New products from Ilford

[Skiff]

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/pressroom/article.asp?n=154

 

[kshapero]

Well I can't make up my mind if this is good thing or a really stupid thing. Certainly is different and the last thing I expected from this fine company.

 

[sepiareverb]

Disposable cameras were one of Kodaks biggest selling analog products were they not? With them out of the picture Ilford ought to jump on these.

 

[oftheherd]

Nice I suppose for the European market. It wouldn't likely interest me other than to give to my grandson for an outiing. And there is still CVS here in the USA for that. But thanks for the link.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Akiva,

What's stupid about it?

Cheers,

R.

 

[Keith]

Great idea IMO.

 

[peter_n]

Ilford are in business to make money. Why not give something like this a whirl? As Bob says Kodak did well but that was a different era. It'll be interesting to see if this is a good bet.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Didn't Ilford sell XP-2 disposable cameras in the late 1990s?

 

[Skiff]

Due to Ilford the whole global market for BW photo film is about 15 million films p.a.

Due to PMA (Photo Marketing Association in USA) in 2011
31 million single use cameras were sold in the USA.

So the single use camera market in US alone is double the size compared to the whole global BW market.

From this perspective Ilford's move makes lot of sense!

Maco/Rollei-Film had introduced BW single used cams some years ago, and it was a success.

 

[kshapero]

Dear Akiva,

What's stupid about it?

Cheers,

R.

Wasn't actually taking that position but just postulating how someone might think so. There goes that over intellectualizing again. My wife hates it when I do that.

 

[robert blu]

I like this move, a good marketing helps to keep film alive ! And...if available in Italy I'll give a try to the xp2 one (which by the way I used in my RFs) to give at least my minimum support to the idea!
robert

 

[sepiareverb]

I read last week that disposable camera sales were a big percentage of Kodak film sales this year. If so, this seems like another smart move by Ilford.

edit:

Due to PMA (Photo Marketing Association in USA) in 2011
31 million single use cameras were sold in the USA.

This must have been the article, I couldn't find it

 

[Austerby]

Excellent idea - there's a lot of demand for these for weddings etc and a lot of the current disposables on the market look rather tacky. These are attractive enough to be appealing to the style-conscious end of the market which should be good business for them. Packaging them with the developing options is a neat idea too.

 

[jsrockit]

I've used the Rollei ones... and they worked pretty well.

 

[KoNickon]

All you seem to see for sale in drug stores, convenience stores here is one-time use cameras. I wonder whether casual users will go for black and white cameras -- much as I love HP5+, I think only a C41 camera makes sense.

 

[jsrockit]

Lomography will sell these too... that's where I got the Rollei versions. These aren't made for the average joe walking into CVS (pharmacy).

 

[thegman]

I think the "real" black and white one is a really nice idea, particularly with pre-paid processing. It's a nice simple gift idea with no extra costs for the recipient. Might get a lot of kids interested in shooting film.

 

[Photo_Smith]

I think its a great idea, not a new one from Ilford though. I've used HP5 disposable cameras before in 2004 when I needed a camera when on a trip. They stocked them in Boots the chemist (UK) with processing and printing by Ilford.

 

[johannielscom]

Excellent idea - there's a lot of demand for these for weddings etc and a lot of the current disposables on the market look rather tacky. These are attractive enough to be appealing to the style-conscious end of the market which should be good business for them. Packaging them with the developing options is a neat idea too.

+1 on that. Smart move.

 

[newsgrunt]

please make them recycleable or else this is a fail imo.