The Hasselblad system camera
1948 (1600F); 1957 (500C)
A medium-format single-lens reflex in which lenses, film backs and viewfinders could all be swapped. Hasselblads became the studio standard, and went to the Moon.
How it began
Victor Hasselblad’s company built aerial cameras for the Swedish air force during the Second World War. After it, he designed a civilian camera, the 1600F, shown in 1948.
How it works
The camera is a cube. A mirror reflects the image to a waist-level finder; lenses, finders and, crucially, film magazines can be swapped. A photographer could change from colour to black-and-white film mid-roll by swapping backs. From the 500C of 1957, leaf shutters in each lens allowed flash at any speed.
Why it mattered
The modular design made it the camera of fashion, portrait and commercial studios for decades. NASA chose Hasselblads for spaceflight, and the photographs of the Apollo Moon landings were made on them.
Limits and what replaced it
The 1600F’s focal-plane shutter was unreliable, which led to the leaf-shutter models. Digital backs extended the system’s life, but it was finally replaced by digital medium-format cameras.
Today
The V-system was made until 2013 and is still widely used with film and digital backs.