Photography With the HassleBlad.

Hasselblad, the Swedish camera company, has launched a $7,000 photographic camera, marketing its style and convenience. It certainly is handsome. It certainly is $7,000.

How does $400 sound instead?

For that, you can find one of the used Hasselblad film cameras, which are largely discarded with all the advent of photography. (Both prices add a lens. For extra perspective, consider that new, professional digital Hasselblads select upwards of $20,000.)

The tariff of all film cameras has plummeted, but Hasselblad is often a special case. Its medium-format machines -- which take pictures on negatives much larger than the normal 35mm size, making for finer resolution -- remained virtually unchanged to the better portion of 50 years. "Essentially, you could take a 1957 Hasselblad lens and hang it with a 2002 body," says Todd Murphy, president and CEO of KEH, which bills itself since the largest used-camera dealer on earth.

Then, in 2002, Hasselblad introduced the H series, which utilizes a different lens mount. Half a century's worth of equipment became obsolete.

"Right around 2003, 2004, is when all of the medium-format pricing really started taking a hit," Murphy recalls. "It's gone down really substantially, probably about 70% approximately." He cites a 500CM model with the A12 back plus an 80mm lens that sold new approximately $1,500 which enable it to now be had for $400.

$400!

Wait. Isn't photo digital portrait photography easier? Easier to shoot, doesn't require film and you will look at the image right after you take it?

Yes. But if you're like a lot of people, you have your phone for everyday photography and a real camera for special occasions. For that, film photography can still compete with digital.

"There were a few years there where we had been sitting here, twiddling our thumbs, thinking maybe we ought to take up ceramics or something," says Jim Megargee, owner and master printer at New York's MV Photo Labs, who charges $45 a roll to hand-develop then scan medium-format film. "But out of the blue there was an increase of interest. We're seeing clients coming back" from photo digital portrait photography.

Murphy also uses the word "resurgence" to describe the increased sales in film cameras. "Hasselblad is our third-best-selling product," he admits that, likening its renaissance for the rebirth of LP sales.

Silver halide on plastic -- it isn't for everyone, and it never will be again. But it's a stubborn, super-high-quality medium, and for that time being we discover ourselves which has a glut of world-class cameras that cost a fraction of their modern digital counterparts.

The film stays within the picture.