Redmond, WA—Created for aerial photography, Hasselblad’s new A5D camera line utilizes the company’s latest medium-format capture technology and can be used with a range of lenses. The special application camera launches with three sensor options: a CCD-based A5D-40 and A5D-60 and a CMOS-based A5D-50c. The company has plans for more to follow.
Available with 40, 50 and 60 megapixel sensors, the line sports a modern, compact design. The A5D Aerial includes a function that allows up to eight cameras to be synchronized within 20 microseconds (μs). A bus-type cable connection is required between all cameras in the setup. This feature is designed to completely eliminate any problems in postproduction caused by unsynchronized exposures.
Nine of Hasselblad’s H-system lenses are available in aerial versions with locking mounts to minimize vibration, flexing and to help ensure the image plane and sensor stay parallel at all times. The units ship with focus fixed at infinity and firmware to close the shutter and aperture to their working positions when power is applied to the camera.
“The A5D is an important breakthrough for us in what is a fast growing and demanding global ‘special applications’ segment,” said Perry Oosting, Hasselblad’s CEO. “Hasselblad has a very long history of working with speciality photography segments and the development of new technologies. Back in the 1940s the very first Hasselblad camera was an aerial camera. The Swedish government asked Victor Hasselblad if he had the skills to produce a camera identical to one that had been captured. Victor famously said: ‘No, but I can make a better one.’ That is a mantra that still exists at Hasselblad today.”
Hasselblad found a solution to the vibration challenges of aerial photography by completely reengineering the cameras with no moving internal parts. This solution is designed to prevent any unintentional movement that may occur due to aircraft vibration.
The cameras also have three new connectors located on the top of each body to enable easy user control via the plane’s flight management system. The image capture interface is via 1394B FireWire 800 or straight to a CF card, and a LEMO connector synchronizes triggering or connection to a flight management system. In addition, the Hasselblad software library, which can be supplied with the A5D, enables image tagging with metadata, including the full set of exposure settings, in-lens temperature and GPS coordinates.
The A5D cameras are available with or without an infrared filter to allow infrared capture from 750nm-1000nm to serve the special needs of aerial analysis, such as environment surveying and crop management. Pricing to be announced. hasselbladusa.com
