Sad news for film-based photography

Or someone gets PO'd and kill files you. & Why is the original thread
crossposted.

In article ,
"Bandicoot" wrote:

That's how friendly conversation works, and now and again
it's a good thing.
Peter

Or someone gets PO'd and kill files you. & Why is the original thread
crossposted.

In article ,
"Bandicoot" wrote:

That's how friendly conversation works, and now and again
it's a good thing.
Peter

Hi,

Recently, Tom posted:
(largely snipped)

But then this from today's news would seem to support somewhat, the
original poster's point....
[...]
Digital Driving Kodak, Shares Up
[...]
Kodak, whose shares were up 3.5 percent, said
digital products will account for more than half of its total sales
next year. The forecast comes one year after the company disclosed a
controversial plan to slash investment in film products by selling
units and cutting up to 15,000 jobs by 2006.

Now, *there's* a clever plan! Increase the percentage of digital product
sales by selling off those film products that make up the majority of
their current sales. So, their overall sales volume will be *lower*, and
they'll be selling more of the marginally profitable products. And, this
makes investors happy? Go figure.

Neil

Hi,

Recently, Tom posted:
(largely snipped)

But then this from today's news would seem to support somewhat, the
original poster's point....
[...]
Digital Driving Kodak, Shares Up
[...]
Kodak, whose shares were up 3.5 percent, said
digital products will account for more than half of its total sales
next year. The forecast comes one year after the company disclosed a
controversial plan to slash investment in film products by selling
units and cutting up to 15,000 jobs by 2006.

Now, *there's* a clever plan! Increase the percentage of digital product
sales by selling off those film products that make up the majority of
their current sales. So, their overall sales volume will be *lower*, and
they'll be selling more of the marginally profitable products. And, this
makes investors happy? Go figure.

Neil

"Bob Salomon" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"jjs" wrote:

in
a cool place is all that's neccessary to outlast current digital media.
No
electricity required.

How do you keep it cool in summer? All year round in the South? When you
live in the SouthWest?

Bob, I have lived all over the country, including the high-plains desert and
frosty Minnesota and I've never, ever had a problem finding a cool place to
store things.

"Michael R. Lachance" wrote in message
link.net...
what the hell does this nonsense have to do with this NG? " Sad news
for
film-based photography"

Yep. Got to killfile it.

Neil Gould wrote:

Hi,

Recently, Tom posted:
(largely snipped)

But then this from today's news would seem to support somewhat, the
original poster's point....
[...]
Digital Driving Kodak, Shares Up
[...]
Kodak, whose shares were up 3.5 percent, said
digital products will account for more than half of its total sales
next year. The forecast comes one year after the company disclosed a
controversial plan to slash investment in film products by selling
units and cutting up to 15,000 jobs by 2006.

Now, *there's* a clever plan! Increase the percentage of digital product
sales by selling off those film products that make up the majority of
their current sales. So, their overall sales volume will be *lower*, and
they'll be selling more of the marginally profitable products. And, this
makes investors happy? Go figure.

Neil

Hey Neil, you know what they all say about WallStreet, "buy on the rumour,
sell on the news". People rarely read those financial reports to understand
where the profits originate, or even the percentages. All Kodak digital
products are low margin, with the exception of photo finishing products
(mostly intended to compete with Fuji Frontier and AGFA dLab products). The
bad realities are that the general public feeling influences the stock
prices, the large financial institutions that drive the market, and mutual
funds managers.

In order to get into a consumer based digital imaging mainstay, they need
to follow the models adopted in the computer hardware industry. So far,
only Apple has done well on profits, with much consolidation amongst other
players. Dell has been a roller coaster on NASDAQ, and some minor players
have even disappeared. To be really big in the consumer digital market,
Kodak needs to take on Sony.

I think moving film production off shore to China, India, or even parts of
South America is one way to cut costs. It would not surprise me if
manufacturing by Kodak in the US ceases entirely in a couple years, though
that would not be very unique, considering that many US based companies
have already made that move.

Okay, important thing here, Reuters reported "Digital Driving Kodak, Shares
Up". This looks too similar to the dotCOM era, with so many companies
jumping on the latest phrase, though this time it is "digital". Sun
Microsystems really did well with that move, their stock price jumped for
about four months, then reality set in, and the shares dropped. Unless
Kodak can show direct higher profits from digital imaging sales by their
next quarterly report, the short stock share gain will disappear. Share
price does not predict the future of any company.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio
http://www.allgstudio.com Updated!

Neil Gould wrote:

Hi,

Recently, Tom posted:
(largely snipped)

But then this from today's news would seem to support somewhat, the
original poster's point....
[...]
Digital Driving Kodak, Shares Up
[...]
Kodak, whose shares were up 3.5 percent, said
digital products will account for more than half of its total sales
next year. The forecast comes one year after the company disclosed a
controversial plan to slash investment in film products by selling
units and cutting up to 15,000 jobs by 2006.

Now, *there's* a clever plan! Increase the percentage of digital product
sales by selling off those film products that make up the majority of
their current sales. So, their overall sales volume will be *lower*, and
they'll be selling more of the marginally profitable products. And, this
makes investors happy? Go figure.

Neil

Hey Neil, you know what they all say about WallStreet, "buy on the rumour,
sell on the news". People rarely read those financial reports to understand
where the profits originate, or even the percentages. All Kodak digital
products are low margin, with the exception of photo finishing products
(mostly intended to compete with Fuji Frontier and AGFA dLab products). The
bad realities are that the general public feeling influences the stock
prices, the large financial institutions that drive the market, and mutual
funds managers.

In order to get into a consumer based digital imaging mainstay, they need
to follow the models adopted in the computer hardware industry. So far,
only Apple has done well on profits, with much consolidation amongst other
players. Dell has been a roller coaster on NASDAQ, and some minor players
have even disappeared. To be really big in the consumer digital market,
Kodak needs to take on Sony.

I think moving film production off shore to China, India, or even parts of
South America is one way to cut costs. It would not surprise me if
manufacturing by Kodak in the US ceases entirely in a couple years, though
that would not be very unique, considering that many US based companies
have already made that move.

Okay, important thing here, Reuters reported "Digital Driving Kodak, Shares
Up". This looks too similar to the dotCOM era, with so many companies
jumping on the latest phrase, though this time it is "digital". Sun
Microsystems really did well with that move, their stock price jumped for
about four months, then reality set in, and the shares dropped. Unless
Kodak can show direct higher profits from digital imaging sales by their
next quarterly report, the short stock share gain will disappear. Share
price does not predict the future of any company.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio
http://www.allgstudio.com Updated!

Recently, Gordon Moat posted:

Neil Gould wrote:

Hi,

Recently, Tom posted:
(largely snipped)

But then this from today's news would seem to support somewhat, the
original poster's point....
[...]
Digital Driving Kodak, Shares Up
[...]
Kodak, whose shares were up 3.5 percent, said
digital products will account for more than half of its total sales
next year. The forecast comes one year after the company disclosed a
controversial plan to slash investment in film products by selling
units and cutting up to 15,000 jobs by 2006.

Now, *there's* a clever plan! Increase the percentage of digital
product sales by selling off those film products that make up the
majority of their current sales. So, their overall sales volume will
be *lower*, and they'll be selling more of the marginally profitable
products. And, this makes investors happy? Go figure.

Neil

Hey Neil, you know what they all say about WallStreet, "buy on the
rumour, sell on the news". People rarely read those financial reports
to understand where the profits originate, or even the percentages.
All Kodak digital products are low margin, with the exception of
photo finishing products (mostly intended to compete with Fuji
Frontier and AGFA dLab products). The bad realities are that the
general public feeling influences the stock prices, the large
financial institutions that drive the market, and mutual funds
managers.

Reality seems to be setting in for those mutual funds managers, if today's
nose dive in the market is any indication. I'd be happy with a company
whose stock prices remain constant, but that delivers a dividend. Too much
"churn and burn" is going on for stock prices to mean anything.

In order to get into a consumer based digital imaging mainstay, they
need to follow the models adopted in the computer hardware industry.
So far, only Apple has done well on profits, with much consolidation
amongst other players. Dell has been a roller coaster on NASDAQ, and
some minor players have even disappeared. To be really big in the
consumer digital market, Kodak needs to take on Sony.

I hear so many incongruous messages that it's hard to know where any of
these companies stand. The last I heard (a couple of months ago), Apple
wasn't even in the top 10 computer makers any more. I guess they're still
big enough to bleed for some time to come.

Given that Kodak is manufacturing the highest resolution sensor for 35 mm
format digital, I'd say that they already have their sights set on Sony.
Sony just has a 15 year head start on them. I also find it interesting
that the trend is toward *smaller* than 35 mm sensors with higher
resolution, as the newest Nikon is sporting. That's at least worthy of a
raised eyebrow w/r/t MF sized sensors.

I think moving film production off shore to China, India, or even
parts of South America is one way to cut costs. It would not surprise
me if manufacturing by Kodak in the US ceases entirely in a couple
years, though that would not be very unique, considering that many US
based companies have already made that move.

Well, that is at best a temporary solution. Eventually, the cost of labor
goes up as the skill level rises, and then you have all those additional
costs for management and marketing. Beyond the sheer numbers of employees
that make film for Kodak, I

Okay, important thing here, Reuters reported "Digital Driving Kodak,
Shares Up". This looks too similar to the dotCOM era, with so many
companies jumping on the latest phrase, though this time it is
"digital". Sun Microsystems really did well with that move, their
stock price jumped for about four months, then reality set in, and
the shares dropped. Unless Kodak can show direct higher profits from
digital imaging sales by their next quarterly report, the short stock
share gain will disappear. Share price does not predict the future of
any company.

If profits were all-important, they'd do better by dumping all the digital
product and boosting their marketing of film. I suspect that people are
more impressed with "forward looking" than fiscally sound operation.

Regards,

Neil

Recently, Gordon Moat posted:

Neil Gould wrote:

Hi,

Recently, Tom posted:
(largely snipped)

But then this from today's news would seem to support somewhat, the
original poster's point....
[...]
Digital Driving Kodak, Shares Up
[...]
Kodak, whose shares were up 3.5 percent, said
digital products will account for more than half of its total sales
next year. The forecast comes one year after the company disclosed a
controversial plan to slash investment in film products by selling
units and cutting up to 15,000 jobs by 2006.

Now, *there's* a clever plan! Increase the percentage of digital
product sales by selling off those film products that make up the
majority of their current sales. So, their overall sales volume will
be *lower*, and they'll be selling more of the marginally profitable
products. And, this makes investors happy? Go figure.

Neil

Hey Neil, you know what they all say about WallStreet, "buy on the
rumour, sell on the news". People rarely read those financial reports
to understand where the profits originate, or even the percentages.
All Kodak digital products are low margin, with the exception of
photo finishing products (mostly intended to compete with Fuji
Frontier and AGFA dLab products). The bad realities are that the
general public feeling influences the stock prices, the large
financial institutions that drive the market, and mutual funds
managers.

Reality seems to be setting in for those mutual funds managers, if today's
nose dive in the market is any indication. I'd be happy with a company
whose stock prices remain constant, but that delivers a dividend. Too much
"churn and burn" is going on for stock prices to mean anything.

In order to get into a consumer based digital imaging mainstay, they
need to follow the models adopted in the computer hardware industry.
So far, only Apple has done well on profits, with much consolidation
amongst other players. Dell has been a roller coaster on NASDAQ, and
some minor players have even disappeared. To be really big in the
consumer digital market, Kodak needs to take on Sony.

I hear so many incongruous messages that it's hard to know where any of
these companies stand. The last I heard (a couple of months ago), Apple
wasn't even in the top 10 computer makers any more. I guess they're still
big enough to bleed for some time to come.

Given that Kodak is manufacturing the highest resolution sensor for 35 mm
format digital, I'd say that they already have their sights set on Sony.
Sony just has a 15 year head start on them. I also find it interesting
that the trend is toward *smaller* than 35 mm sensors with higher
resolution, as the newest Nikon is sporting. That's at least worthy of a
raised eyebrow w/r/t MF sized sensors.

I think moving film production off shore to China, India, or even
parts of South America is one way to cut costs. It would not surprise
me if manufacturing by Kodak in the US ceases entirely in a couple
years, though that would not be very unique, considering that many US
based companies have already made that move.

Well, that is at best a temporary solution. Eventually, the cost of labor
goes up as the skill level rises, and then you have all those additional
costs for management and marketing. Beyond the sheer numbers of employees
that make film for Kodak, I

Okay, important thing here, Reuters reported "Digital Driving Kodak,
Shares Up". This looks too similar to the dotCOM era, with so many
companies jumping on the latest phrase, though this time it is
"digital". Sun Microsystems really did well with that move, their
stock price jumped for about four months, then reality set in, and
the shares dropped. Unless Kodak can show direct higher profits from
digital imaging sales by their next quarterly report, the short stock
share gain will disappear. Share price does not predict the future of
any company.

If profits were all-important, they'd do better by dumping all the digital
product and boosting their marketing of film. I suspect that people are
more impressed with "forward looking" than fiscally sound operation.

Regards,

Neil