Goodbye Hasselblad

Yesterday I said goodbye to my Hasselblad camera system and also Profoto flash for Nikon system (the only one Hasselblad pretends to use..) at the UPS counter. I am trading in my Hasselblad system for something more robust and flexible, where everything just simply works without qualification or explanation. I grew tired of all of Hasselblad’s unique quirks, the last straw being an incompatibility with my Profoto flash system in something that was supposed to work without qualification the camera. Below is my latest YouTube video detailing my complaints.

Today i submitted a bid for a very modest commercial photography job in Broadview Heights, Ohio. I believe that I made a competitive offer, but without giving away my services. I have my standard rate and that is what I bid, which left room for recovery of travel expenses, after all fuel is so damn expensive. So we’ll see how that shakes out.

Also, in the coming weeks, I will be working with three female models on TFP photoshoots as I look to rebuild and reorient my portfolio. It should be lots of fun, with the hoped-for great images for everyone! I will update you all next week about my new camera system… stay tuned!

Are you kidding me?

Rant here, and it’s about Hasselblad lenses, specifically the 20-35mm f/3.2-4.5 E lens. Now this is a relatively new lens that they introduced last year, before they released the new Hasselblad X2D-II camera, and the 35-100mm E lens. One wonders why they didn’t plan their “E” line of lenses better. This 20-35mm lens, which retails at $5,995, DOES NOT PROVIDE FOR CONTINUOUS AUTOFOCUS.

The 20-35mm E lens is a Hasselblad-branded “Exclusive” lens, one of only two models currently. The other Exclusive lens is the 35-100mm f/2.8-4 E lens, just recently introduced. Hasselblad knew for years in its planning that they were going to introduce the Exclusive lens line, how could they not ensure the lenses were all capable of the same thing? I believe this is really short-sighted on Hasselblad’s part, and they lost a $6,000 sale in me today. C’mon Hasselblad, you can do better!

Time to print!

Yesterday, I picked up my new photo printer. After much YouTube research, I decided to get the Canon imagePrograff Pro-310 photographic printer, a 13-inch professional printer. I had considered getting the Canon Pro-1100 photo printer, a 17-inch printer, but at 75lbs. a bit too big for me at this time. And too expensive; the ink tanks are huge and each one of the twelve needed costs $160 each.

Now I have to learn the ins and outs of photo printing, getting the same rendered photograph on the computer onto paper. Hopefully it won’t be too long of a process for me. I ordered some photo paper in different sizes for testing, and another set of inks as the Pro-310 has small ink tanks. Once I have it figured out, I hope to start making some limited prints; I know which one is going to be the first, but I have no idea how many to make in the first series.

In other news, I ordered a new backpack from a brand that I love, Shimoda. I bought a Shimoda Urban Explore 25-liter backpack. I loved Shimoda’s Action X25 V.2 pack when I had all of the Olympus gear last year. Now, I hope to utilize the Urban Explore with my Hasselblad and Profoto gear. I have a workshop on portrait lighting early in April, and needed more space than my Wandrd sling offers. I’ll try to do a quick review of each in the coming week or so.