The Long, Slow End of the Iconic Hasselblad

Hasselblad ceased production of an icon this week, announcing the end of the 503CW film camera, direct descendant of the 500-series camera, used by everyone from Ansel Adams to the crew of the Apollo missions.

The Swedish cameras were belovedly archaic, taking pictures in a square format on actual, physical film. They were solid black boxes with a Zeiss lens up front, a replaceable film back, and, typically, a waist-level viewfinder that let photographers peer down and see a little square image of any picture they were considering. The 503CW was great for taking pictures without losing eye contact—or without really being obvious about it. That made it perfect for portraiture, and the camera became a mainstay for fine-art students and professionals.