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Carl Zeiss on the Future of Film
How about the Future of Film?
Since Carl Zeiss introduced the Zeiss Ikon rangefinder camera system - a 35 mm film camera - we keep receiving questions about our belief in the future of film. In an era of digital hype, many people interested in high quality photo equipment question an investment in film-based gear. Even those who very well understand and appreciate the aspects in which film is clearly superior to digital imagery keep asking us: "Will film be available for me to operate my Zeiss Ikon camera in the future?" We know that a variety of documentation applications of extreme importance rely heavily on silver halide film - if not for image origination, then at least for image archiving. Military aerial reconnaissance (often with Carl Zeiss aerial cameras and lenses) today relies on digital technology for immediate availability, but continues to use film for reliable long-term storage. And so does "Hollywood". Carl Zeiss, as a leading supplier of lenses for the motion picture industry, can see day-in day-out, that the vast majority of feature films is still originated on silver halide film. Film is the medium of choice for long-term archiving, and is expected to remain so for the foreseeable future. This is why we are so confident about the future of film And how about Fujifilm and Kodak? During a recent industry association meeting, we had the opportunity to speak about the future of film with Helmut Rupsch, Business General Manager, Fujifilm-Düsseldorf and Rainer Dick, Business General Manager, Kodak Digital & Film Imaging Systems. Though both companies have been experiencing declining film sales over the last two years, as the amateur and professional photography markets transition from analog to digital, both gentlemen report still very healthy business with film. These two industry representatives, who are in a position to know the facts, confirm that neither company is considering stopping film manufacture. Both gentlemen are confident that their companies will continue to supply film - usable in the ZI camera and others - for decades to come. http://www.zeiss.de/C12567A8003B58B9?Open |
#2
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Carl Zeiss on the Future of Film
Jeremy wrote: How about the Future of Film? Since Carl Zeiss introduced the Zeiss Ikon rangefinder camera system - a 35 mm film camera - we keep receiving questions about our belief in the future of film. In an era of digital hype, many people interested in high quality photo equipment question an investment in film-based gear. Even those who very well understand and appreciate the aspects in which film is clearly superior to digital imagery keep asking us: "Will film be available for me to operate my Zeiss Ikon camera in the future?" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The interesting point about this is that Zeiss find enough of a market to enter into new developments. They seem far less concerned about growth in an industry, than about picking a niche and exploiting it. We all know that every industry cannot sustain incrementally larger growth year after year, but many commenting on internet forums only discuss so-called "growth" industries. Probably even the best fan of film usage would tell you that they know film is not a growth industry. I am glad there are still choices. If we just looked at growth companies, then we need to only buy Toyotas, since they are the top seller now. We should also only use Microsoft products, and Dell computers, because those are also the only growth companies in that industry. These and many other choices could be termed going with the market leaders. Want a digital camera, then in the US Kodak is the top seller, while in other parts of the world Sony is the top seller; of course that could become Samsung or Panasonic in the near future . . . everyone probably gets these points. Those who would dismiss the latest Zeiss endeavours will completely miss the point that they are not making new cameras and new lenses to dominate a market, nor to create unsustainable growth, nor to become a market leader in photography. Zeiss make enough in revenues from other industries that they can afford to generate a small profit from a niche. I am certainly glad they took this path. Ciao! Gordon Moat A G Studio http://www.allgstudio.com |
#3
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Carl Zeiss on the Future of Film
In article , Gordon Moat
writes The interesting point about this is that Zeiss find enough of a market to enter into new developments. They seem far less concerned about growth in an industry, than about picking a niche and exploiting it. We all know that every industry cannot sustain incrementally larger growth year after year, but many commenting on internet forums only discuss so-called "growth" industries. Probably even the best fan of film usage would tell you that they know film is not a growth industry. I am glad there are still choices. If we just looked at growth companies, then we need to only buy Toyotas, since they are the top seller now. We should also only use Microsoft products, and Dell computers, because those are also the only growth companies in that industry. These and many other choices could be termed going with the market leaders. Want a digital camera, then in the US Kodak is the top seller, while in other parts of the world Sony is the top seller; of course that could become Samsung or Panasonic in the near future . . . everyone probably gets these points. Those who would dismiss the latest Zeiss endeavours will completely miss the point that they are not making new cameras and new lenses to dominate a market, nor to create unsustainable growth, nor to become a market leader in photography. Zeiss make enough in revenues from other industries that they can afford to generate a small profit from a niche. I am certainly glad they took this path. Probably because, AIUI, Zeiss are owned by a charitable foundation, thus don't have the same short-term profit motive of the large stock exchange listed companies. David -- David Littlewood |
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Carl Zeiss on the Future of Film
Gordon Moat wrote:
Those who would dismiss the latest Zeiss endeavours will completely miss the point that they are not making new cameras and new lenses to dominate a market, nor to create unsustainable growth, nor to become a market leader in photography. Zeiss make enough in revenues from other industries that they can afford to generate a small profit from a niche. I am certainly glad they took this path. They might not make thas small a profit from a niche... it is simply a question of margins and there is no reason why the Zeiss lens priced similarily to Nikon lens should have much lower margins. And Nikon has always made most of its money from selling lens. Ciao! Gordon Moat A G Studio http://www.allgstudio.com -- Sander +++ Out of cheese error +++ |
#5
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Carl Zeiss on the Future of Film
David Littlewood wrote:
Probably because, AIUI, Zeiss are owned by a charitable foundation, thus don't have the same short-term profit motive of the large stock exchange listed companies. Zeiss operates pretty much as a normal profit making company though - they had revenue increase of 4% last year and I think and they pay a considerable dividend to the foundation. There is no reason why Zeiss couldn't make a profit from these lens and most probably at least as much profit as Nikon does from similar ones. It is rather unlikely they would use batch manufacturing for them like Nikon did and low volume constant manufacturing can easily be profitable - at least as long as you don't, or don't need to, retool or replace tooling. You do have to get the volume approximately right. David -- Sander +++ Out of cheese error +++ |
#6
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Carl Zeiss on the Future of Film
In article , Sander Vesik
writes David Littlewood wrote: Probably because, AIUI, Zeiss are owned by a charitable foundation, thus don't have the same short-term profit motive of the large stock exchange listed companies. Zeiss operates pretty much as a normal profit making company though - they had revenue increase of 4% last year and I think and they pay a considerable dividend to the foundation. Being the commercial operating subsidiary of a charitable foundation with over a century of existence is a whole different world from being a quoted company on a stock exchange, with hirings and firings based on quarterly profit figures. David -- David Littlewood |
#7
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Carl Zeiss on the Future of Film
Sander Vesik wrote: Gordon Moat wrote: Those who would dismiss the latest Zeiss endeavours will completely miss the point that they are not making new cameras and new lenses to dominate a market, nor to create unsustainable growth, nor to become a market leader in photography. Zeiss make enough in revenues from other industries that they can afford to generate a small profit from a niche. I am certainly glad they took this path. They might not make thas small a profit from a niche... it is simply a question of margins and there is no reason why the Zeiss lens priced similarily to Nikon lens should have much lower margins. And Nikon has always made most of its money from selling lens. One of the interesting markets for the new lenses is in machine vision cameras. That community is a large market for such lenses, especially the 50 mm range. I would expect the lack of Nikon lenses in that market to be largely filled by Zeiss, who might actually sell more there than they might sell to photographers. Ciao! Gordon Moat A G Studio http://www.allgstudio.com |
#8
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Carl Zeiss on the Future of Film
"Gordon Moat" wrote in message
... One of the interesting markets for the new lenses is in machine vision cameras. Nikon is the standard mount for machine vision cameras. One intersting machine vision lens is the 'telecentric' http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/3d/telecent.htm Make an interesting Macro lens, n'est ce pas? -- Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio Consulting Engineer: Electronics, Photonics, Informatics. Remove blanks to reply: n o lindan at ix . netcom . com f-Stop enlarging timers: http://www.nolindan.com/da/fstop/ |
#9
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Carl Zeiss on the Future of Film
Nicholas O. Lindan wrote: "Gordon Moat" wrote in message ... One of the interesting markets for the new lenses is in machine vision cameras. Nikon is the standard mount for machine vision cameras. One intersting machine vision lens is the 'telecentric' http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/3d/telecent.htm Make an interesting Macro lens, n'est ce pas? Strange item. I notice that quite often many machine vision lenses are only sold in lots, or with the camera. Last year I got to do a project where one of the test machines sent to us was a machine vision camera with three 24 mm by 36 mm chips and a light splitter prism. Interesting stuff, though the insurance value on that one body was quite high. We were very careful with everything. Ciao! Gordon Moat A G Studio http://www.allgstudio.com |
#10
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Carl Zeiss on the Future of Film
Nicholas O. Lindan wrote:
"Gordon Moat" wrote in message ... One of the interesting markets for the new lenses is in machine vision cameras. Nikon is the standard mount for machine vision cameras. One intersting machine vision lens is the 'telecentric' http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/3d/telecent.htm Make an interesting Macro lens, n'est ce pas? From a linked page from the "In systems with image space telecentricity, image plane movements to focus or intentionally defocus the system will not change the image size." So in a macro use with tilt/shift there would be no perspective correction (or the correction would be unnecessary). |
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