23 ms·

How I always wished I could own a Hassy! Just to be able to experience the mechanism, hear the shutter, advance the film. And the contact sheets you would se

How I always wished I could own a Hassy! Just to be able to experience the mechanism, hear the shutter, advance the film. And the contact sheets you would see were always so amazing with detail and it seemed like it conferred instant professional quality. Alas, even now, that gear still sells for $500+ (even broken stuff) on Ebay, I can't bring myself to buy one. How is it still retaining its value? Just like Leicas. Who's taking photos and getting film developed that gives it strong market pricing? Nostalgic people unwilling to admit the camera is useless anymore? A puzzle.

supernova87a 7y ago
Maybe it's that the lenses are still good for digital equipment?
Bokanovsky 7y ago
I'm a hobbyist photographer. I still shoot film, although not with a Hasselblad. The reason I do it is that I like the aesthetic, different films also have different types of grain. Shooting film also slows me down. Each shot is going to cost me money to process, so I take my time to see a scene unfold and compose my shot. I always carry a digital camera when I'm out and about just in case I see something interesting, but when I shoot film I always take a camera out with the intention of taking an interesting photo. Also shooting with medium format film, it allows me to get higher resolution than a similar priced digital camera. Digital Medium format cameras exist but are significantly more expensive compared to an old film one. Certain film cameras in good condition are getting hard to find, so they either hold their price or go up. Sometimes if an influential film camera blogger mentions a particular camera that too can cause the prices to spike as well. I've often heard a comparison to using film is similar to vinyl records.
o10449366 7y ago
Many professionals still shoot medium format on film because the digital counterparts are ludicrously expensive and lower resolution. Hasselblad's come with their own brand premium (in part because of stories like this), but many older cameras retain their value because the lenses are still excellent even by modern standards.
stephen_g 7y ago
I just bought a Mamiya 645 (they call Mamiya the 'poor man's Hasselblad'). Spend about $800 on gear, looking forward to trying it out. The developing and scanning here is expensive but it's a fun hobby and I'm looking forward to a more considered, tactile kind of shooting. They're certainly not 'useless' - this camera with good film should resolve a similar amount of detail as my Nikon D810 with a good lens. Obviously given the inflexibility you wouldn't use it for, say, photojournalism or most types of commercial photography, but medium format film is still used a lot in art photography and portraits.
- supernova87a 7y ago
  Of course I exaggerated a bit to say they're useless. But it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they're seldom used. Unless you're really consciously going on a photo-taking trip, you're generally not carrying around these huge old mechanical cameras, getting the film developed, etc. Every step of the process is more involved and time consuming -- where are you getting the negatives/slides printed afterwards? Unless you're a high skills photographer, it just doesn't match people's use cases these days. Also, I've seen friends take up medium format as a fad, but they generally lose interest after a year at most. That said, I borrowed an old Bronica several years ago, and I enjoyed it a lot. There something so satisfying about loading that film up, winding, exposing, and getting your hands wet on the chemicals, and having a big negative to look at, with sharpness outdoing anything you see even today in digital.

supernova87a 7y ago

Maybe it's that the lenses are still good for digital equipment?

Bokanovsky 7y ago

I'm a hobbyist photographer. I still shoot film, although not with a Hasselblad. The reason I do it is that I like the aesthetic, different films also have different types of grain. Shooting film also slows me down. Each shot is going to cost me money to process, so I take my time to see a scene unfold and compose my shot. I always carry a digital camera when I'm out and about just in case I see something interesting, but when I shoot film I always take a camera out with the intention of taking an interesting photo. Also shooting with medium format film, it allows me to get higher resolution than a similar priced digital camera. Digital Medium format cameras exist but are significantly more expensive compared to an old film one. Certain film cameras in good condition are getting hard to find, so they either hold their price or go up. Sometimes if an influential film camera blogger mentions a particular camera that too can cause the prices to spike as well. I've often heard a comparison to using film is similar to vinyl records.

o10449366 7y ago

Many professionals still shoot medium format on film because the digital counterparts are ludicrously expensive and lower resolution. Hasselblad's come with their own brand premium (in part because of stories like this), but many older cameras retain their value because the lenses are still excellent even by modern standards.

stephen_g 7y ago

I just bought a Mamiya 645 (they call Mamiya the 'poor man's Hasselblad'). Spend about $800 on gear, looking forward to trying it out. The developing and scanning here is expensive but it's a fun hobby and I'm looking forward to a more considered, tactile kind of shooting. They're certainly not 'useless' - this camera with good film should resolve a similar amount of detail as my Nikon D810 with a good lens. Obviously given the inflexibility you wouldn't use it for, say, photojournalism or most types of commercial photography, but medium format film is still used a lot in art photography and portraits.

supernova87a 7y ago
Of course I exaggerated a bit to say they're useless. But it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they're seldom used. Unless you're really consciously going on a photo-taking trip, you're generally not carrying around these huge old mechanical cameras, getting the film developed, etc. Every step of the process is more involved and time consuming -- where are you getting the negatives/slides printed afterwards? Unless you're a high skills photographer, it just doesn't match people's use cases these days. Also, I've seen friends take up medium format as a fad, but they generally lose interest after a year at most. That said, I borrowed an old Bronica several years ago, and I enjoyed it a lot. There something so satisfying about loading that film up, winding, exposing, and getting your hands wet on the chemicals, and having a big negative to look at, with sharpness outdoing anything you see even today in digital.