[BipolarBob]

I thought was all shot in a studio set outside of Hollywood.

/s

[Deaf Smith]

Better choice than the 110 Brownie or the 110 Instamatic.

[smokingfrog]

If we sent astronauts to the moon today, they would probably just come back with a bunch of selfies.

[bigbob]

Hassleblad made the transition to digital and lives on. I guess we know what happened to Kodak.

[Hootowl99]

Thanks for sharing this darn interesting article! I’m a chemical engineer and microbiologist (geek) and have known about the Hasselblad + Zeiss connection to NASA for a long time. This though is first time to learn these details.

Hasselblad + Zeiss lenses has to be photography’s version of nirvana. When $$$ is no object, nuttin beats a Zeiss lens. In 1979, I bought a Zeiss microscope system for $40,000. Over the next 10 years, I operated my system and a small group of others with similar high end systems would be trying out each other’s gear. What a blast! I’m retired now but one thing I have retained from those days are personal favorites of the thousands of photos I took.

Oh, one more trivial thing to mention... For my level of microscope, a Zeiss tech from Germany would drop by to do a service check up every year. Only German factory techs were allowed for this service. Oh what the heck, one more Zeiss thing. In the early months after WWII ended, General Patton had a particular fondness for Zeiss binoculars. Unfortunately, the Zeiss factory was in Russian controlled Germany. Patton put together a convoy that dashed to the town the factory was in and loaded the equipment and whatever Zeiss employees and their families that could be located then scooted all bask to American territory. That’s why post WWII Zeiss products came to be manufactured in West Germany instead of East.

[PGR88]

Its amazing that back then, an astronaut walks into a photography shop, engineers make a few modifications, and it works fine.

Nowadays, NASA and Fed.gov probably have a contract with Raytheon or Lockheed for $15 million to make a “space camera” for the next manned space program - whenever the hell that happens again.

[jonrick46]

I love my Hasselblad 500C/M. A friend who was in a position to have those photos taken on that moon mission shared them with me. They were incredible with the superb detail that only that incredible Carl Zeiss Planar 80 mm 2.8 lens can give.

A digital back for mine (Hasselblad CFV 50 M/P Digital)would cost $6000. Ouch! The best way for me is to continue shooting on film and scan them on a Epson Perfection V600 which works for 120 size film. I am told the dynamic range from film is greater than what is obtained on the digital sensor of the CFV.

[TChad]

Click for larger image.

https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/g04_s65_30430.html

[NonValueAdded]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Always wanted a ‘blad.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

What a fascinating article about a seemingly mundane part of the space program. Thanks for posting this.

Amazing that Wally Shirra went shopping for his own camera and chose a Hasselblad. It sounds like some unknown camera salesman made the recommendation to him. I hope he got reimbursed — they have always been incredibly expensive.

I always thought Hasselblad was a German camera.

[Sharkfish]

Thanks for posting. Very interesting.