Hasselblad 500 history

Learn something about the history of Hasselblad camera models. S. Heymann and Q.G. de Backer compiled a concise tabulated history including a serial number look up for manufacturing years. - Follow the link.

My Hasselblad 500 c/m (Made in Sweden by Victor Hasselblad) was built in 1976. The 80 mm f2.8 Carl Zeiss T* Planar lens I am using is from 1981.

The 500 c/m model has been manufactured from 1970 until 1994. And was a follow-up of the 500 c model adding the possibility of interchanging the focusing screen by the user.

Hasselblad company was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1941. Right after world war II.

Moon buggy, Apollo space program

The most famous use of Hasselblad equipment was during the NASA Apollo space program. Some of the most spectacular images from manned exploration of space have been taken using Hasselblad cameras.

The Hasselblad 500 c/m model is still a quite popular camera in film photography. No longer being manufactured since more than 21 years, the market for 500 c/m cameras is still there. On eBay a good maintained Hasselblad 500 c/m set including a 80mm lens goes around 1'000 Euro. Similar as for old used cars there can  also be found a market for spare parts and repair services for old mechanical cameras.

#Bike by Joe Hirtenfelder
(500px: Hasselblad film photography)

by Shinya
(Flickr: Hasselblad film photography)

Hasselblad cameras are still widely used. A search for "Hasselblad" in the film photography section at 500px yielded a number of more than 2'000 analog images.

Flickr yields an even bigger number for "Hasselblad film" which is more than 260'000 images.

Among these Hasselblad analog photographs there are a lot of still life, landscape, and people images.

My own Hasselblad 500 c/m analog photography can be found at: andreasrmueller.com