Hasselblad quit making the last of their ever-venerable medium format film cameras recently. In reality, this has become kind of a non-issue, because nearly everyone's shooting mostly digital these days. Especially us pros, who were the main Hasselblad users. Even Hasselblad themselves have made the transition from film to digital photography, so what's the big deal? Maybe you can help answer this question.

I suspect that for some of us it may be a bit bittersweet because the Hasselblad defined some of our lives when we were starting our careers, and it could be as simple as that.

On the other hand, these Swedish 'blads were like weapons of choice that we took on the creative battlefield, and we knew them inside and out, could field strip them blindfolded, or customize their compact modular design to fit our own needs. But most of all, they were reliable and we staked our livelihoods on their definitive high performance precision. With a Hasselblad, you simply did not miss shots. Year in and year out. The sharp Carl Zeiss lenses were what other cameras wished their lenses could emulate or be like when they grew up.

Many of these classic German Carl Zeiss lens designs have never been improved upon, even today. They got it right over 50 years ago, and the Zeiss lenses were such pure and clean lens designs that pretenders have been lining up for decades, trying to match them. Carl Zeiss remains the lens benchmark for all lenses, even in this digital age.

Your Story

I'd like to try and make this a collaborative piece, written by Hasselblad users. Share your Hasselblad story, and maybe even a photo of yourself with it. Don't be shy, and again, please email me 100 words or less and a photo, and I'll post it here. I'll start out and put mine here first. I hope you'll consider participating. Thanks.

Larry McNeil:

Allison Corona:

Please email me your photo & story! 1000 x 1000 pixels/ Photo of yourself with 'blad/ Color or B&W, 100 word caption.

Thank you.

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Story and Photo Copyright Larry McNeil, All Rights Reserved, 2013. All Photographs by everyone else on this page reserves the copyright for their own photograph.

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