Image source: https://mrleica.com/hasselblad-swc-review/.

The Hasselblad Superwide met the “professional need for an extreme-wide-angle flat-field” camera (Collecting and Using Classic Cameras, Ivor Matanle, 1986). The non-reflex camera boasted an interchangeable lens, an ASynchro Compur shutter, and a viewfinder that fit into an accessory shoe at the top. Few were manufactured, but the “camera was very successful, largely because of the outstanding performance of the Biogen lens.”

Specifically, the write-up states:

“The remarkable performance of the 38mm f/4.5 Biogon, which provides a distortion-free 90-degree image that is bitingly sharp even in the corners, makes the Superwide or SWC an extremely effective tool for industrial, architectural, and press photographers needing to produce top-quality images that do not look like ‘wide-angle’ pictures.”

The camera was produced from 1954 to 1959.

Two reviewers had praise for the Hasselblad SWC (Super Wide Camera). Matt Osborne noted that the camera is “small, compact, and lightweight” and added, “The spirit level built into the SWC finder is a very nice touch as you can see if an image horizon is level without taking your eye from the finder. Well done Hasselblad” (source). On the negative side, he noted that the viewfinder is distorted, which may lead the photographer to think that the image will be distorted as well.

Richard Forrester also reviewed the SWC in 2018 (updated 2021). He called the camera “mysterious, and a camera I had never heard of before.” He became a fan after seeing examples of what the camera could achieve. After initially finding the camera intimidating, he came to appreciate the “highly intuitive” and “simple and ingenious design” (source).

The online article covers several topics: the type of photography the SWC is suited for, setting up the camera, the lens, and focus. About the lens, Forrester commented: “This camera is all about the insanely sharp ZEISS BIOGON CF 38mm f/4.5 lens, which is permanently attached to the camera’s body.”

Writing about the difference between the SW and SWA (Super Wide Angle), Dan Cuny noted:

“The main changes in the later Hasselblad Super Wide camera were an additional metal cylinder to the lens design. The lens barrel, which had a cutout in the barrel for the shutter control, also connected the lens’s front to the rear. Another change was the focusing helicoid, which went from turning approximately 180 degrees in the Supreme Wide Angle to just under 360 degrees on the Super Wide versions” (source).

Cuny writes:

“Using the Hasselblad Super Wide is relatively easy and straightforward. When using the Hasselblad cameras, you always need to remove the dark slide from the back to fire the camera. There is no light meter built into this camera, or many of the Hasselblad cameras, unless you purchase a different finder. An external light meter is needed to get proper exposure.”

Hasselblad is based in Göteborg, Sweden. Founded by Fritz Victor Hasselblad in 1841 as a marketing company, the photographic division broke off as its own company when photographic products appeared in 1887 and became a separate company in 1908.

Camera-wiki provides more information about the history of the company along with a full list of products and models manufactured over the years (source), and Wikipedia offers a very extensive history of the company (source).

A full century after the photographic division separated from the home company, the Hasselblad factory in Göteborg became a true camera manufacturing plant. NASA has taken Hasselblads into Earth orbit and to the moon, and they have been used in drones.