From the archive

17 August 1977

This week in 1977 Elton John discovered who had stolen his sunglasses. While Editor Martin Hodder sought to disprove the adage ‘Never photograph a was his guide-cum-tribute to a camera that had been launched seven years previously and which was probably beyond the budgets of most AP readers: £690 with the 80mm standard lens and waist-level finder (£5,091 today). ‘The name Hasselblad has become synonymous with quality,’ he wrote, adding, ‘The manufacturers claim that it takes about one year to make each camera, and that each undergoes about 20,000 checks before it may be offered to a member of the public.’ Hasselblad had sold 200,000 500C/Ms to date and, after going into great depth about the features, handling and image quality the only negative thing Shriver could find to say about it was that he couldn’t afford one.