But they weren't similar. The advent of Hassy gave photographers another category of gear to consider. Rollei was a fixed lens machine with limited accessory options compared to the Hasselblad, which was an extensive modular system. Comparing them is akin to considering Leica and Kodak 35 to be similar because they were both 35 mm rangefinder cameras. While thousands were moving to Hasselblad, many more MF photographers staying with TLR often chose Minolta or Yashica TLRs, while millions went to 35 mm. For professional and dedicated amateur purposes, Rollei simply became obsolescent while being more expensive than very capable Japanese competitors. I still believe that Hasselblad had little or no part in the decline.
Allen Zak On Mar 25, 2010, at 5:02 PM, Austin Franklin wrote:
Unless you can show substantiated figures that show people who boughtHasselblads would have not considered a Rollei as an option, I don't think there is a way to establish the claim that Hasselblad didn't contribute to the decline in sales of the Rollei TLR. The fact that they were sold at the same time, and were so similar is clear enough indication that it had to have some contribution, if not a significant one. And again, what if the Hasselblad weren't around? What else would all those thousands of peoplewho bought Hasselblads have bought? Regards, Austin
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