Via the German Calument site, we finally get a peek at the specs of the Hasselblad H4D 40- the camera that Hasselblad announced today will go on a world tour, February 10 and 11.  The Launch Event schedule is here.  ...and by posting this link, I just saved you several minutes of your life watching the most pointless product launch video I've ever seen.  If you have time to kill, and are amused easily, that is here.  Don't say I didn't warn you.
 

Here's what we have:
 

Sensor size: 40.0 Mpixels (7304×5478 pixels)

As luck would have it, at the same time that we're working with the big Hasselblads, notably the H3D II 39, I stumbled on my Dad's vintage 500CM kit.  This is a circa- 1970 camera with the older-version 80mm lens and the 45 angle finder.  The leather case was not included- unlike the snappy cordura case you get with the new cameras.  The old leather cases had a camera-base bracket mounted on the inside that you could just slide the camera into- holding it securely, and vertically. 
 

OK kids, want a peek at Hasselblad's Phocus?  Here it is.  Wait.  Is it Bridge?  Is it some Bridgey type thing with a Lightroom control panel on the side?  Just what the heck is going on? 
 

What we THINK is going on is the continued alliance between Adobe and Hasselblad, that all started with Adobe talking to Imacon 'way back when about their snappy color engine in Adobe Camera RAW...  could it be, oh, 5 years ago now? 

Since Sept. '08, Hasselblad has come under fire from both it's customers and the industry for not providing a buy-back upgrade path for owners of previous models.  An interview and statement from Hasselblad can be found at the British Journal of Photography's story, here, but the details of a part of the upgrade program to the new H4D system are found on the Hasselblad site, here. 
 

In an interview with Olivier Laurent, via the British Journal of Photography, (link here), Christian Poulsen (Hasselblad's CEO) makes some pretty interesting statements about the direction of the Medium Format Digital Back market.   Using the impending closing of the venerable Franke & Heidecke, Poulsen saw this as an indication of the overall trend in the industry- and a validation for moves that Hasselblad made years ago.