The Hasselblad Lunar is all about high quality material and luxurious outlook. And exactly that “feature” has been shortly reviewed at Genotypewritings (Click here). And what he writes really doens’t sound good: “the camera immediately becomes disappointing in terms of its finish. This particular model felt very plastic-like all over. To make things worse, they have chosen the most plastic and rubber-like materials for the knobs.”
And if you read the rest of the article you can find some other issues on the camera (like the ON button without OFF mark) and so on. I really like Hasselblad camera history. And of course it’s also ok to move into the luxury segment. But the Lunar seems to not have that luxury feeling they were targeting for. I hope this was just an unfinished prototype camera.
found via PR.
42 Responses
man they should fire the designer, and the people who approved the design… yuk!!
Let’s put the blame where it belongs.
Hasselblad has been hijacked by a German venture capital firm who knows jack …. about photography. The blame lies with the owners, Vorndran Mannheims Capital (“VMCap”), formerly known as Ventizz Capital Partners. More specifically the blame lies with Dr. Larry Hansen, present Chairman and CEO of Hasselblad. Vorndran Mannheim and Dr. Larry Hansen continue to display incompetence and extremely poor judgement in the running of Hasselblad.
There are two possible solutions to this:
1. Sony takes over Hasselblad. This is not very likely since it would do little for Sony while it might rescue Hasselblad.
2. Hasselblad employees do a mutiny takeover through a lockout of Vorndran Mannheim, Larry Hasselblad and their management pack and get back to the business of designing and manufacturing quality cameras.
3. Hasselblad photographers and fans get together and buy out (force out) Vorndran Mannheim and his pack.
Dr Larry Hansen just got sacked from his position as CEO, maybe the Lunar results led to his demise…
I’ve heard this too, but can you point to any confirmation or announcement?
Hasselblads new boss is Ian Rawcliffe
If ugly is a crime someone’s getting a life sentence for this one
Hahahahaaaa!!!…. [CAUGH!!]….HAHAHAHA!… [gasping for air]….hahaha….. 😉
I think they may have had a good design, but someone accidentally left it in the microwave and got this instead, lol.
Is that part around the mount supposed to look like marble or is that just beat up ?
Now I heard of people making their cameras look ugly and beat up when they travel to rough parts of the world. But spending $6000 to do that is going too far.
As I’ve said before, Hassy better have some magical algorithms that milk that sensor’s maximum potential or this really is just a $6000 body cover.
I will buy this at any cost because it matches perfectly with my granite kitchen top (but not if it is plastic granite).
It seems like forever since this camera was announced. Why it is taking so long to be released? Also Hasselblad should be looking at the M240 or RX1 as examples of the type of engineering required to command such high sticker prices.
Was this picture taken before or after the tear-down? Anyway, doesn’t matter, this camera is produced for people who have too much dispensable money and probably will never use that little toy that some salesman managed to make them buy because it is a Hasselblad and the best you can get.
Ugliest camera I’ve seen in a long time. With NEX7 innards, it reflects poorly on Sony as well.
Since the camera isn’t released yet, can we be sure this isn’t a prototype?
No… it’s a final “showroom” style demo and it was reviewed at an authorised reseller of the Lunar. “Demo” because I’m pretty sure Hasselblad is going to sell this only as a custom-only camera.
Well…. if it’s same as the photo show above , then this camera is a shXt……. why not buying a NEX-7 instead?
This piece of garbage cannot be real… I bet I can go to the Home Depot and buy $4k worth of supplies and tools and craft a better cover for my NEX7. The only explanation for this is it must be some guy messing around trying to make his own Hassy camera and get media on it. Either that or a lot of heads will soon be rolling at Hasselblad, then Sony will buy them cheap and make an actual product under the Hasselblad name that is actually worth that kind of cash!
I wonder how many of these Lunar camera cases they estimate they are going to build this year.
They should have focused on an exotic waterproof or at least weatherproof shell for the NEX7. Yknow, some type of military grade housing for $5,000.
At least that would have actually been “usefull”
This reminds me of those Vertu phones. Does this camera come with 24/7 worldwide concierge service?
This thing is obviously a prototype. http://www.ephotozine.com/article/hasselblad-lunar-hands-on-preview-20265 Looks to be very similar. It seems to me like most of it is quickly put together and partly made of rapid prototyped plastic parts… Anyhow, I still don’t see the point of this camera.
Not a prototype. This is a made to order camera from what it seems. And this is a fully working model for demo in all its glory at an authorised reseller that also sells a lot of Leica gear. Please have a look at the original article.
This is a PR disaster. It is killing Hasselblad’s image.
This will have some huge negative repercussions on their image in the pro market as well.
But it also tells me that there might be a market for nice add on bodies. Anyone going on Kickstarter with me?
Say thank you to luca allessandrini, the boss of the new Hasselblad design center in Italy 🙂
http://photorumors.com/2012/10/10/hasselblad-opens-new-design-centre-in-italy/
So a Swedish company gets design in Italy and manufacturing in Japan.
Victor is rolling over in his grave.
Like the XPan or H series were not Fuji bodies and lenses made in Japan…
As if it is news worthy! It is just a matter of a poor design made nicely or an ugly design made poorly
It looks like prototype or fake. Let’s wait and see production model
The store, Camera Lane (see link in original blog post) sells a lot of expensive Leica gear as well as other order-only specialised cameras. They don’t have fakes. Please give them a ring and verify if you want 😀
Please let engineers design cameras again.
…only after long meetings and consultations with working photographers.
What does this Lunar offer to promote good photography?
Italian design for a camera like Hasselblad … ridiculous! Form follows function, but not with old fashion italian design and plastic knobs! But it has nothing to do here, right? What abaout news to the Nex-7n?
The Ferrari Hasselblads were a bit of an unnecessary novelty, but this whole Lunar idea is just so flawed.
I really don’t know who is going to buy this. Honestly, the only way I can see any of these selling is if they are sitting alongside the Hermès products in Harrods.
Who are they trying to fool? Anyone familiar with Hasselblad knows more about camera technology than just “Hasselblad = quality”.
I bet that in a couple of months you can buy an un-official case for 100$ for your nex7 to make it look like a lunar.
Let’s put the blame where it belongs.
Hasselblad has been hijacked by a German venture capital firm who knows jack …. about photography. The blame lies with the owners, Vorndran Mannheims Capital (“VMCap”), formerly known as Ventizz Capital Partners. More specifically the blame lies with Dr. Larry Hansen, present Chairman and CEO of Hasselblad. Vorndran Mannheim and Dr. Larry Hansen continue to display incompetence and extremely poor judgement in the running of Hasselblad.
There are several possible solutions to this:
1. Sony takes over Hasselblad. This is not very likely since it would do little for Sony while it might rescue Hasselblad.
2. Hasselblad employees do a mutiny takeover through a lockout of Vorndran Mannheim, Larry Hasselblad and their management pack and get back to the business of designing and manufacturing quality cameras.
3. Hasselblad photographers and fans get together and buy out (force out) Vorndran Mannheim and his pack.
Let me just check the date !! For a minute I thought it was April 1
What happened when Minolta started to work with Sony on cameras?
I guess someone forgot to tell their marketing manager that people buy cameras for their image quality. I imagine they will sell a few to some rich people who have no idea what they’re buying. If anyone sees one of these in public it’s your duty to let the holder know exactly how much they got ripped off.
Looks like the car Homer Simpson designed.
Oh dear. It looks like it was knocked up together in a Klingon sweatshop.
You have to be a really desperate showoff to buy such a camera. I can justify buying a Hassie if you are a professional photographer. But this article is likely to be bought by a too rich idiot wanting to show off and probably not able to operate it.