Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Hasselblad/Leica lunacy?

I am sorry, Hasselblad, but my first reaction when seeing this edition of the new deluxe mirrorless camera "Lunar" was loud laughter. That just looks really crazy.


It seems it is basically a Sony NEX-7 in a special body. It comes in various special deluxe editions and cost around 5,000 Euros ($6,500). So you pay quite a bit for the name and the deluxe grip.
 They could have chosen worse for the innards though, the Sone NEX system is known for really good quality. (Even though I think they look odd, big lenses on minuscule bodies.)

Update: hokey sheet! this camera design is, uhm, challenging! Other angles of the Lunar:


(Photos: C/Net.)

(I would have posted images of more of the design variants, but my stomach started hurting. Seriously.) I hope Jon Ive doesn't see this, he'll have a nervous breakdown. This is like design done by a committee of summer camp hobbyists. I'm happy I don't have to stand in the Hasselblad stands talking it up. The company must be in dire straits to stoop to a step like this.
--
Meanwhile, "the other giant name" in luxury cameras, Leica, has the future arrival some time of an "M10", but just named M. Surprised me, there used to be many years between Leica's. But I guess they are finally catching up with the speed of digital.
Sadly Leica is also catching the Kindle and iPad decease and will name all future models simply "M". Oh my gawd. Well, at least it wasn't "X". That would have seriously dated them by next year!
I wonder if it's the new female M, or the old male one, who paints flowers in his spare time?

The M9 will be kept around, again Apple/iPhone style, as a "discount" model. Sort of. Mike is funny:

who... really wants to spend $5,450 on a camera widely understood to be a status symbol but also wants to broadcast to the world the fact that he's too cheap to spend an additional $1,500? [...]
At least Porsche has the decency to charge more for its superlight 911, which has all sorts of parts taken out. That way the buyer can feel good about getting less.

This is trying to make a modern camera out of a Leica M:


... also totally hil. Grip and electronic viewfinder so you can actually use a long lens (which you really can't on an M camera, since the viewfinder doesn't zoom).

As a pure M, it is beautiful though:


Image is from DPreview. It seems like this is an official picture of the next Leica.

Read a lot of tongue-in-cheek commentary about the new Hasselblads and Leicas on Luminous-Landscape.

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