"Kodak Bankruptcy: Photographers Mourn"

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Ashley_Pomeroy
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"Kodak Bankruptcy: Photographers Mourn"

Post by Ashley_Pomeroy »

It was inevitable, I suppose, and it's not necessarily terrible news, but Kodak isn't doing too well (again):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/art ... _blog.html

"According to a Wall Street Journal report, Kodak, the 131-year-old photography company, is preparing for a Chapter 11 filing. If the company cannot sell its cache of 1,100 digital-imaging patents — which could fetch from $2 million to $3 billion —Kodak will go bankrupt.

...

The company was felled by the adaptation of digital photography, despite having invented the first digital camera in 1975. Rather than staying on top of the digital revolution, the company seemed mired in nostalgia, better known for its old “brownie” cameras, the quality of its now-defunct Kodachrome film and for the phrase “Kodak Moment,” which entered the lexicon as a description of a photo-worthy scene."

The report is notable for not actually having and quotes from photographers, mourning (there's a representative from a "brand strategy and marketing company", e.g. one man with a website).

It's doubly sad for me, because I recently bought a Yashica Mat 124 TLR and a bunch of Kodak Ektar to go with it - there's still a certain fetishistic appeal to medium format film. Opening up the box, tearing open the silver foil, loading the film, sticking down the tab at the end etc. And taking pictures, of course. I wonder if people will start panic-buying Ektachrome etc?

The irony is that in lieu of a proper lightmeter I was using a Fuji S3 as a kind of Polaroid preview back, so really I should have bought some Fujifilm instead.
NikonWeb
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Re: "Kodak Bankruptcy: Photographers Mourn"

Post by NikonWeb »

Ashley_Pomeroy wrote:It was inevitable, I suppose, and it's not necessarily terrible news, but Kodak isn't doing too well..
Always sad to see the demise of an old, familiar brand like this. The company will always be a part of our common cultural heritage. Despite the current "mourning", I'm sure we can all live happily in the post-Kodak era. It's been years since I bought a Kodak product (some Tri-X film). The saddest part is all the talented people loosing their jobs.

Kodak sold their sensor business a while ago. I'm curious how all this will affect Leica, which are using Kodak sensors in their M9 and S2 cameras. Perhaps the M10 (which I expect will be announced later this year) will come with a Sony sensor?

Jarle
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Re: "Kodak Bankruptcy: Photographers Mourn"

Post by sfpeter »

Sad, but to be honest Kodak hasn't really been marketing cameras for decades. We all know the story about the Nikon/Kodak SLR's and the Pro 14n; but before that Kodak wasn't a a big name in the professional film SLR world. Matter of fact I don't think they had any "serious" SLR's since the 60's.

The digital camera line they have put out is point and shoots, a few bridge cameras, and the handheld camcorders. My last one was a Z1015 bridge camera, which lasted less than a year before failing.

They tried to transition from film to printing, but anyone could have told them over the years people don't want to pay more than the price of gold for printer ink. They had people doing prints of film photos, but not with inkjets.

Sad to see them go through this, and it will likely be a long time before the real end, but I don't see them suddenly wising up and turning things around.
Stan Disbrow
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Re: "Kodak Bankruptcy: Photographers Mourn"

Post by Stan Disbrow »

Hi,

I still shoot with a couple of Nikon F5D units. At least that's what I call them: The F5Dx and the F5Ds. Kodak called them the DCS 760c and 720x. :P

I had my F5Dx with me in a local camera shop a couple weeks back testing a couple of filters for a specific use. It had lots of interest from several others in the store, both customers and sales folks that had never seen one. everyone picked up on the fact that it was (a) a Nikon F5 and (b) it was obviously digital.

No one picked up on the much larger Kodak logo on the bottom. One person said, when I mentioned it was much more Kodak than Nikon, 'Kodak comes out with a new digital like that and then goes bankrupt?'....

Mine still looks pretty much new, so I suppose we can blame that. How the guy missed the fact that Nikon quit the F5 years ago, I can't explain.

What struck me the most was that no one pointed out that the thing is huge by comparison to the rest of the DSLRs in the store..... ;)

For me, as long as I can keep the old bugger working, I still have *my* Kodachrome! :)

Now, time to grab up a D3s on the cheap now that they will be dumping for the D4! :) :)

Then, I can retire the F5Ds. My low-light specialty unit is looking rather tired. It has a case of the yellows (those that know the 720x know *exactly* why it's the yellows and not the blues). :lol:

One thing about having an F5 is that I actually make good use of the swappable prism. If I get a D3s, I will miss the sport finder on the 720x, for sure. I use the waist-level finder quite often on the 760c, but then a D3s won't totally replace the 760c anyway. Not like it will the 720x.

Anyway, enough rambling for now!

Later!

Stan
Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer
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