Franke and Heidecke (Rollei MF cameras and projectors) close to an end

[marcus schluschen]

The sad news of today is, that according to Spuersinn (Germany), 131 employees have received notices.
Unfortunately, the government of Germany is not helping F & H, but instead are bailing out the Banks, who in return gave themself hefty bonuses first, just like in the U.S. and around the world.
The irony is, that this happens at a time when medium and large format analog photography is making a strong comeback.

A sad day!

Marcus

[Q.G.]

Sad indeed.

Slightly off topic, re your mention of a comeback (wanting to know, not disputing), where do you see it? What are the signs, where are the numbers showing that it is?

[marcus schluschen]

Q.G.

The firm Spuersinn, located in Germany, is an international supplier of analog photographic materials.
According to the company, after a few years of slowdown, the demand for their products is on the rise again. Especially for analog medium and large format, they report a strong resurgence of interest. Apparently young photographers and pros are discovering and rediscovering the benefits of analog photography.

Marcus

[Q.G.]

Would be great.

But one company's estimate only? Very thin ice.
Could easily be that an ever shrinking demand and demand-following supply make flock more of the remaining MF and LF photographers to the ever fewer remaining suppliers, Spürsinn being one of them.

I could get anything i wanted locally (small town, but still: anything i wanted). But it is getting harder and harder to even get the more 'common' thingies locally. So i am forced to use the internet instead (not a big problem, of course, except that it takes longer), and now get my supplies from a shop that still has what i need.
Now if that shop would think that adding me to their customer list would be a sign of a revival ...
You get the point.

[marcus schluschen]

Q.G.

It is not only Speursinn but other companies as well. 23 new films have been recently introduced to the market, more that at anytime in history. New silver papers are manufactured as well as a considerable selection of specialty developers.
Adox, one of the oldest firms was absent for decades, now they are back again on the international scene.
The media usually will not report on positive events such as Adox being in business again, they prefer to write orbituaries instead.

Marcus

[Q.G.]

Pitty that it will come too late for great cameras like the Rolleis.

But it really would be great.

[JPD]

Frankly I believe the high prices of the F&H products play a big role here. They would have sold many more twin lens cameras if they priced them more reasonably. When the 2,8 GX came on the market in the mid 80's they didn't cost more than around € 1300. I can't believe the inflation made the price almost triple. With reasonable pricing and reintroducing the Rolleicord, thwy would have sold many many more cameras. Instead they chose to aim their marketing at rich collectors.

[Sirius Glass]

Originally Posted by JPD

Frankly I believe the high prices of the F&H products play a big role here. They would have sold many more twin lens cameras if they priced them more reasonably. When the 2,8 GX came on the market in the mid 80's they didn't cost more than around € 1300. I can't believe the inflation made the price almost triple. With reasonable pricing and reintroducing the Rolleicord, thwy would have sold many many more cameras. Instead they chose to aim their marketing at rich collectors.

Hmmm ... I can think of another German camera company that seems to be doing the same thing ... What is the name? ... It is on the tip of my tongue ... I think it starts with the letter "L". Who could that be? Any ideas?

Steve

[Q.G.]

Ah, but that is different.
At one time they were bought and owned by Hermes (still today? I lost track). So their cameras are fashion accessories, and as such follow very different marketing rules.


The Swedish Firm was even worse than Rollei when it comes to pricing. Worse than L... too.
The L... company at least gave you a car (a VW Polo/Rabbit), free, when you bought their most expensive tele lens. The Swedish Firm did not even give you a lens hood when you bought one of their lenses, asking ridiculous sums for the plastic thingies instead. Terrible.

[Paul Sorensen]

Originally Posted by Q.G.

Pitty that it will come too late for great cameras like the Rolleis.

But it really would be great.

I think that if there is a resurgence in interest in film (and I think that there could be) it will help the film and supply companies much sooner than the camera companies. There are still tons of used cameras that are much too cheap considering what they originally sold for. Even folks like myself who are more inclined to buy new cannot even begin to consider it when used might be one tenth the price. Hopefully someone will survive, and others will get back into the business, once there is a viable market for new film cameras.