Redmond, WA—At photokina 2012 Hasselblad announced a plan to launch Lunar, an Italian-designed “ultimate luxury” mirrorless, interchangeable-lens camera early next year.
“The Lunar is a celebration of the passion that the company’s founder, Victor Hasselblad, had for photography,” said Luca Alessandrini, Hasselblad’s new Business Development manager. “We’ve developed this model in the traditional way, using handmade wooden prototypes to ensure superior ergonomics and functionality. This is a camera for both serious photographers and enthusiasts who aspire to shooting with a Hasselblad.
“Lunar, which can be used in fully automatic or fully manual mode, has been designed to be easy to use and versatile but with all the advanced technology employed in top DSLRs,” he added. “For the first time the market now has a camera embracing traditional Hasselblad state-of-the-art image capture combined with stunning Italian design features.”
Hasselblad is using carbon fiber, titanium, wood, leather and precious metals—including gold—in Lunar’s construction. The camera grip is ergonomic and was developed to embrace both compact E-mount and the larger professional A-mount lenses.
The Lunar, set for launch in the first quarter of 2013, will be priced at approximately $6,500 and will be available in a choice of standard models plus a variety of exclusive handgrips and precious materials on special order.
Hasselblad is showcasing a “Lunar experience” at photokina, where visitors to the stand view a snapshot of the latest work-in-progress designs and wooden models—built to demonstrate the company’s “ideal luxury” camera vision.
“It has always been my ambition to enable all fans of the iconic Hasselblad brand to have an opportunity to own one of our cameras,” said Dr. Larry Hansen, Hasselblad chairman and CEO. “The company mission is to develop exceptional products at the very top end of the market segments in which we operate. In 1962 astronaut Walter Schirra took the first Hasselblad camera into space. Walter had painted the 500C’s metal surface black to minimize reflections. Now, in celebration fifty years later, we have developed Lunar—an aesthetically and ergonomically beautiful piece of camera art, complete with color options and an evocative vintage look and feel, for photography lovers down here on planet Earth.”
Lunar will be engineered to offer DSLR-like performance thanks to a 24.3 megapixel APS-C sensor, an “ultrafast” processor with real-time image processing and RAW to JPEG translation, and a TriNavi system for DSLR-like tuning. It will feature: 25 autofocus points; a bright 3.0-inch high-definition display; an OLED viewfinder that guarantees superior contrast and ultrafast response; a 0.02-second release time lag; 10-frames-per-sec shooting; ISO 100-16,000; auto HDR, DRO and anti-motion blur modes; two flash options; and an anti-dust system.
One-touch Full HD video recording can be shot in auto or manual mode with focus and exposition control, plus there will be a connection for an external microphone and the option to use larger A-mount lenses for professional video creation.
To inspire photographic creativity, the camera will provide a set of creative styles and picture effects, as well as scene selections and smart “intelligent face registration.” hasselbladusa.com
