New Hasselblad H4D launched at the Kennedy Space Center

Hasselblad is currently part of the festivities at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida celebrating 40 years of Man-on-the-Moon. And what a better stage for Hasseblad to ...launch a new product, the brand new Hasselblad H4D medium format camera, that promises improvements in ...focusing! It looks like Medium Format is waking up and getting more competitive!

The spotlight on this release shines on "True Focus" with APL (absolute lock position). The new technology takes into account relative camera movements in recomposing. So absolute is achieved thanks to relative :) The first version only corrects vertical and horizontal positioning. The idea is to improve focusing. As with all new technologies touted by marketing people, the proof will be in the focus-pudding, but certainly any new advances in features and functionality are very welcome!

Along with the camera comes version 2.0 of their Phocus software (not a typo, that's its actual name).

Two new camera models: HD4-60 and HD4-50
There are two new camera models that are part of the HD4-series, the 60-megapixel HD4-60 which will come out in November for 29000 euro, and the 50-megapixel H4D-50 which will come out in the first quarter of 2010 for 20000 euro.

Everyone who buys the existing H3Diii-50 from now until the release of the HD4-50 will get a free upgrade to the H4D-50. They are also working on upgrade programs for other H3D-owners.

Further Reading
+ PDN Pulse
+ Fotopolis.pl (with slides from the event)
+ Hasselblad
+ Imaging Insider