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Comment by lb1lf | Hacker News Reader

I have to admit I am throwing anxious glances at my Hasselblad kit as I type this (No, I am not a gazillionaire; I have a 501C/M film body and a couple of lenses.)

However, I am somewhat puzzled as to what DJI stands to gain from this apart from the obvious 'camera by Hasselblad' marketing blurb.

Hasselblad aren't exactly known for making compact, lightweight cameras.

And they don't make their own lenses - that is being handled by Carl Zeiss (V system) and Fuji (H system) They aren't exactly drone material, either. (According to my kitchen scale, the 80mm f/2.8 lens is just a tad shy of 500g (In excess of 1lb).)

So - what will happen to the medium format camera line now? I cannot see how any development here can be beneficial to a drone manufacturer, which would require smaller sensors, smaller lenses.

Exciting times.

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> Hasselblad aren't exactly known for making compact, lightweight cameras.

Well, except for their new mirrorless system, which is smaller than most small format DSLRs.

> However, I am somewhat puzzled as to what DJI stands to gain from this apart from the obvious 'camera by Hasselblad' marketing blurb.

While DJI's most popular drones are 1" and m43 sensors units, they do have a medium format drone, too. Given aeriel photography was traditionally large format film and super expensive lenses, there's arguably a gap in the market there that DJI may be looking to exploit.

Also, Hassleblad have been badly managed for a long time. Jaguar (Tata) and Volvo are both examples of companies having a terrible time of it under US ownership and enjoying a renaissance under Indian or Chinese ownership. It would be hard to do worse than the Sonyblads.

A flying XD1 would be incredible, and is probably already possible with the current airframes. Give it a few iterations and you'd probably be able to replace some very expensive cinema rigs.

It's the same sensor, yes: https://www.dpreview.com/news/5438453594/hasselblad-dji-medi...

In my ignorance, I had no idea DJI made a MF drone. Thanks! (What did they do? Put a remote in a Cessna 172? ;-) Off to Google I go)

And don't even get me started on the Sonyblad. That was beyond embarrassing. I'd like to think that some of the craftsmen at the factory exclaimed "Over our dead bodies!" in aghast when the idea surfaced - only to have some icy venture capitalist suggest that that could be arranged, yes...

They were, but it's interesting how much shit Hassleblad get compared to, say, Leica: the Leica D-Lux cameras, for example, are much the same thing; a Panasonic compact camera, stick the red dot on the front, charge three times as much. Leica someohow manage to have navigated that kind of thing with much less opprobrium (along with the S-series bein broken-as-shipped and so on).

Probably one of the few camera mgfrs that are available to buy Canon, Nikon or Sony probably cost too much and there's still things that a traditional camera company can bring to the table(even if lenses are made out of house).

Are we sure DJI is [only] a "drone manufacturer"?

> I am not a gazillionaire;

Haha, I couldn't have been the only one thinking the majority stake probably cost less than one of the cameras.

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