Rarest A-mount Body? Not Sony (Sort Of)

Not sure if this isthe one that David Beckham purchased around 2015, or thereabouts. Worth checking out.

I knew about it, but have never seen one. It has always struck me as a burst of insanity from Hasselblad - what on earth could they have done to make it worth so much more than the A99 - essentially the same camera? They may have made 100, but did they sell them all?

The Hasselblad Lunar was a fancy version of the Sony NEX-7. It was not just rebadged in my opinion - but it is semantics I guess.

I cannot find a good source for the 100 items number USA-today were told by "reps". Neither Dpreview or Imaging-resource mention the number at launch. If I did a 100 of a camera, I would number them accordingly with a nice certificate. That would make it a real collectors item.

What is the serial number of your camera?

And, most importantly, without pictures it didn't happen

ffrolvaag wrote: It is interesting that the splash screen displays “Hasselblad” when first powered up. Not sure if that means it has custom firmware or not.

The firmware is different insomuch as EXIF names the Hasselblad model rather than the Sony model. This means that some software that supports A99 files won't support HV files unless you change the metadata.

There were also rebadged versions of the nex-7 and RX100 by Hasselblad.

Correct.

The whole program was widely ridiculed by observers, and Hasselblad's respect quotient took a dive as a result.

Here are a few photos. Note the jewel in the power slider/ shutter button. Also, there is one on the back of the camera that is much larger and embedded in the video record button.

The serial number is 62VC103XX where XX is a specific number. Looking at photos of other serial numbers on the web for the HV they are identical except for XX. Based upon that, I would assume XX is the sequential number 0 - 99 for the 100 units. Interesting to note that the VC is the date (ie year) of manufacture for Hasselblad cameras. In Hasselblad’s serial numbers, this corresponds to 2012, which is interesting in that this camera didn’t launch until late 2014, but the a99 launched in 2012.

Other features (changes) is that the body case is a single piece aluminum shell with a vapor deposition coating that is supposed to be nearly as hard as diamond. As previously noted, glammed up with jewels and a scalloped mode selector (top right of the camera. The strap is a Hasselblad lug connection. While the lens was Sony a badged Zeiss 24-70 f2.8, it came with a Hasselblad lens cap and body cap. Sadly, I received neither, but have seen them in some of the press materials.