Victor Hasselblad TV Interview From 1967

In 1967, Swedish National Television was granted a rare interview with Victor Hasselblad at his home. In this video, we also get a glimpse into the Hasselblad manufacturing facilities in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The Hasselblad camera made its huge breakthrough when the American astronauts began to use it in space. The photographs of the first men on the Moon are some of the most published images in the world. The camera also figured largely for more earthbound photographers, amateurs and professionals alike, working in the fields of advertising, fashion, photojournalism, portraiture, nature, science, and medicine. The idea for his camera came to Victor Hasselblad (1906-78) in his youth when he traveled around the Swedish countryside to photograph birds. Never really satisfied with his results, he began to dream about a better camera.
This remarkable footage gives us an insight into the man whose idea of a camera - and camera system - is as admired today as it was ground-breaking over 75 years ago.
Video courtesy of Swedish National Television (SVT).

[@joerg_koeln]

I bought my first Hasselblad some weeks ago, a 503 which is ca. 30 yrs old. It perfectly demonstrates what Hasselblad's reputation was about: perfect craftsmanship, very high reliability, excellent service and many creative options of the system. It is a joy to use it and to feel and hear quality that comes with its design. In today's digital era the differences between different vendors are small, because every company plugs together a small number of modules and parts bought from third parties.

[@MarcS4R]

this man created one of the most beautiful cameras EVER made.

[@jackmjmlsf3826]

admiration from big fan of Hassy. really respect Mr Hasselblad. hope this great company can great in the future

[@nordscan9043]

Hasselblad means hazel leaf in Swedish.

[@fjalls]

What a man. Im proud to be a Swede and from Gothenburg. Må du vila i frid Herr Hasselblad

[@richardsimms251]

Fabulous interview and history of this famous gentleman and his company. Thank you. RS. Canada

[@brettrogers8482]

That was brilliant! Thank you. I would love to see anything else that turns up about Mr Victor Hasselblad.

[@suresh1957]

A very modest man indeed, so typically Swedish. I remember that I worked and saved hard for my first Hasselblad that I purchased in 1984. It still works, a testament to the high quality of the product. Indeed, I even used a Hasselblad made in the 50s and that too worked like a charm.

[@mefourb]

Thank you for this.

[@Kevin-finity]

This is so great!!! Thank you Hasselblad that bring a very important piece of the camera history back to today!

[@cesarspain10]

Thank you so much for posting this. I love it 😍

[@alanbstard4]

excellent. Thanks

[@barrysmith4094]

I never owned a Hasselblad camera, but I held one. Now why is the format 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches? Isn't a square frame bad for composing? Why couldn't the frame be a rectangle like a 35mm camera? I know, you'd have to turn the camera on it's side for a vertical compisition. Can anyone reply?

[@helgebrekke]

It makes a bit more sense in metrics; 6*6cm. I've heard it was made as a more versatile version of the 6*4,5cm, so that you could take a square picture and crop it the way you wished, or use the whole square format. Also, it was in the early stages developed for aerophotography of landscapes (as they talk about here), where you might as well work in square format for mapping an area.

[@nelsonclub7722]

@@helgebrekke 100% correct - I used to have a 500cm in my studio. Now I have a H5D50c but still use the 6x6 frame and shoot square - it just feel right - also I can use a waist level finder which gives you the best height for portraits/architecture and yes even landscapes and fashion. It just works

[@jcollins1305]

6x6 gives you a bigger negative and hence more room to crop the photo should you choose. Once your shoot square format, it’s difficult to go back!

[@matthewharting3390]

9:12 Could someone who speaks Swedish please tell me how Mr. Hasselblad is saying "Why not call it Hasselblad? I should say the dog is called Leica." What is the intent of his reply?

[@cbergek]

The switch from calling the camera Hasselblad into talking about the dog comes exactly as he looks away a little. I take it as a sign of modesty, very common in Sweden, at least back then. Bragging, which putting your own name on the camera could be considered as, was just about the worst you could do. Further, Leica is a German camera company and ’Leica’ pronounced in german (which most well educated Swedes at this time learned in school, so probably he spoke rather well) sounds exactly like ’Laika’, the Soviet dog that was the first living creature to enter space. At least the names sound the same in Swedish - I guess Russians may pronounce ’Laika’ differently.)

[@caiodlimaM]

LOL the narration is awful

[@brettrogers8482]

You obviously speak fluent Swedish, for you to make that remark, of course, right...

[@caiodlimaM]

hahaha. absolutely not. but i do understand about rhythm, intonation, timing etc... the narration of what victor is doing is -by itself- awful. there are better ways of making a doc if you know what i mean. but the content of the video is interesting =)

[@heno02]

This is how they narrated back then. The narration is actually not as bad as it could have been

[@josephomalley1526]

There is always a negative

[@danilo16410]

They are not shooting 5 or 7 words per second how they do today? Especially as they does in the USofA, Spain, Italy etc.