Kodak Retires Kodachrome Film

[Aurum]

And Harman has stated on here numerous times that they only make film for Ilford (And now Kentmere) branded products.

I don't think private label manufacture is on the radar in the foreseeable future, unless Kodak made them a very very very tempting offer

[wogster]

Firstoff, do you really think Kodak would want Fuji coating their products by giving Fuji their formulas? OTOH, translation to another plant would be very expensive and difficult. It was bad enough to build a plant to Kodak specs in China and try producing film there. And that has shut down.

The film, IIRC, was "The Spy Who Loved Me".

PE

So, what CAN Kodak do to save itself, as far as I can see, there are really 3 options.


1) Go back to their core business, the manufacturing of film supplies and chemistries. It's an area where they still make a profit and did quite well for a century. This may mean needing to change some products, switch to narrower coating machines, or alter the existing ones to\ coat narrower base materials. It may also mean making more products so they can be manufactured on the same coating machine. Promote the heck out of film and film products.

2) Sell off the film business, and go strictly digital, the film unit makes money, so they could probably get a good price for it. The funds would then keep the digital unit together for a few years until that market shakes itself out.

3) The status quo, gnawing on the (film) hand that feeds it, until eventually that falls off, and the rest goes into spectacular bankruptcy.

Over to you Ron.

[fotch]

I've noticed that kodak isn't very active in promoting film. Fuji has presence here, has the "Choose film" campaign, and they seem to promote more the medium.
Lately, I've not seen any action of kodak trying to promote film.

Lets see, didn't they recently give away a lot of film samples of new color products? Presently, they have a coupon deal with a $5 Rebate.
http://wwwau.kodak.com/global/plugin..._5Rebate09.pdf

:rolleyes:

[Photo Engineer]

Paul;

Kodak is making all of the analog products that it can sell and they are still not up to capacity in any plant AFAIK. So, it is sales that are lagging. Is it the decline in Analog or is it the current market? IDK. You tell me! From where I sit though, they are fully engaged in that part of the market that is returning a profit, and to the extent that it is growing slightly as well as supplying about 50% of their sales.

The gnawing is not self inflicted. It is a customer effect you see. And, Kodak would be foolish to sell off the cash cow.

PE

[Prest_400]

Lets see, didn't they recently give away a lot of film samples of new color products? Presently, they have a coupon deal with a $5 Rebate.
http://wwwau.kodak.com/global/plugin..._5Rebate09.pdf

:rolleyes:

Ah bad, there's something inside me that seems to like forgetting about the good actions of kodak.
What seems true is that, here, I see more green boxes than yellow.

[wildbillbugman]

Well,
My solution to this whole digital vs. film thing is to require that everyone who purchases a camera,of any sort, be required to show a lisence to carry a camera. To get such a lisence would reqire a cerain amount of classes/workshops, and a compitency exam. There would go the "consumer market". And the pros and SERIOUS amateures would determine the course of photography, not the soccer moms and "weekend Ansel Adamses".
I adopted that opinion in 1995, when digital photography was a "whats coming" thing.
Bill

[wogster]

Paul;

Kodak is making all of the analog products that it can sell and they are still not up to capacity in any plant AFAIK. So, it is sales that are lagging. Is it the decline in Analog or is it the current market? IDK. You tell me! From where I sit though, they are fully engaged in that part of the market that is returning a profit, and to the extent that it is growing slightly as well as supplying about 50% of their sales.

The gnawing is not self inflicted. It is a customer effect you see. And, Kodak would be foolish to sell off the cash cow.

PE

Isn't the best thing to do, when you have a cash cow, is to feed it and care for it and keep it healthy. I think that Kodak really should sell off the profitable parts of the digital side, and dump the rest of the digital stuff in the nearest dust bin, to concentrate on it's film business. Pretty much what Ilford did when it sold off it's foray into Ink papers and colour materials, to concentrate on it's core business, B&W imaging materials.

[Ektagraphic]

Ah bad, there's something inside me that seems to like forgetting about the good actions of kodak.
What seems true is that, here, I see more green boxes than yellow.

I agree with you. I also see more little green boxes than yellow. I am a die-hard Kodak guy but I do give buissness to Fuji for instant film.

[accozzaglia]

Lets see, didn't they recently give away a lot of film samples of new color products? Presently, they have a coupon deal with a $5 Rebate.
http://wwwau.kodak.com/global/plugin..._5Rebate09.pdf

:rolleyes:

Only applicable to Americans in America. Kodak operates in a global market. Also, the marketing presence for Kodak, writ large (and as many others have politely and otherwise observed) is Byzantine. By this, its online presence is still cumbersome. When thinking of "Kodak film", I tend to look at Henry's, B&H Photo, or Freestyle's web site. I don't think, "oh, http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQueri...q-locale=en_CA or for professional film, http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/films/filmsIndex.jhtml?pq-path=13319".

A good start would be to have "http://kodak.com/film".

[Photo Engineer]

You must remember that Fuji has a plant in the US, but Kodak has no plant in Japan. They are forbidden to own a plant there. This is the same in many countries BTW. Nationals must own the major portion of the company and there can be no "secret" formulas or technology. That impacts on sales in some countries which have trade agreements with different world-wide manufacturing companies.

PE