Bad News

[kuvvy]

Watching the lunchtime news here in the UK (5th Oct '04) an announcement was made that Kodak are to axe 600 jobs. This includes the closure of a factory in Nottingham with all 350 jobs gone.
They say that this is due to the digital sales booming and causing the traditional film sales to fall.
This follows only weeks after Ilford announced the same thing at ther plants.

What we gonna do about this guys? How are we gonna use our lovely rangefinders without film? Sob, sob! Maybe paperweights or door-stops.

What do you guys think about the drop in film sale and the effect for us? As I only became a member this week I don't know if this has already been discussed but would like to hear your comments.

Paul

 

[Laika]

Kodak must be restructuring worldwide. A couple of weeks ago I posted a news story about them closing up a plant in Melbourne, Australia. That cost 650 lost jobs with the same reasons 🙁

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1300

I feel bad for those who lost there jobs but I hope Kodak and Ilford can restructure effectively and continue producing film without closing up shop altogether.

 

[peter_n]

And if they don't, there are plenty of thriving companies out there serving the market. Efke from Croatia who make Adox films and Foma in Bohemia who license Agfa technology for example.

Their quality control is a bit dodgy, but Efke in particular are apparently rectifying the issue. Film will live on - might get a bit more expensive but it will live on. 🙂

 

[rover]

Welcome to the group Paul.

I plan on buying film and enjoying my cameras and don't forsee my ability to do that stopping because of a lack of film for a while. I may have fewer film choices, but I am fairly confident there will be film for me.

I have a question though. A year or so ago Kodak announced that they would trim (such a bad word) a significant portion of their workforce worldwide over time. Is this recent action part of that plan, or additional reductions? We have faced that in my field where a major company announced a number of job cuts, and when time for it to happen came around it was another big news story, but really just part of the original plan.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Film is not going to go away; companies are going to continue to streamline and cut production cost to more efficiently serve a core market of users.

I would also expect a company to succeed were silicon filmworks failed; offer a drop in sensor for film cameras. As for the camera geometry problem, I do not understand why the sensor could not be positioned via a flexible flat ribbon cable. Just look at your printer head or flatbed scanner. Tell me what I am missing.

 

[oftheherd]

Film is not going to go away; companies are going to continue to streamline and cut production cost to more efficiently serve a core market of users.

I would also expect a company to succeed were silicon filmworks failed; offer a drop in sensor for film cameras. As for the camera geometry problem, I do not understand why the sensor could not be positioned via a flexible flat ribbon cable. Just look at your printer head or flatbed scanner. Tell me what I am missing.

The last I heard about the sensor for film cameras was that there were problems with FCC certification. Don't know if that is true or not. I would not be in the least surprised if I were to find that company sold out to a camera company that was heavily invested in digital cameras. After all, why would you want that kind of competition? I also thought, just as you, that the technology should not be too difficult to overcome. Sensor sliding into the film pathway behind the lens, electronics in the film chambers as needed. Too bad it didn't work out.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

There are more players still left. And Kodak didn't say a while ago that they would stop making film; they stated they'd stop research into film and put more energy into the digital stuff.

In the meanwhile, there's Fuji and Agfa, along with a number of other players which still make film for the still large number of film users in the world. Don't despair yet!

 

[That Guy]

Ironic to keep hearing news like this and at the same time Cosina starts producing the Bessa R2A and R3A as well as the new Zeiss Ikon. Can we expect to see more of the same from other manufacturers?

 

[GeneW]

There are more players still left. And Kodak didn't say a while ago that they would stop making film; they stated they'd stop research into film and put more energy into the digital stuff.

That's right, Francisco! When you think about it, Kodak has been making quite a few b&w emulsions for some time, and b&w users are not likely to be a huge part of their overall sales. With their plants already set up, b&w is inexpensive for them to produce, and I somehow doubt the number of b&w film users has dropped significantly. Colour, that's a different story. Long live Tri-X! 🙂

Gene

 

[Sumo_du_Jour]

Kodak strategy

Kodak strategy

In January Kodak announced a three year strategy of plant closures and job cuts, here's a quote from the press release:

"Kodak is preparing plans that would achieve full-year continuing savings of $800 million to $1 billion by 2007 through the following:
reducing total facility square footage by about one-third, building on current initiatives to consolidate operations and dispose of surplus assets resulting from the consolidation;

and, to implement these changes, reducing worldwide employment by about 20 percent, or 12,000 to 15,000, during the next three years. This reflects targeted reductions in global manufacturing, selected traditional businesses, corporate administrative staff, and other areas."

There are technical press releases on KODAK.COM about new types of film emulsoin coming into production and increasing marketing plans for 35mm in "emerging markets".

 

[Socke]

With their plants already set up, b&w is inexpensive for them to produce, and I somehow doubt the number of b&w film users has dropped significantly. Colour, that's a different story. Long live Tri-X! 🙂

Gene

Ask Ilford about the B&W market!

OTOH Rollei just signed MACO to produce Rollei branded B&W films. They will be produced in Germany!

 

[wblanchard]

Film will be around for a long time. Don't fret over it. Why would Nikon release a new camera, the F6, if film was going out the door? I'm sure the people at Nikon who do research know more about the future of film than we do.