Hasselblad

Victor Hasselblad AB is a Swedish manufacturer of medium-format cameras and photographic equipment based in Gothenburg, Sweden. The company is best known for the medium-format cameras it has produced since World War II. Perhaps the most famous use of the Hasselblad camera was during the Apollo program missions when humans first landed on the Moon. Almost all of the still photographs taken during these missions used modified Hasselblad cameras. Hasselblad's traditional V-System cameras remain widely used by professional and serious amateur photographers. One reason is a reputation for long service life and quality of available lenses. Their newer H-System cameras are market leaders, competing with Sinar, Mamiya and others in the medium-format digital camera market.

Company history

The company was established in 1841 in Gothenburg, Sweden, by Fritz Wiktor Hasselblad, as a trading company, F. W. Hasselblad and Co. The founder's son, Arvid Viktor Hasselblad, was interested in photography and started the photographic division of the company. Hasselblad's corporate website quotes him as saying I certainly don’t think that we will earn much money on this, but at least it will allow us to take pictures for free.