Photography website Luminous Landscape published an article yesterday that Hasselblad will be acquired by DJI , and said that the news comes from multiple reliable channels. Leifeng.com contacted DJI as soon as he learned the news, and the other party denied the news was a rumor. Of course, this is probably just a common method of PR. The industry is actually quite calm about DJI's acquisition of Hasselblad. After all, DJI has become a Hasselblad investor as early as 2015, so the possibility of acquisition is still very high. Luminous Landscape also stated in the article that the news will be announced soon. So, before the official release of the news, this article is just to talk about whether Hasselblad is worthy of DJI’s acquisition.
Hasselblad has long been famous in the field of aerial imaging. Its technology and equipment have been used by NASA in the first human moon landing and other missions belonging to the "Apollo Project". In Luminous Landscape's report, many photographers are repulsive to Hasselbladder due to some stupid decisions, such as banning other companies from using other digital backs on Hasselblad cameras, otherwise they will have to pay licensing fees. Since the early 21st century, Hasselblad began looking for buyers, the first one being the film scanner company Imacon. After that, Hasselblad was sold several times, and during this period, he changed a CEO in about two years. The last acquisition occurred in 2011, with the venture capital company Ventizz. It can be said that Hasselblad has not been successful in the past decade. During this period, competing brands such as Sony easily won the market. Hasselblad's greatest value is its brand and years of technical accumulation in cameras.
Due to lack of funds, Hasselblad’s medium format mirrorless camera X1D production progress released by Hasselblad in mid-last year was delayed. It was not until the end of 2016 that Hasselblad started to ship small-scale goods. At this time, investors who cannot receive returns are unwilling to continue investing. Finally, Hasselblad began to turn to DJI for support. Naturally, DJI changed from a small shareholder to a major shareholder.
In Leifeng Network's view, DJI's acquisition of Hasselblad has its own value, but the value still needs to be considered. Because the user positioning of the two is not in line with each other at present. Therefore, when DJI Innovation announced its investment in Hasselblad, it announced that although the two have strategic cooperation, they will still focus on their respective fields and development directions. The products that the two parties have cooperated with are limited to the aerial photography suit launched in July last year. This suit integrates Hasselblad medium format A5D aeronautical camera and DJI Jingwei M600 professional flight platform. This suit has contributed to DJI in the field of professional imaging.
Leifeng.com also consulted the opinions of industry insiders, including drone practitioners, aerial pilots and investors, and their opinions are also different.
Not sure:
This way, see what the management thinks and where to develop. I don't think Hasselblad can help DJI directly. It is difficult to judge whether there is a chemical effect. ——Investor G
Hasselblad is a veteran brand in the camera field, and DJI is a newcomer. In terms of capital allocation, DJI cannot be idle. I have to do something. From the perspective of brand, it does have a great role in improving it. The main thing is to see what the role it has in improving it for each other after the acquisition! Hasselblad’s imaging technology is definitely better than DJI. DJI is focusing on aerial photography, and we can definitely learn from Hasselblad in this regard. If you acquire it, it depends on the final transaction price and how much intellectual property is released to DJI in Hasselblad’s acquisition terms. Only by combining it can it see whether this is a cost-effective transaction. ——Leihu aircraft Yang Zhen
It is necessary to see what Hasselblad has left! If you guess correctly, it should be more cooperation in surveying and mapping . Aerial cameras do not require medium format techniques, but surveying and mapping techniques seem to be possible with Hasselblad. DJI’s foundation lies in robots. For robotics, imaging measurement technology is quite important. ——Xiao Shi, founder of Jishi Technology,
worth it:
If you pursue the ultimate in image or learn how to play on your phone, you may! For example, Huawei hangs a Leica logo. For DJI, this can play a role in brand support. For example, for the same lens, you say you use Hasselblad and you use an OEM factory, so the value is different.——Histor of an optical product manufacturing company in China,
is quite worth it! Hasselblad’s accumulation in camera technology is quite good! An old camera factory like Hasselblad was destroyed by the new generation of Japanese musketeers, Canon , Nikon , Minolta . DJI's current integration and marketing capabilities are not weak, and it combines photography technology into drones. Isn't that a very good combination? Let’s just say that, Elf 4Pro doesn’t look at Pro too much 3 letters, they have integrated SONY’s black card CCD. What I see is that DJI spares no effort in integration. At present, M43 doesn’t look great, but who else can put M43 format, camera and RAW records together?
has another more important thing. For sensory things like color, there are quite some profound ways to do it. It cannot be ruled out that DJI has a medium format CCD + Ruying MX hangs it on M600! Do you know where Dad went, why did Director Ha use eight-axis plus 5D3? That's because at that time there was only this configuration, or it was DIYed by yourself. Now everyone is all about DJI’s enlightenment, especially after 2, entry-level films and TV series are basically enlightenment 2. Also, Hasselbladder is a machine with a medium format, such as the X1D-50C. I think it is very likely that DJI will produce a full-frame camera rack gimbal similar to the X5S, and even a medium-frame camera plus gimbal will appear below. ——Honest model aircraft practitioners have been
is not worth it:
Hasselbladder has no amount, so I don’t know how I make money! The user groups are different. Drones are still played by Dasi, and Hasselblad is too high-end. Unless you want to lower the SLR threshold. If DJI really accepts Hasselblad, it might be a good deal, but the risk is not small. The product form is uncertain and the resource matching is not high, because the Harbin user group, work release channels, supply chain and drones are not of the same era, one is antique and the other is fashion. To combine it, I think the biggest possibility is to do some low-end Hasselbladders and compete with Japanese SLRs. ——Investor Y
can be seen that everyone is still rational about this acquisition and will not feel that it is necessary to acquire because of Hasselblad’s golden sign. In Leifeng.com, the greatest value for DJI’s acquisition of Hasselblad is to make its future more likely. Although DJI's main business is consumer-grade aerial drones such as the Elf series, this market has not grown much in recent years, while competitors have continued to grow. In addition, DJI itself has grown very fast, so DJI's product lines will only increase to meet DJI's growth. Last year, DJI released several products such as Elf 4, Yu Mavic Pro, Wu Inspire 2, among which Mavic Pro is a brand new product launched by DJI. DJI has been deeply engaged in the field of professional imaging. From establishing a professional film and television aerial photography company to taking on shooting work in various professional events, DJI is making itself a professional imaging company. And the most important thing is that DJI can complete the transaction at a very advantageous price at this time. What's more, besides DJI, who else has a reason to save this company that is already dead ends!
However, if the two parties still find a direction of fit in the end, the ending may be like Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia, and the acquisition is likely to face the fate of being transferred to others again.
