Henry wrote:
> 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.
Hey I bought a Hasselblad (a used one), and I love it. I use it for a studio
camera mostly, but the main reason I bought it was 1: it had a good
reputation as far as the glass goes, but mainly: 2: I REALLY loved the way
it felt in my hands as compared to the Mamiya RB's were were using at school
(good, but like bricks). I could actually carry this Hasselblad around. It's
very light for a medium format camera. I bought it because I looked at them
all, and decided this is the one I really liked. I didn't really know that
much about Hasselblad except that it was expensive and good.
I also have a Canon elan IIe which I really like and I use it when I'm
shooting 35mm.
There's nothing like the size of medium format, especially if you're getting
paid to shoot something.
I truly have to admit that the stuff I've shot with the hassy is high
quality stuff. The lens are wonderful. I don't want to get into a "medium
format is better than 35mm" because it's a fact. The resolution of medium
format is just better. It's easier to get a better print.
It really depends on the end use of your photography. For instance, if I
need something for the web, I'll use my digital camera. If I need some shots
for a conference, I'll use a 35mm. When I'm on vacation, I take both of
these cameras. My hasselblad I use in the studio for portraits and
commercial shots.
I am sure there are many Hasselblad users that buy the camera just because
of it's reputation, and perhaps don't even really use it much.
That's too bad, but that's the way it works sometimes.
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