hasselblad

What could you buy for the price of a moon-walking Hasselblad?

By now we all probably know that a Hasselblad 500 that made it to the moon as part of the 1971 Apollo 15 mission, and came back again, has sold for €660,000 (after auction fees) to Terukazu Fujisawa, founder of Japanese retail chain Yodobashi Camera. So that's equivalent to £550,000, US$910,000, or AU$997,000, give or take. This got me wondering, what else could I buy for £550,000, photographic or otherwise? The Hasselblad that went to the moon, and came back

Let's start with a Hasselblad, to put things into context. I've found a Hasselblad H5D-50, with either a 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm or 50-110mm lens retailing for £25,500. You could buy 21-and-half of those for what it cost to get the Hasselblad 500 that went to the moon.

You can get 21.5 of these for the cost of the Hasselblad 500 up there.

Or, if you're looking for a top flight Nikon, the new D4S is £5,200. You could buy almost 106 of those for one moon-jaunting Hasselblad. Pair a D4S with an 800mm lens that costs about £14,000 and you've spent £19,200. That's a 28:1 ratio. (Or 39 800mm lenses alone.) If you're looking for something more entry level, a Canon 700D with a 50mm ƒ/1.8 costs in the region of £580. So that's 948 of those. Or it's 611 Fujifilm X100S.

Along with a 50mm ƒ/1.8, you could buy 948 Canon 700Ds for the price of one moon-walking Hasselblad

Away from cameras, the average price of a yearling at Tattersalls' October 2013 was 207,501 guineas. What with a guinea being £1.05, you're looking at just about two baby race horses there. If you need somewhere to train your racehorses, there's a 14-box yard with a trainer's house selling for £550,000 in Newmarket right now. Or you could go for a one-bedroomed flat in central London.

Or 611 Fujifilm X100Ss

At a recent auction of Impressionist paintings at Sotherby's in London, quite a few lots went for sums in the region of £550,000, so you could always try looking for a Bonnard or a Sisley if they take your fancy.

There's plenty of things you can spend your £550,000 on if you missed out on the moon-walking Hasselblad.