Fuji stopping production of Motion-Picture films in 2013

[DanielStone]

Just read a rather alarming article on Yahoo....(middle of page roundabouts):

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/disapp...174049162.html

link to Fuji's press-release(from 9/2012) here:

http://www.fujifilm.com/news/n120913.html

So Kodak will be the only game in town now for MP stock... wonder how long that'll last? I'm stocking up on 8x10/4x5/120 Provia/Velvia 50, just in case Fuji decides to can still film production too... Not that I think they will, but it ain't the first time...


***Moderators, if this is a duplicate thread for some reason of something someone else posted elsewhere here on APUG, please feel free to do what you want with this***

[AgX]

I guess this is known by now on Apug.


However:

So Kodak will be the only game in town now for MP stock...

This is not true.
Filmotec and Foma still offer cine camera-film. Agfa and Filmotec offer cine print-films.

Several small enterprises re-convert film to small-gauge formats including Super-8 and Single-8.


Concerning the manufacture of CN cine-camera film Kodak indeed is the only one left.

[cepwin]

I'm actually more concerned they'll get out of making polaroid pack camera film as they're the only ones making the stuff. I suppose "impossible project" could get in that game but they're already charging > $20 US for a eight exposure pack of the 600/SX-70 film. At least their cameras that produce credit card sized prints are apparently selling so hopefully they'll stay or at the very least sell their film division to someone else who want to make it.

[StoneNYC]

I'm actually more concerned they'll get out of making polaroid pack camera film as they're the only ones making the stuff. I suppose "impossible project" could get in that game but they're already charging > $20 US for a eight exposure pack of the 600/SX-70 film. At least their cameras that produce credit card sized prints are apparently selling so hopefully they'll stay or at the very least sell their film division to someone else who want to make it.

I've spoken to TIP(the impossible project) they will NOT be making. Type 100 in that size.

The machines that did make it were destroyed or pieced out before they could afford to buy them, and re-designing is too costly for such a small company, and the manufacturing production line was too big to fit in their factory building for the small amount of runs they do.

That's what they told me.

There's a group in Boston, MA working on type 55 (neg/pos) but they don't seem to be doing large scale just hand made small scale stuff that isn't quite up to par... Yet..

Sucks I agree would be nice...


~Stone

The Noteworthy Ones - Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1 / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic

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[MartinP]

A few months ago didn't we read that Kodak was contractually obligated to provide 35mm stock for cine-camera use until 2014? The tone of the information was that supply after that previously contracted date was in question. It was unclear if print-positive material was included, but can the whole world of cinema's go digital that quickly, given the high capital cost of replacing film-projectors with digital? (And no, I can't find the article which I am busy trying to remember, dohhhh.) So it looks as though the contracts signed by Fuji finish sooner than those signed by Kodak.

EDIT:
The information was from part of the bankruptcy renegotiations. Reported in August 2012 here.

Highlights are basically....

According to a court filing this week, Kodak says it has managed to have its supply agreements with studios rewritten to provide:

Higher 2012 pricing;
Material share commitments, subject to certain exceptions;
Extension of termination dates to 2014 or 2015;
Generally potential annual price increase after 2012 (excluding commodities) versus existing contracts;
Commodities price increase generally with no cap or commodity price indexing; and
A sunset clause allowing Kodak to exit motion picture film manufacturing with 180 days’ notice.


This leaves Kodak as the sole cine-film manufacturer in a few months, but with very reduced obligations going forward.

[AgX]

... as sole CN cine camera film manufacturer...

An exit of Kodak out of that business does not necessarily mean the end of such film manufacture at all. Fuji decided that at this moment it is not profitable for them to engage in this field any more. They could re-start production if it seemed profitable for them. They did manufacture such film only on a single batch mode anyway. The same for Agfa.



However, as commercial moving pictures production is meanwhile interwoven with digital processing, the classic film systems from camera- via intermediate- to print-film, with propriatory gradation-, dye- etc. balancing are obsolete anyway.

[StoneNYC]

50% of all cinema is still shot on film and 80% of all of it even if shot ok digital is backed up on film....

Film in the movie industry is long from gone.

The industry is slow to change and they recognize the need for film because digital hard drives aren't reliable and are prone to huge failures so film is still highly used and will be for a LONG time, longer than stills film will be made I would think...

Those numbers are based on what all the DP's (Director of Photography) I've spoken to about it say...




~Stone

The Noteworthy Ones - Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1 / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RattyMouse]

I'm actually more concerned they'll get out of making polaroid pack camera film as they're the only ones making the stuff. I suppose "impossible project" could get in that game but they're already charging > $20 US for a eight exposure pack of the 600/SX-70 film. At least their cameras that produce credit card sized prints are apparently selling so hopefully they'll stay or at the very least sell their film division to someone else who want to make it.

Instax cameras from Fujifilm are popular all over Asia so I would not worry too much about them disappearing.

[ajuk]

Ok this is really surprising, are they not a big player, surly use of film is still common place enough to warrant Fuji continuing to make it? Also what about Imax there's no digital equivalent to that yet.

[Photo Engineer]

Kodak is the biggest supplier of MP films today even with their problems.

Even so, the production is falling and with Fuji having a very minor share, well.........

PE