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Digital Trend Challenging Camera Makers (Newspaper Article)
Apr 9, 10:42 PM EDT
Digital Trend Challenging Camera Makers By HANS GREIMEL Associated Press Writer OKYO (AP) -- They are some of the most legendary names in photography. Minolta scored the world's first successful auto-focus, single-lens reflex camera. Fuji invented 1600-speed film, once the industry's fastest. Nikon's fabled F-series made the 35 mm camera the picture-taking workhorse for the last half-century. Now the companies share a more dubious distinction: abandoning part of the business that made them famous. Camera makers have battled to adapt to the digital revolution for the last 10 years, but recent retreats by leading brands underline how the industry has turned upside-down. With interlopers like Sony, Panasonic and Samsung capitalizing on their high-tech know-how, traditional camera makers and their black scrolls of film may soon join 19th-century daguerreotypes as museum-shelf curios. In just the past few years, digital cameras have catapulted from cutting-edge novelties to mainstream must-haves. But with the market poised to plateau, more players are chasing fewer opportunities and the old guard is losing out. "It's inevitable that many of the camera manufacturers in the market today will be either bought up or go out of business," said Ed Lee, an analyst with InfoTrends Inc., a U.S.-based market research group. More than three-quarters of all cameras sold today are digital, and digital images are expected to account for 90 percent of all professionally taken photos by 2010, compared with 70 percent now, according to InfoTrends. Camera buffs were stunned in January when Konica Minolta Holdings Inc., which traces its roots to 1873, said it was quitting the camera business altogether - digital and film - and selling its digital assets to rival Sony Corp. Nikon Corp. said the same month it would stop making seven of its nine film cameras and concentrate on digital models. Fuji Photo Film Co., which plans to cut 5,000 jobs, changed directions last month announcing it would spend nearly $8.5 million to diversify into pharmaceuticals. Europe's biggest film maker, Germany's AgfaPhoto GmbH, couldn't adapt at all; it's now bankrupt and liquidated. Meanwhile, Antonio Perez, who is leading Eastman Kodak Co. through a four-year digital remake, has warned that Kodak, the pioneer of point-and-shoot photography, is now "at the worst possible place" after a $1.03 billion third-quarter loss. Kodak, which is cutting up to 25,000 jobs, is the third-biggest digital camera maker worldwide, behind Sony. But Kodak was slow to shift its focus to digital, quitting the black-and-white paper business only last year. Die-hard film fans in groups like the Konica Minolta Photo Club mourn the passing of an era. "Some members are very sad because they've been using Minolta for a long, long time," club liaison Tadashi Hasegawa said. Some club benefits are being phased out, including discounts on used camera gear. Many of the big names in photography were once startups in their own right as they rushed to market in the 1950s with the advent of 35 mm cameras, undercutting and stealing market share from European makers. Now they are the ones having difficulty adapting to the technology used in digital cameras: image processing chips and sensors called charge-coupled devices, or CCDs, which capture light and transform it into digital signals. "In today's era of digital cameras, where image sensor technology such as CCD, which we don't have, is indispensable, it became difficult to timely provide competitive products," Konica Minolta spokesman Minoru Ikehara said. Some names, such as Kodak, Nikon and Olympus, farm out manufacturing of digital cameras to high-tech firms with expertise. Sanyo Electric Co. and Taiwan's Premier Image Technology Corp. and Altek Corp. are among the ghost makers. One key exception is Canon Inc., which successfully made the transition from film by investing heavily in digital technology. Canon shipped about 12.6 million digital cameras in 2004 to lead the world with a 17 percent market share, according to U.S. market researching company IDC. The company has leaned on marketing to make sure consumers don't forget its well-established brand name amid the onslaught of digital newcomers, IDC analyst Chris Chute said. Thus, Canon's camera division accounted for only 35 percent of the company's overall sales last year, but 42 percent of total operating profit. That performance has helped Canon record six straight years of record earnings and boosted its president, Fujio Mitarai, to cultlike status in Japan, where he was recently tapped to lead Japan's most powerful business lobby. Global shipments of digital cameras are expected to peak at 92.7 million units this year, then start declining due to market saturation, according to IDC. That means a smaller pie to divide among even more producers. Traditional camera makers like Nikon are hoping to keep a toehold in high-end digital SLR, or single-lens reflex, cameras. They are favored by professionals, use interchangeable lenses and tend to have higher profit margins. But newcomers like Matsu****a Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic products, are already unveiling their own SLRs. Meanwhile, camera-equipped mobile phones are crowding the low-end, point-and-shoot market. And Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to further undercut Kodak and Fuji by supplying retailers with kiosks so customers can simply plug in their digital camera's memory chip and instantly print pictures. Kodak is currently the world leader in this field, with 75,000 kiosks, but HP says its system will be cheaper because it's based on inkjet technology instead of dye sublimation. "What you're starting to see is a big shakeout in terms of the folks who have decided to invest in photography, and the folks who've decided to diversify and stay and the folks who have decided to leave," Chute said. "Now we're in kind of unknown territory." Despite the digital push, amateurs and artists who have shot on film since they first picked up cameras may never completely turns their backs on it, insisting that film still has the edge in lifelike depth, better resolution and more natural contrast. Even today, film is still favored in education, portraiture, fine art and even in fashion, where many photographers still shoot in film but scan the images into a computer to take advantage of digital manipulation. "The fact is, people prefer film," said Steven Brierley, sales director at Ilford Photo of Britain. "The look and feel of it puts it on a different level to digital output." Hideki Fujii, director of the Nippon Photography Institute, a Tokyo-based photo school, echos the sentiment, even though his school has spent nearly $700,000 in the past five years to upgrade to digital computer labs. "I use both, but I can put my heart into film," Fujii said. "I don't think we'll ever see it totally disappear." |
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Digital Trend Challenging Camera Makers (Newspaper Article)
In article Tfu_f.2339$wH1.366@trnddc03, Jeremy wrote:
Apr 9, 10:42 PM EDT Minolta scored the world's first successful auto-focus, single-lens reflex camera. Fuji invented 1600-speed film, once the industry's fastest. Nikon's fabled F-series made the 35 mm camera the picture-taking workhorse for the last half-century. Now the companies share a more dubious distinction: abandoning part of the business that made them famous. Apart from Minolta, this is quite silly. Fuji still makes good film and recently introduced new films. Nikon still makes the F6, the successor of the camera that made them famous. Film and digital SLRs have a lot in common: the glass they take, light meters, autofocus systems, etc. It is the 'reflex' part (and the glass) that made Nikon famous. Not the fact that images happened to be recorded on film If you want film, get an F6, if you want digital get a D2X. If you don't have a lot of money, pick up a 2nd hand F5, F4, F3, F2, or F for close to nothing. Camera makers have battled to adapt to the digital revolution for the last 10 years, but recent retreats by leading brands underline how the industry has turned upside-down. Why post this silly nonsense? Apart from Minolta, what kind of retreat did Nikon or Fuji make? Did Ford 'retreat' because they no long make the model T? -- That was it. Done. The faulty Monk was turned out into the desert where it could believe what it liked, including the idea that it had been hard done by. It was allowed to keep its horse, since horses were so cheap to make. -- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency |
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Digital Trend Challenging Camera Makers (Newspaper Article)
Camera makers have battled to adapt to the digital revolution for the last
10 years, but recent retreats by leading brands underline how the industry has turned upside-down. Why post this silly nonsense? Apart from Minolta, what kind of retreat did Nikon or Fuji make? Did Ford 'retreat' because they no long make the model T? You don't count Nikon's discontinuing nearly its entire film camera line a retreat? If you don't think the future of film is dwindling much more rapid than almost everyone had guessed, the only "silly nonsense" I've seen posted lately is your response. |
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Digital Trend Challenging Camera Makers (Newspaper Article)
Advocate wrote:
Camera makers have battled to adapt to the digital revolution for the last 10 years, but recent retreats by leading brands underline how the industry has turned upside-down. Why post this silly nonsense? Apart from Minolta, what kind of retreat did Nikon or Fuji make? Did Ford 'retreat' because they no long make the model T? You don't count Nikon's discontinuing nearly its entire film camera line a retreat? If you don't think the future of film is dwindling much more rapid than almost everyone had guessed, the only "silly nonsense" I've seen posted lately is your response. Is it a retreat, or an adaptation? |
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Digital Trend Challenging Camera Makers (Newspaper Article)
Advocate wrote:
Camera makers have battled to adapt to the digital revolution for the last 10 years, but recent retreats by leading brands underline how the industry has turned upside-down. Why post this silly nonsense? Apart from Minolta, what kind of retreat did Nikon or Fuji make? Did Ford 'retreat' because they no long make the model T? You don't count Nikon's discontinuing nearly its entire film camera line a retreat? If you don't think the future of film is dwindling much more rapid than almost everyone had guessed, the only "silly nonsense" I've seen posted lately is your response. The point is Nikon's changing over to digital is not a retreat but rather an advance into the next phase of photography. Scott |
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Digital Trend Challenging Camera Makers (Newspaper Article)
In article bMx_f.676568$084.264860@attbi_s22,
Advocate wrote: Why post this silly nonsense? Apart from Minolta, what kind of retreat did Nikon or Fuji make? Did Ford 'retreat' because they no long make the model T? You don't count Nikon's discontinuing nearly its entire film camera line a retreat? No I don't. The only parts that are in the F6 but not in the D2X are the ones related to moving film (and keeping it flat). Nikon is still doing the same things they always did (making glass and SLR cameras). They just dropped one tiny aspect of their cameras (moving film) and replaced it with another. That happens in many industries. It is called innovation. What I find much more worrying is that they dropped removable view finders. And the rather small selection of focusing screens. If you don't think the future of film is dwindling much more rapid than almost everyone had guessed, the only "silly nonsense" I've seen posted lately is your response. Film is dwindling rapidly because nobody wants to use it. It is in fact commendable that Fuji and Nikon are still making film related products. Calling the continued production of obsolete items for the benefit of a few old-timers 'retreating' is disingenuous at best. -- That was it. Done. The faulty Monk was turned out into the desert where it could believe what it liked, including the idea that it had been hard done by. It was allowed to keep its horse, since horses were so cheap to make. -- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency |
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Digital Trend Challenging Camera Makers (Newspaper Article)
TheDave© wrote:
Is it a retreat, or an adaptation? Who cares? Shoot whatever you want. Despite the gleefull naysayers, film & film cameras will continue to be available to those who want film, while digital will continue to develop for those who want digital. |
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Digital Trend Challenging Camera Makers (Newspaper Article)
"Philip Homburg" wrote in message
Why post this silly nonsense? Apart from Minolta, what kind of retreat did Nikon or Fuji make? Did Ford 'retreat' because they no long make the model T? Because it is a refreshing change of pace from the endless "Which-Is-Better-Film-Or-Digital" debate that seems to have commandeered this NG. I didn't write the article, the Associated Press did. |
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Digital Trend Challenging Camera Makers (Newspaper Article)
"Philip Homburg" wrote in message
Calling the continued production of obsolete items for the benefit of a few old-timers 'retreating' is disingenuous at best. I'm curious--what is your point in posting in this NG, if all you want to do is insult those of us that like traditional photography? Who conferred it upon YOU to define film cameras as "obsolete items," and film photographers as "a few old-timers?" |
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Digital Trend Challenging Camera Makers (Newspaper Article)
Jeremy wrote: "Philip Homburg" wrote in message Calling the continued production of obsolete items for the benefit of a few old-timers 'retreating' is disingenuous at best. I'm curious--what is your point in posting in this NG, if all you want to do is insult those of us that like traditional photography? Who conferred it upon YOU to define film cameras as "obsolete items," and film photographers as "a few old-timers?" You start a thread that deals directly with film vs. digital and then you complain about the responses you get? Scott |
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