Victor Hasselblad AB is a Swedish manufacturer of medium format cameras, photographic equipment and image scanners based in Gothenburg, Sweden. The company originally became known for its classic analog medium-format cameras that used a waist-level viewfinder. Perhaps the most famous use of the Hasselblad camera was during the Apollo program missions when the first humans landed on the Moon. Almost all of the still photographs taken during these missions used modified Hasselblad cameras. In 2016, Hasselblad introduced the world's first digital compact mirrorless medium-format camera, the X1D-50c, changing the portability of medium-format photography. Hasselblad produces about 10,000 cameras a year from a small three-storey building.
Headquarters in Gothenburg
Former Hasselblad headquarters built in 2003 (now occupied by Sveriges Television AB)
Hasselblad 2000 FC M with Zeiss Planar 80mm f2.8 T* lens
The Blue Marble taken with a 70-millimeter Hasselblad camera using an 80-millimeter Zeiss lens
Medium format has traditionally referred to a film format in photography and the related cameras and equipment that use film. Nowadays, the term applies to film and digital cameras that record images on media larger than the 24 mm × 36 mm used in 35 mm photography, but smaller than 4 in × 5 in.
Popular examples of medium format film cameras
A size comparison of medium-format film (left) and 35 mm film. Medium-format film lacks the sprocket holes of 35 mm film.
Pentax 6×7 format SLR camera with perspective control lens
50th anniversary Hasselblad 500 CM classic camera kit