Kodak abandon film

davej

I see Kodak have decided to stop selling film based cameras.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3394183.stm

They mightn't be the biggest player in the film market but I'm sure the other manufacturers will be looking at how Kodak's strategy pans out over the next 2-3 years.

davej

FinoBlad

Who uses APS cameras anyway?, thats no loss to photography IMHO.

Personally I'm a bit too dependant on Kodak [tri-x and plus-x] and meethinks its time to move to a different manufacturer.

norma

This doesn't mean Kodak are abandoning film, just that they are abandoning film cameras. Is that really such a big loss? I mean, how many people do you know that own a Kodak camera? Kodak doesn't have any significant share in the film camera market. So, it makes sense that they would try to get into the digital market while there's still a chance.
Last year, Kodak seriously cut back their amateur film production because most amateurs are turning digital nowadays. Now, Kodak are getting into the digital camera market, probably to make up for loss of earnings in amateur film.
Thankfully, the professional film market is still thriving. The important thing for me is that Kodak (and the others) continue to make and develop (pardon the pun) their professional lines of film, and this statement confirms once more that Kodak are fully committed to doing that.
I'm not worried yet ...
Norma.
(a dedicated film user!)

davej

One interesting quote from this article:

"We will focus our film investments on opportunities that provide faster and attractive returns, while reducing investments were we see unsatisfactory returns."

So if your favourite Kodak film doesn't provide a "fast attractive return" it could be scrapped quite quickly.

The decision to move out of film based cameras can't be ignored by the other bigger players. Yes it's true that Kodak don't have a huge share in this market but if the others see Kodak making huge profits from their decision they may well be tempted to follow suit.

davej

(also a film user)

FinoBlad

The less players in the market will mean more profit for the ones that remain. I'd say Fuji and Ilford are delighted.

I think that Kodak might drop some of the formats instead of the film themselves i.e. 120 film and sheet film and thats why I'll become less reliant on Kodak in the future.

norma

FinoBlad, I disagree. I think, if anything, 120 and sheet film will be the film formats that will outlast 35mm. 35mm is primarily an amateur film format, and that's where Kodak is losing money. On the other hand, Kodak is still making money from film sales to professionals, and professionals don't use much 35mm film.
Norma.

FinoBlad

good point Norma, I hope you are right, have you ever seen any figures showing the film usage of 35mm vs 120 vs sheet?

norma

No, I don't. It would be interesting, though.

p

norma, you also have to remember that kodak was only losing money on 35mm cameras. Other companies could've merely been innovating and marketing better than kodak.

This decision doesn't neccessarily mean there's a trend amongst companies.

Naturally digitla is going to become more popular, but i'd be highly surprised if it kills 35mm.

norma

P, this is just about cameras, thankfully.

However, last year I was living in the US & helping out part-time at a photography store. Back then, Kodak discontinued a lot of its film lines, especially in 35mm format. They stopped manufacturing their Royal Gold film in the lower ISO ranges. Among professionals, the loss of the entire range of Supra films was particuarly lamented!

Norma.