robison]

This is a joke, right?

Ah come on, please tell me this is a joke.

[Mike Johnston]

Paddy and John,
Not only is it no joke, it's also €5,000.

Mike

[Kevin Schoenmakers]

Who knew Photokina 2012 would start on April 1st?

[Mike Sisk]

Man, that's just so sad.

The only film camera I still own is a 501cm -- I haven't used it in ages, but I still keep it around in case I forget what a PITA film was. The Hassy was such a workhorse in it's day it's sad to see 'em become such a parody. Someone needs to just let them die.

Leica also seems to be heading down the same path, unfortunately.

[The Original David L.]

More like 'Hassel-blech...'

[John Krumm]

Clearly this is not designed for the 47 percent, and perhaps not even the 99 percent. Maybe a tiny fraction of a tiny fraction of the 1 percent will buy this camera, and then use it to take a few cat photos like the rest of us, only the cats will have nicer pedigrees. Also might make a good movie prop, a British comedy of some sort.

[Ludovic]

So far I have had the biggest trouble understanding people who would buy badge-engineered Panasonics for twice the price just to get the Leica dot (and I'm one who can rationalize just about anything: I can even pretend it could make sense to preorder the Sony RX1), but I'm much more at a loss when trying to imagine why people would pay *five* times the price to get a NEX7 with another name on it.

[Ken Ford]

And for that price they couldn't even move the video button?

[Oskar Ojala]

This is painful... Hassy should be making cameras for photographers, not going for the lizard skin market.

[Stephen S. Mack]

We wants it, we wants it and we means to have it, yes, Preciousssss, gollum, gollum!

With best regards,

Stephen

[Thomas Kaschuba]

Saw some pictures of this thing at petapixel. The video button is kinda sexy. But why not applying a pink diamond and call it the pink panther edition? :-)

At least Rolleiflex presented a real TLR beauty:
http://www.petapixel.com/2012/09/13/rolleiflex-still-happily-making-analog-tlr-cameras-fx-n-to-debut-at-photokina/

[toto]

"Gross. I just went blind."

Not just blind, but Hasselblind.

[Martin Ranger]

Coming to a store near you: Pimp my NEX.

[Mark Sampson]

And here I thought the 500C/Ms that they offered, about ten years ago, in your choice of red, yellow, or blue leatherette were completely over the top.... I wonder if they ever sold any of those?

[Stan B.]

That out uglies the Leica R8 and all the Petri SLRs combined- Hassel BAD.*

*as in butt ugly bad.

[Marc Gibeault]

The Italians are capable of the best and th worst.

[Manuel]

If you think that's grotesque, just scroll down this page to see a true freakshow:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/09/18/hasselblad-launches-lunar-mirrorless-camera

[Graham]

Lady Gaga and polaroid need to go back to the drawing board after this release.

They just got horrendously out-uglied.

[ctein]

Dear Mike,

I will happily acknowledge being an elitist (I considere it a feature, not a bug) and I regularly, privately sneer at readers who greet a new camera announcement with some pronouncement about how they would or wouldn't buy it based on its appearance. Truly, I cannot think of a lamer, more irrelevant reason for (not) choosing a photographic tool. I am pretty adamant about this. It is, in my ever-so-humble opinion, ultimate dumb-think.

And with that said, this camera demonstrates that no belief system, no matter how firmly held, is proof against the truly extreme. I would be embarrassed to be seen with this camera, and my threshold for embarrassment is extraordinarily high.

More terrifying still: being one of those artiste types, the second thing that struck me about the artist's rendering here was how sloppily and badly done it was. It's indisputably shoddy work by today's standards and unacceptably so for a company with a reputation of Hasselblad. Not that I could imagine the real cameras looking good, but a lousy illustration can make a product look even worse.

Then I looked at the real prototype photographs that Manuel linked to. And, oh my God, the real things are actually uglier than the illustration.

Some things in the world are so bad that they're good; they become (not so) guilty pleasures. The Edsel. “Plan Nine from Outer Space.” This is simply so bad that it is bad.

pax \ Ctein
[ Please excuse any word-salad. MacSpeech in training! ]
======================================
-- Ctein's Online Gallery http://ctein.com 
-- Digital Restorations http://photo-repair.com 
======================================

[Omer]

That design somehow reminds me of Dean Martin. Cool.

[Earl Dunbar]

Will bleach permanently harm my eyes?

[John Camp]

A comment on a comment (Ctein's.)

I have a nice m4/3 system, on the Panny side. When the new Olympus came out with the pointy top, I was tempted to get it because the reviews said the sensor was really good, and because of the IBIS -- I do have a few Oly lenses that could use it, maybe. But to go to Ctein's point -- "I regularly, privately sneer at readers who greet a new camera announcement with some pronouncement about how they would or wouldn't buy it based on its appearance" -- I honestly couldn't bring myself to buy it because of that pointy top that makes it look like a 1967 Pentax. I actually went down to Samy's and fondled it for a few minutes, because I was THAT close to buying one. But the pointy thing...

The pointy thing ruined it for me. As much as I agree with Ctein (on this topic in general) I refuse to buy anything in which the aesthetics so violate the form-follows-function rule. You CANNOT tell me that the pointy thing was necessary to contain additional electronics, etc., as some have said. There would have been all kinds of better solutions. The fact was, they were going for the retro-slobber factor, which is not a lot different than wood-burl Hassys for whoever slobbers over those. (I do have a pair of cowboy boots that would go nicely with the crocodile-skin Hassy, though I'd have to buy a new belt to complete the ensemble. And I'd want it in black.)

So, while in general, appearance shouldn't count for much, it does count for something, and unnecessary mirror prisms is where I get off the mirrorless aesthetics boat.

[Alan Fairley]

Wow, considering how insanely beautiful the design of the 500 C/M was, the association of the marque with this abomination is just incomprehensible.

[Michael G.]

However, this is now the perfect choice for would-be super villains. They need a camera that looks stylish alongside a black cashmere turtleneck, ostrich leather golden gun holster, and indoor monorail. Check, check, check.

"No other camera matches an Oscar Niemeyer designed tropical volcano cave base like my new Hasselblad." —Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

[Neely Fallon]

Wow! Just wow. 'Fugly' certainly lacks as a descriptor. I am at a loss for words to throw at such sh%*ty industrial design combined with expensive bad taste.

May as well taken a 5K Ivanka Trump handbag, cut a hole in it, shove in a Holga that you can shot from the hip, and call it the Trumplar. Now that would be the shizz baby.

[Bear.]

Um - what is it? It looks like Homer Simpson's car.

[Bryce Lee]

I like him...sorry folks I am more me than you and this
proves it...as for the rest of you, hey, it's what it is.
A device used to illustrate the way it is...

Mind there's nothing yet to surpass beauty in the eyes of the beholder even if love is blind. (Did i just say that?)

However one must assume (make an ass out of you and me) that whoever laid this devilish creature upon us must know of what we desire, right?

"you, in the back row, stop laughing!"

[Steve Jacob]

Hasselgag!

This is what happens when you give a camera to someone who designs upmarket office furniture....or Richard Claderman playing Dark Side of the Moon.

It's just wrong...

[Roger]

Jonathan Ive is designing a camera for Leica. Not to be outdone Hasselblad has hired the crew of Mystery Science 3000 to design one for them.

[James Sinks]

I used to say "as ugly as a Leica" whenever someone pointed me to a hideous luxury camera made with elephant scrotum leather and gold chrome fittings.

It's gonna be "as ugly as a Hassy" from now on.

The king is dead! Long live the king!

[T Bannor]

Wow, that's akin to being Rick-rolled.

[robert harshman]

Hassel5x$ more like it :) Where only fools with way too much money appear to go. Of course I could be accused of much the same as I recently purchased a RRS carbon tripod. Each to their own excess or bling.

Robert

[Stan B.]

Must admit, after the initial shock, ya really gotta give 'em credit- they pulled the plug and went all out down to the pixel ugly.

[Timothy]

Oops. Did we forget to tell Hasselblad that their cameras have been hideous for the last 30 years?

(As a sincere aside, it would seem as though they've got it backwards. I feel that the luxury market in "real people" camera systems such as the e-mount will be in lenses as opposed to bodies, at least until the technological advances slow down. People can justify big dollars on a lens they'll use for 20 years, but $5000 on an gaudy NEX 7 which should lose two-thirds of its value in five years seems bonkers. If they made established system lenses they'd be on to something as they've got terrific brand capital (or some such nonsense marketing term). But I don't recall them ever making their own optics anyway. And maybe that's why they're panicking.)

[Bob Rosinsky]

Unbelievable. Sickening. Blach. The H5D is disappointing, but this thing takes the cake. ... It is by far the stinkiest looking camera that I have ever set eyes upon. I'd rather have a NEX 6 than that embarrassing chunk of H-lard. And by the way, I just shot wrapped up a photo shoot with my ca. 2007 Hasselblad CF-39 MS/H2F kit.

[Collin Orthner]

How exactly am I to erase that sight from my memory - sheesh!!! I know you warned me, but come on!

[XmanX]

I've started saving up for the Rollei version decked out in Louis Vuitton monogrammed leather.

[Hawkwood]

Oh, the humanity!...

[Will Whitaker]

Well, at least if you do use this thing, you don't have to worry about someone asking you, "Hey, is that a Hasselblad?"

[raizans]

Klingons? Never! Only a dishonorable petaQ could have "designed" such a vulgar camera.

and to think the rumors were about a panoramic camera or medium format mirrorless.

[Alexander Vesey]

This is what happens when a tech company with a solid legacy in a particular field is run by people who lack an understanding and vision of that field.

[Pak-Ming Wan]

I can't believe that Sony let them do that to a Nex-7! Somewhere in Hasselblad HQ there's a one or two execs feeling pretty good about themselves, and in Japan, a whole group of Sony salesmen giggling, and a bar full of Sony engineers crying ...

Pak

[Sebastian]

Looks pretty much like Sigma SD1 Wood Edition
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2011/10/12/sigmasd1wood

[Chris Lucianu]

What's that high-pitched 6.52 kHz noise?

It's Victor Hasselblad, spinning at 6520 rpm in his grave at the Örgryte cemetery in Göteborg.

1 rpm per 1$ of the proposed Loonacy price.

[Zvonimir MW Tosic]

What is worst in this story, is that Sony is obviously flattered; a total underdog in photo industry comes to be heavyweight champion by throwing random punches around, and today, a former champion giving the newcomer the kitschy belt of the champions. His time has gone, but he's still around and asks the kid to take a picture together. And the new kid loves it.
It is Sony who has zero taste. Not Hasselblad.

[Driver8]

The most offensive thing about this monstrosity is that it features an APS-C sensor. What is this? Photokina 2008?

[Earl Dunbar]

Comment on John Camp's comment -- John, the problem with the OM-D pointy thing is that it isn't pointy enough. It is squared off at the top like the double-digit OMs, unlike the OM-1/2/3/4. The single-digit OMs were beautiful, and I don't understand how the OM-D designers made such an error.

[Dave]

Oh yeah! This is what ALL the Pimptographers will be sporting this year! All you haters go ahead and hate, I will be swagging with this and my purple felt hat.

[Roger Lambert]

I think it is pretty gorgeous, and you are all unimaginative group-thinking non aesthetes. To a degree.

But I truly do not see *why* this is an ugly camera because no one here has explained why it is an ugly camera. I think the lines of the grip are beautiful. I happen to love rich wood burl on a lot of things - knife handles, stereo equipment, rifle stocks...car interiors. So what, exactly, is aesthetically ugly here - besides the fact that it is shockingly different?

Yes, very few of us will want a $5000 NEX-7. But what if this was $200.00 option? What if it were basically free?

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 burl. 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. Materials options include many which echo those shown in the Hasselbad prototypes.

Assuming these options do not reduce the ergonomics of a camera significantly - exactly what is the problem here, guys?

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.

[Christer]

This is not just bad, it is HASSELBAD.

[Dennis Ng]

Do mind the joke as long as it get more innovation and someone get some money out of the mount I "invest" in.

Still struggle whether to get A99 full frame or stay with my A77. Also, should I get all the Sony Nex lens (which I got it all except one) and continue buy all the others ...

A bit confused as a E / A mount new users goes these days.

[Roberto]

It's a pleasure to read the blog and its comments (despite the pain for that Hasselthing), because most of the time I find someone expressing my (sometime unconscious) thoughts much better than I can do. This time is John Camp with the pointy thing.

[David Bennett]

The curved grip reminds me of the many photographs I have seen of Antelope Canyon.

Or perhaps an Inuit totem pole.

[Craig]

Where is the rich Corinthian leather?

[JohnMFlores]

My Pentax K-01 just giggled.

[Jeffrey Goggin]

As my accountant friends often remind me, there's no accounting for taste.

[mike plews]

Hasselblad cameras went to the moon. Apparently one kept going all the way to Neptune.

[Manuel]

Sorry to comment the same entry twice, but am I the only one to notice the two pudding moulds on the camera's top plate?

[g carvajal]

what a step backwards. no, three steps backward. not needed, a copy of a cheaper camera, and ugly very ugly.

--- On Wed, 9/19/12, Hasselblad USA Inc. [email protected] wrote:

From: Hasselblad USA Inc. [email protected]
Subject: Hasselblad - Lunar has landed at Photokina 2012

[icexe]

Hey, it's a camera version of those ugly bolt-on kits teenagers put on their 15 year old Civics.

[John Brewton]

Gotta have one! It will be my new diet control. Look at it after breakfast and throw up.

[PWL]

That's not a camera. That's a status symbol. One that screams "I have lots of money but no taste!"

[Bernard]

It's tacky, but that's not the worst part.

Hasselblad used to be one of the greats. They went to the Moon. They put photographers' kids through college. They were every young photographer's dream.

Now they are gluing bits of wood and leather on someone else's camera.

The camera wouldn't be half as ugly if it said Gucci or Hermes on it. Camera bores would complain ("it's has the same sensor as the XYZ, which costs two-thirds less..."), but who cares?

This bedazzled Sony is ugly because of what used to be.

[Richard Alan Fox]

gross and grosser

[Christer]

"Hasselblad cameras went to the moon. Apparently one kept going all the way to Neptune."

No doubt picking up some design cues from Uranus on the way...

[Ben Rosengart]

Roger — you listed objects on which you like wood burl. Knives, stereos, etc. They're all things which are built to last, to be maintained rather than replaced, at least for a while.

Hardwood doesn't grow on tr— uh, I mean, hardwood is a limited resource. There's something gross about using it on a throwaway object like a NEX-7. That's not a value judgement about the camera; I'm just saying that it depreciates quickly.

[Peter Cameron]

For all those who require a unique Leica M and aren't lucky/stupid/rich enough the buy the M(Ive), a liberal application of kids stickers from the Dollar Store should suffice.
And if they wait, someone is sure to knock off the Ive design, sell it as a DIY kit on eBay and everyone can be unique together.

[Karl]

How can you so completely bastardize one of the greatest examples of form following function? They didn't just abandon the history of the brand, they raped and sodomized it and left it dying in the ditch by the side of the road.

[David S.]

The truth is, the camera's not that ugly per se. There's a history of MF cameras with wood grips. Break it in for a while and it ceases to be blingy. It just becomes what it is -- a Sony NEX in drag.

What's truly sad is the sheer laziness of this move. As others have pointed out, this is Sony's mom-and-pop APS-C camera with a coat of paint. Anyone who would be remotely interested in a Hasselblad, even for the name value alone, would realize they're being charged a %500 markup on a camera they can get at Best Buy for a grand. So who's going to be conned into buying this?

One hopes that someone in Stockholm is reading these comments and kills the camera outright before it becomes a balance-sheet destroying writedown.

What Leica did right was leveraging its classic form factor -- the M rangefinder. Hasselblad should be making a 500-series form-factor camera with that camera's classic styling -- and maybe even keep the lens mount, so people can use legacy lenses, as they do with Leica. Use a square sensor, but shrink the size so as not to cannibalize Hassy's pro MF market.

(Or, failing that, build a Texas Leica. Or a digital Xpan. But for God's sake, kill this project...)

[Chad]

Lunar? More like Loon-ar.

[Kevin Purcell]

From the BJP: Hasselblad defends Lunar's concept and pricing

http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2206781/hasselblad-were-not-robbing-people-off-with-lunar-camera

"We realise it's difficult to explain what we're trying to do when we launch something for the first time," Hasselblad's new business development manager, Luca Alessandrini.

You can almost hear the "you idiots" at the end of that line.

Actually, Luca, that is your job. If you failed to communicate it. It's your problem.

[renatoa]

Hassle-blad

[David Vatovec]

Guys, just checked the Lunar site:
http://www.hasselblad-lunar.com/index.php/home/

It will come in different wood, carbon fiber, and leather finishes.
It is all about bling, this is not about the camera. Maybe this will be made as a limited edition too and sold ina a Hasselboutique.
I think Haseldblad is going the Leica way, no more innovation, just status symbol products.

[Christer]

David, there are more cities than Stockholm even in a country as small as Sweden. Hasselblad is based in Gothenburg.

Saw a lovely screenshot earlier where the LCD on the back of the Hasselbling showed that the "Camera Model" was a "NEX-7". Oopsie.

But we just don't understand...

[lith]

Dear Mike:

Please remit to Lith the sum of $20AU, for the replacement of one Dick Smith Keyboard, which you have caused to become saturated in vomit.

[David S.]

Christer,

In that case, perhaps someone from Stockholm can go to Gothenburg and deliver the message.

It's a small country, right?

[Neil]

This deserves more attention...

Hasselblad Lunar slogans -

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1150633

God help Hasselhuffandpuff!

[Ed Kuipers (not directly related no)]

Yeps, at least Vicky Beckham can use this without failing to notice she has to take the lenscap of a rangefinder....in order to use the business end. And since she herself is in the Bling industry Big time (no other way I guess)....and with some considerable succes I must admit, what she done to the Evoque I like......Hassy will have at least one preorder I guess. Come on Vicks go for it....by the way I have to admit I like the handgrip.....any posibility of Sony using that on the next Nex...for my hands well don't like the Nex, just no grip on that contraption compared to my GF1 that is sort of made for my hand (at least it feals that way).

[Ed Kuipers (not directly related no)]

@David S.....1500 x 400 km....about a big as France or Germany but twice the lengt and half the width.....but most of it filled with cofiners, moose, raindear, and of cause Santa Claus's main residence.....now wonder what he would have to say about this product.....:).

Greets, Ed.