DJI buys Hasselblad

I never owned a Hasselblad or Mamiya, but I thought they looked cool, and I thought it was cool in the 90s when you could buy a 30-year-old camera and go into business.
 
Medium Format has had a lot of trouble making into the digital age. It's a really big investment to buy into medium format glass that isn't as fast as full frame counterparts. That combined with the lack of low light performance from medium format digital backs and sensor really limits the customer base.
 
Yeah, the larger formats were the only way to up your resolution, so you could make larger prints, like for magazines or a huge wedding portrait.

With digital we don't absolutely have to have larger sensors for higher resolution. Right now in fact I think we are drowning in resolution, even with 4/3 digital cameras. And we aren't making prints as much as we used to, although I doubt that will ever go away.

So the question nowadays in choosing a sensor size is more about what range of depth of field do you want? I think for most people the 4/3, APS-C, or S35 sizes are in the sweet spot. It's cool to have the razor-thin focus that medium or large format brings, but do you want that every day? It seems like something that most people would rather rent on occasion. In fact, I think most people, when they want that look, would rather try to just apply selective blur in post.

Sorry, Hasselblad. I think it would be best to make an S35 camera. Make it with global shutter, fast raw framerates, or really great ergonomics (a few well-chosen knobs as opposed to a slow and complicated menu). Camera makers are still leaving those corners open.

Then again the article says that Hasselblad's current problem is that they are flooded with orders for their latest model. So what do I know?
 
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The IBC'16 announced but not yet shipping Fuji GFX is rumored to be selling for ~ $6,500 with the same Sony sensor that's also inside the Hasselblad and the Pentax MF models. Off reviews, there's definitely an increase in performance off full frame such as Sony A7RII and Canon 5Ds/r. For a successful studio portrait business, prices have definitely come down into the realm of possibility, whereas up until recently, MF was pretty much reserved for the top fashion and portrait photogs.

What's interesting in terms of the DJI money acquiring the Hasselblad brains is that, from both a technical and a financial perspective, this company can make virtually any camera with the off-the-shelf components. Both Olympus EM1 MKII and Panasonic GH5 are essentially made from these off-the-shelf components anyway, with sensors by Sony and processors by Samsung, TI, Infineon, STM, etc. And thus, without the need to play by the Japanese conglomerates rules, DJI can quickly make inroads in the medium to the high end sector gear.

PS. Pentax brought out a full frame model with the same Sony sensor that's inside D800/810 but had to cripple its video performance in order to avoid competition with Sony itself. Should DJI Hasseblad make a camera wit the same sensor, they should be more than capable of undercutting Pentax K1/Nikon D810 price point while also giving it a slew of modern video features not found on most Japanese cameras. The global photo camera market is around $77B at the moment and climbing (including software and processing). One figures that, if it plays its cards right, DJI can carve a nice chunk out of it for itself.

More info on the company -
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/12/8196413/dji-drone-funding-billion-dollar-sales
 
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