{"id":31673,"date":"2025-06-13T01:03:06","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T05:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/?p=31673"},"modified":"2025-06-12T00:59:38","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T04:59:38","slug":"shooting-birds-of-different-feathers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/shooting-birds-of-different-feathers\/","title":{"rendered":"shooting birds of different feathers …"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

the famous first model – 1600F Hasselblad<\/p><\/div>\n

Toronto<\/strong>. Victor<\/a> learned his hobby before ww2 and post ww2 he designed what he felt was an ideal ‘birder’ camera, and built it in his own factory. It was a 2-1\/4 SLR using a Kodak lens.<\/p>\n

The initial commercial model was unveiled in NYC and became an instant success. A later model was used on the moon! While a Kodak lens seems an odd choice, Victor’s<\/a> company was the agent for Kodak in Sweden. A few years later, Victor switched to the widely renown lenses by Zeiss.<\/p>\n

His camera models became the darlings of studios all over and late last century became desirable collectors items. Today, most people with some photograph experience recognize the Hasselblad camera and its quality.<\/p>\n

In issue 24-1 an article by Robert Lansdale celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Hasselblad cameras including many photos courtesy of the company, Victor Hasselblad AB<\/em>. The article gives a brief history of the famous marque and begins, “The Hasselblad company of Sweden can point to a number of important dates throughout its long history, but this year [1998] is the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Hasselblad camera system.<\/p>\n

“In 1948, Victor\u00a0Hasselblad chose New York City for a launching ceremony which revealed to the world the first medium format single lens reflex camera with interchangeable\u00a0\u2013lenses, \u2013film magazines and \u2013viewfinders. This was\u00a0the Hasselblad 1600F, equipped with focal plane shutter and Kodak Ektar lenses.<\/p>\n

“But the history of the\u00a0company dates back to\u00a0May 15, 1841 with the\u00a0birth of the F.W.\u00a0Hasselblad & Co. which\u00a0dealt mainly in the\u00a0wholesaling and retailing\u00a0of knives, scissors, needles, buttons, pens, toys,\u00a0and soap. First import\u00a0shipment through the\u00a0G\u00f6teborg Customs Office\u00a0was 25 pounds of liquid\u00a0scent, and being progressive in\u00a0their search for new-fangled\u00a0goods they were the first to\u00a0introduce accordions and flush\u00a0toilets to Sweden.<\/p>\n

“An 1870 inventory lists\u00a0from France \u2013 \u201clanternes magiques\u201d, photographies and\u00a0stereoscopic pictures. As photography flourished the company in the early 1890s began to\u00a0import more photographic\u00a0materials and contributed to the\u00a0first photographic catalogue in Sweden.<\/p>\n

“That catalogue illustrates both the Kodak No. 1 camera (for round images) and the Kodak No. 5 Folding camera.\u00a0Interestingly, it also contains a camera named the\u00a0Hasselblad Swedish Express (9×12 cm) which was\u00a0marketed between 1895 and 1910.<\/p>\n

“Expansion made it\u00a0necessary to form a new company, Hasselblad\u00a0Fotografiska AB which became general agent for the\u00a0Eastman Kodak Company, a deal that was sealed by a\u00a0handshake and lasted until 1966. The company\u00a0assigned photographers to tour the country recording\u00a0churches and other impressive buildings which then\u00a0became another business activity to produce picture\u00a0postcards and mounted albums.<\/p>\n

“Much of this photographic interest was awakened\u00a0when the founder\u2019s son, Viktor, purchased a camera on\u00a0his honeymoon in 1885. But the main thrust into the\u00a0photographic industry would come from the next generation by Fritz Victor Hasselblad, born March 8, 1906.<\/p>\n

“As a self-taught ornithologist and bird photographer, he\u00a0travelled widely in pursuit of his hobby and was a pioneer in the field, publishing in 1933 a classic book on\u00a0migratory birds, Flyttf\u00e5gelstr\u00e5k <\/i>which has become a \u00a0collector\u2019s item.<\/p>\n

“When Victor, in 1925, returned from a study period at Kodak in Rochester, he brought with him a\u00a0Graflex reflex camera (3 1\/4 x 4 1\/4 in) to continue his\u00a0study of the remaining stork settlements in his native\u00a0country, Lapland, Holland and France. Although the\u00a0best possible camera at the time for that task with\u00a0proven superiority of the reflex viewing system, it was\u00a0heavy and unwieldy.<\/p>\n

“A Leica, equipped with a reflex\u00a0attachment next became his favoured tool in documenting the autumn migration of west coast birds; this\u00a0became a new book in 1935: Highways of Migratory\u00a0<\/i>Birds<\/i>. But the desire for more flexible and easy-to-handle equipment persisted.” …<\/p>\n

PHSC members can easily read this and all articles in issue 24-1 by opening the relevant pdf on the free members-only DVD\/thumb drive. To join, see above or to the right. Questions? Email Lilianne at member@phsc.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Visit our 2025 events – you may just find a Hasselblad, or other gem for your collection! Next up is our Trunk Sale on July 13th (see the poster here<\/a> for details).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto. Victor learned his hobby before ww2 and post ww2 he designed what he felt was an ideal ‘birder’ camera, and built it in his own factory. It was a 2-1\/4 SLR using a Kodak lens. The initial commercial model … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1944],"tags":[2580,398,247],"class_list":["post-31673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","tag-2-1-4","tag-camera","tag-hasselblad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31673"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31680,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31673\/revisions\/31680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}