Hasselblad Used to Mean Something. Giving Gear Away to YouTubers Is Changing That.
For as long as I’ve been into photography, Hasselblad has occupied a different tier in my mind than almost any other camera brand. It wasn’t just equipment — it was an aspiration. The kind of system you worked toward, saved for, and eventually earned the right to own. Hasselblad’s reputation was built on precision, exclusivity, and a legacy that stretched from medium-format studio work to the Moon landing. Owning one said something about where you were in your craft.
That’s part of why it’s been so disappointing to watch the brand hand out its gear for free to YouTubers in exchange for video coverage.
When Aspiration Turns Into Advertising
I understand the business logic. Influencer seeding is cheap, effective marketing, and Hasselblad is hardly the only company doing it. But there’s a real cost to this strategy when the brand in question has spent decades cultivating an image of rarity and craftsmanship. When a camera that once felt like a milestone shows up unboxed by a creator who didn’t pay for it, didn’t necessarily earn it, and may not even keep using it past the sponsored video, the equipment stops feeling special. It starts to feel like product placement.
The exclusivity was never just about price. It was about the sense that the people using this gear had deliberately chosen it, often after years with other systems. Free gear handed out for exposure undercuts that entirely. It signals that the brand cares more about impressions and click-through rates than about its relationship with the photographers who actually buy into its ecosystem.
Roberts Cottages in Oceanside shot on my Hasselblad 500CM
The Trust That Gets Spent
Brands like Hasselblad don’t just sell hardware — they sell a story about what owning that hardware means. Every giveaway aimed at growing a YouTube channel’s subscriber count chips away at that story a little more. It reframes the camera as just another tech product competing for attention rather than a tool with a legacy worth respecting.
I had genuinely planned to upgrade to Hasselblad gear at some point. That’s no longer the plan. Not because the cameras got worse, but because the brand’s own marketing has made me wonder what, exactly, I’d be buying into.
A Brand’s Choice to Make
None of this means influencer marketing is inherently wrong, or that other companies haven’t done the same thing without consequence. But Hasselblad built its name on being different — on standing apart from the churn of constant product cycles and algorithm-chasing content. Free gear for YouTubers is a strategy brands use to manufacture relevance. It’s not a strategy that fits a brand that already has it.
If Hasselblad wants to retain the loyalty of photographers who see the brand as something to work toward, it might want to reconsider whose hands its cameras end up in—and why.
Changed my mind about film cameras
As I have mentioned, I sold most of my gear in 2024. I initially had plans to purchase another 500 or 501 body because I liked the camera. However every time I go to look and shop for one I just have this bad taste in my mouth. I feel like I have been betrayed. I may eventually buy another film camera, but it is very, very unlikely that I will ever support the new Hasselblad that gives away free cameras to people who make videos. I understand what they wanted to do, but they should not have given them. They could have either invited several influencers to an event or just let them use them for a short period.