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Kodak Files Chapter 11
#1

Looks like the beginning of the end, a few companies make it through this, but not many.

Quote:Eastman Kodak Company and Its U.S. Subsidiaries Commence Voluntary Chapter 11 Business Reorganization

Flow of Goods and Services to Customers to Continue Globally in Ordinary Course

Non-U.S. Subsidiaries Are Not Included in U.S. Filing and Are Not Subject to Court Supervision

Company Secures $950 million in Debtor-in-Possession Financing in U.S.

Kodak’s Reorganization to Facilitate Emergence as Profitable and Sustainable Enterprise
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2...hapter-11/
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#2

Yes indeed...quite a landmark; thought bankruptcy was in the air but still a shock hearing the news today. What a sad irony that Kodak were so much a part of early digital too, yet failed to be at the right place and the right time. End of an era, as they say....:/

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#3

That's what they said about GM. Now it's back into top sales.

Nikon D3100 with Tokina 28-70mm f3.5, (I like to use a Vivitar .43x aux on the 28-70mm Tokina), Nikkor 10.5 mm fisheye, Quanteray 70-300mm f4.5, ProOptic 500 mm f6.3 mirror lens. http://donschaefferphoto.blogspot.com/
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#4

Looks like this is the first major outcome from this:
http://www.photographyblog.com/news/koda...g_cameras/

According to the press release, Kodak "plans to phase out its dedicated capture devices business – comprising digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames – in the first half of 2012. Kodak will instead expand its current brand licensing program, and seek licensees for cameras. Following this decision, Kodak’s Consumer Business will include online and retail-based photo printing, as well as desktop inkjet printing."
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#5

Koadk was always better at chemistry than electronics. The Kodak ink jet printers are supposed to be very good though.

Nikon D3100 with Tokina 28-70mm f3.5, (I like to use a Vivitar .43x aux on the 28-70mm Tokina), Nikkor 10.5 mm fisheye, Quanteray 70-300mm f4.5, ProOptic 500 mm f6.3 mirror lens. http://donschaefferphoto.blogspot.com/
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#6

Don Schaeffer Wrote:Koadk was always better at chemistry than electronics.
I would have to say that the Kodak sensor in my Leica is pretty fair, though...
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#7

And with licensing the Kodak brand, I expect the quality of the cameras under that name to deteriorate from merely terrible to truly appalling.

Rollei used to be a respectable name, too…

Ilford has also gone through a bankruptcy and reorganization, and remains one of the stalwarts of darkroom supplies and black and white film. I'm not convinced that Kodak will be quite that capable, but Fuji remains so committed to film that it's built right into their name. Also, Fujifilm has found ways to leverage their chemistry expertise – and film-name branding – into cosmetics, which is another industry with healthy profit margins.

I'm not selling any of my film cameras.

matthewpiers.com • @matthewpiers | robertsonphoto.blogspot.com | @thewsreviews • thewsreviews.com
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#8

Here's a sobering insight and analysis on how Kodak ended up the way it did.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/busi...88,00.html

It's amazing to think that they used employ 30,000 people in a sprawling 195 building campus in Rochester, New York. These days it's down to 7,000 and the future is uncertain for even these.

Quote:"The mistake," Matteson says, "if you want to talk about a mistake at all, was that Kodak could never separate itself from the notion of being a company about images." There were apparently repeated, although half-hearted, attempts to reorganize the company and completely change its direction. Every new board came up with a different strategy. Kodak invested in the hope of expanding its chemicals division into the pharmaceuticals business. It also spent a lot of money trying to dominate the market in digital printing -- a plan that was pursued, abandoned and then revived once again.

Also about the digital age:

Quote:Unfortunately, the next technological leap was just around the corner, and the first smartphones were already replacing digital cameras. Indeed, people soon stopped using normal cameras to take photographs, preferring instead to snap pictures on their phones. This, in turn, triggered a race to the bottom in terms of camera prices and, by 2007, Kodak had slipped to fourth place on the American camera market. Three years later, it was seventh. One by one, Canon, Sony, Nikon and all the other camera manufactures overtook Kodak. Their products were just as good or better, and they looked nicer, more colorful and fresher.

Sad reading about the demise of an industry icon...
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