At 09:58 PM 01/24/2001, you wrote:
>Did you know that out of all hasselblads owned, less than 5% of the owners
>are professional photographers?
And you can footnote or document this "statistic" HOW, exactly?
> What does this tell you about hasselblad?
>It tells me that because of it's reputation as the best of the best, people
>have bought it because of it's reputation rather than any evidence they have
>discovered for themselves about the quality of the camera & lenses.
It tells me that their excellent reputation and good marketing
have opened their brand and the whole genre of medium format photography to
a far wider audience than would otherwise be available. Among the benefits
to pros of this situation is that 'blad therefore sells far more cameras
than they would otherwise, permitting them to devote more funds to
supporting professionals, to R&D, and so on.
IMHO most aspiring pros starting out buy any brand for one of two
reasons -- either hands on experience with an employer or mentor or at a
school, or <because of it's reputation rather than any evidence they have
discovered for themselves>. This is not intrinsically bad, whether true or
not. How a person comes to a quality brand is probably not as important as
that once there, he (she) recognizes the quality and embraces it.
Compare this to Leica, whose cult-like followers not only embrace
their system, but invest heavily in limited edition and designer models and
in esoteric collectible accessories like the current limited edition Leica
Steiff Teddy Bear, which retails for more than 200.00.
--
regards,
Henry Posner
Director of Sales and Training
B&H Photo-Video, and Pro-Audio Inc.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com
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