SHOT ON

Buzz Aldrin on the Moon. Neil Armstrong, holding the camera, is reflected in his visor.

AS11-40-5903. Edwin Aldrin near the leg of the lunar module, 20 July 1969. Hasselblad Electric Data Camera, Zeiss Biogon 60 mm.

Neil Armstrong is in the visor.

He carried the camera for most of the two and a half hours outside, so nearly every Apollo 11 surface photograph is of Aldrin.

Magazine 40

Magazine S. 70 mm Ektachrome, exposed on the lunar surface on 20 July 1969 and brought back in the ascent stage. The best-known colour photographs of Apollo 11 are on this roll.

AS11-40-5863. Aldrin climbs down the ladder of the lunar module. — Aldrin climbs down the ladder of the lunar module.

AS11-40-5875. Aldrin beside the flag. — Aldrin beside the flag.

AS11-40-5877. A bootprint, photographed to study the soil. — A bootprint, photographed to study the soil.

AS11-40-5880. Aldrin’s boot beside the print. — Aldrin’s boot beside the print.

AS11-40-5881. The horizon, about two and a half kilometres away. — The horizon, about two and a half kilometres away.

The plaque on the ladder.

Fixed to the descent stage, which stayed on the Moon. The lettering is Futura.

HERE MEN FROM THE PLANET EARTH
FIRST SET FOOT UPON THE MOON
JULY 1969, A.D.
WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND

AS11-40-5902. Aldrin walking towards the camera. — Aldrin walking towards the camera.

AS11-40-5903. Aldrin, with Armstrong reflected in the visor. — Aldrin, with Armstrong reflected in the visor.

AS11-40-5917. A footpad of the lunar module, sunk a few centimetres. — A footpad of the lunar module, sunk a few centimetres.

AS11-40-5927. The lunar module, with the experiments laid out. — The lunar module, with the experiments laid out.

6 × 6

Square frames on 70 mm film. This is AS11-40-5877 as it came off the roll: the edge of the film, the picture, and the crosses of the réseau plate, a sheet of glass in front of the film that put a measuring grid on every frame.

Raw scan of frame AS11-40-5877, Aldrin's bootprint, with the film edges

V System

Body, lens, film magazine and finder, each one interchangeable, and a leaf shutter in every lens. The system grew from the 1600F of 1948. With the waist-level finder you hold the camera low and look down onto a square of ground glass.

A Hasselblad 500 series camera with its waist-level hood open — **500 series, from 1957.** The cameras flown on Apollo were adapted from this body.

Hasselblad 907X with CFV 100C digital back, front — **907X & CFV 100C.** A 100-megapixel back that also fits V System bodies.

Hasselblad 907X, side, with lens — **Side.** With an XCD lens.

A photographer looking down into a 907X held at chest height — **Waist level.** The back’s screen tilts up to be read from above.

Sample images

Portrait made with a 907X and CFV 100C — 907X & CFV 100C, XCD 2,5/55V. Photograph: Junsong He

A white car at night made with a 500C/M and CFV 100C — 500C/M & CFV 100C, CF 50 FLE. Photograph: Qiyi Chen

Mount Fuji under lenticular clouds — Flexbody & CFV 100C. Photograph: Qiyi Chen

Release: click · space1 / 9

Mission

Date

CameraHasselblad Electric Data Camera

LensZeiss Biogon 60 mm f/5.6

Film70 mm Ektachrome

Magazine

EXPOSED

The whole Earth, photographed by the crew of Apollo 17

7 December 1972, about five hours after launch. Apollo 17 was on its way to the Moon with the Sun behind it, so the Earth was fully lit: Africa, Arabia, the Antarctic ice, a cyclone over the Indian Ocean. One of the crew photographed it with a Hasselblad and an 80 mm Zeiss lens. NASA filed the frame as AS17-148-22727. It is better known as the Blue Marble.

AS17-148-22727. Apollo 17, about 29,000 km from Earth.

1941

X2D II 100C

Medium format, 100 megapixelsMachined aluminium body, leaf-shutter lenses, 1 TB of storage inside.
hasselblad.com

Shutter release. Orange, as on the X2D.
Machined aluminium. 148.5 × 106 × 75 mm. 840 g with the battery.
100 MP, 43.8 × 32.9 mm. 11,656 × 8,742 pixels, each 3.76 μm.
XCD mount, leaf shutter. The shutter sits in the lens, so flash syncs at every speed.

Sensor: 100 MPBSI CMOS, 43.8 × 32.9 mm
Colour: 16-bitDynamic range up to 15.3 stops
Shutter: Leaf68 min to 1/4000 s with XCD lenses
Stabilisation: 10 stops5-axis, in the body
Focus: PDAF + LiDAR425 zones. AF-C, a first for Hasselblad
Storage: 1 TB insidePlus CFexpress Type B
Screen: 3.6″ OLED1,400 nits peak, tilts up 90°
Weight: 840 gBody with battery