Will there be a R5 in Cosina's future?

[traveler_101]

Film has bottomed out or almost bottomed out, that's true, but what remains is a niche market. CV's base business before 1999 was producing lenses and that's what they are back to doing - and increasingly lenses optimised for digital cameras. At least CV's still producing film cameras, but they dropped half their models--doesn't sound like a booming market to me.

 

[HHPhoto]

At least CV's still producing film cameras, but they dropped half their models--doesn't sound like a booming market to me.

You shouldn't look at the past, better to look at the future.
Film camera production will benefit from the new interest in film in the next years. Leica had already reported increasing demand for their film M cameras last Photokina.
If Cosina is clever, they act now in an anti-cyclic way and prepare for the coming years with a film revival.
New developments need time: The construction of a new film camera probably need 2-3 years.
If they start their work now, they will have the camera(s) at the right time on the market.

Like Ilford: They also expect increasing demand in the future. Therefore they are now working on a completely new factory, finished in about three years, with an investment of more than 10 million pounds.
Same for Film Ferrania, Impossible Project and InovisCoat (they did already invest).

Cheers, Jan

 

[tunalegs]

I would like to see an R6x4.5

 

[B-9]

Or a R66, witha fixed 75mm, no bellows, in a R4 style package.

 

[bwcolor]

With 50mpix cameras becoming common to most camera manufacturers over the next few years, many photographers will demand better optics and third party lens manufacturers will be able to produce premium lenses sold at premium pricing. CV will be able to meet those demands.

As much as I love film, it won't drive this industry and any new film products will mostly be projects primarily driven by a passion for this medium.

 

[HHPhoto]

As much as I love film, it won't drive this industry and any new film products will mostly be projects primarily driven by a passion for this medium.

People said that about instant cameras some years ago.
And now the Fuji Instax camera line is the most successful camera line of Fuji, which much higher sales volume than their digital camera lines.
Fuji sold more than 2,6 million (!) Instax film cameras last year.

Impossible Project sold more than 40,000 factory refurbished Polaroid cameras last year. The demand is significantly increasing.
This summer they will introduce their own new camera.

Lomography alone sold about 500,000 film cameras in 2011 / 2012 for example.

And look at the the market for turntables: Thousands of new ones are sold every year with increasing numbers. Even new companies appeared on the market.

You have to be a bit brave to act in an anti-cyclic way.
But these are often the best investments.

Cheers, Jan

 

[aizan]

now that the gf670 is discontinued and rollei went broke for good, maybe fuji can make a TLR 🙂. or how about a medium format slr? they could buy the rights for amano and put the amano 66 into production!

 

[B-9]

Really, Thats a great idea/dream/fantasy.

The Amano 66 would have been a really neat camera.

Heres a link to a small amount of info:
http://www.novacon.com.br/odditycameras/amano.htm

 

[mfogiel]

I have a quick idea for Mr K: get a licence to continue ZI cameras under the "Bessa" brand, BUT in 3 versions: 21-50mm frames, 28-90 and 35mm-135mm frames. If they make the viewfinders as good as these of Zeiss, it will be a hit. They could even make the prototypes and launch a subscription sale each year, thus making a batch that would only be produced if it would be already sold. I don't think the world needs more "low cost" rangefinders, but it needs good and modern rangefinders that can be easily serviced, and do not command Leica price tags.

 

[HHPhoto]

I have a quick idea for Mr K: get a licence to continue ZI cameras under the "Bessa" brand, BUT in 3 versions: 21-50mm frames, 28-90 and 35mm-135mm frames. If they make the viewfinders as good as these of Zeiss, it will be a hit. They could even make the prototypes and launch a subscription sale each year, thus making a batch that would only be produced if it would be already sold. I don't think the world needs more "low cost" rangefinders, but it needs good and modern rangefinders that can be easily serviced, and do not command Leica price tags.

+1.
Good idea.

Cheers, Jan

 

[varchs]

I hope Cosina have agents in RFF and are reading this Marek!!!

 

[Bille]

I was looking for a Bessa R2M today. None used over here and prices for new stock are in the realm of a used M6... silly.