Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Kodak Focus Event Update
#1

Ok, I went to the Kodak Focus Event last night held in Melbourne (they're running a them in every capital city in Australia), and it was quite good. Good turnout - I would estimate about 100 people, of photographers, lab owners, and people from the photographic industry. Overall, the main purpose I guess was to push Kodak professional products and tell you their marketing strategy, but it was a good experience to see what goes on in the "pro" world.

From the outset, they told us that Kodak were rebranding themselves as a "Digital" company - they would still continue to support film but they're aligning their business units and marketing strategy to selling digital, in terms of cameras and accessories, printers, paper and photographic material, and support services. It was interesting to note that since May 2003, they have been the leader in term of market share, with Digital.

There were five main presenters that night:

* The first was Simon Shih, their Asia Pacific marketing manager, who gave 10 tips for digital photographers, thinly disguised as "10 reasons why you should use Kodak PhotoDesk" (their desktop software). He had some good points, such as using RAW, adjusting colour balance and exposure compensation (shadow, midtone, highlights) etc.

* The 2nd was a manager of a camera repair shop, who told us alot about servicing and support for Kodak cameras. I thought his presentation was the best out of the lot - only because he had such a wealth of information, from memory cards and tips on handling them properly, to external / slave flashes and timing, to flash leads and funny stories about people getting electrocuted with them.

* Another presenter told us about Kodak's new range of dye sub printers - ranging from high volume / ultra high quality $35,000 a pop ones, to $1700 ones which were for medium volume high quality ones. One scenario he pointed out - wedding photographers could set up a machine on site, and have 8x10 prints to all guests by the end of the night, and also generate extra revenue from the guests that way.

* There was also a presenter from ProShots - who demonstrated their ordering software (where you can send prints directly to pro labs from your home computer), and also the online shop version where they set up a site for you where people can order prints off.

* Finally, they had a guy talk about kodak's new line of professional inkjet papers -- which looked really good.

They also had some DCS Pro SLRs on the table, dye sub printers, demo prints and other gear lying around which people could play with.

All in all, I had great fun - got my business out to a few people (including the marketing manager for Kodak) and also picked up a free showbag (camera case, cd wallet, promotional material etc.). A worthwhile event... can't wait till the next one.
Reply
#2

Can we have a piccie of the showbag?

Gear:
3 x GoPro Cameras
1 x Canon S100
1 x Nikon D5100
1 x Sony DSC-TX10
Apple MacBook Pro 15" (Retina Display)

"What do you want to pack today?"
Reply
#3

the lady still hasnt called me back ...
Reply
#4

Sad peter, seems like you have missed out, sounds like it would have been cool to go to, I probably would have gone if I:
a) Live closer to sydney; or
b) There was on in Newcastle

Gear:
3 x GoPro Cameras
1 x Canon S100
1 x Nikon D5100
1 x Sony DSC-TX10
Apple MacBook Pro 15" (Retina Display)

"What do you want to pack today?"
Reply
#5

haha supposedly adam n me are on the list anyway ^__^
Reply
#6

When is your event? Wonder if the showbags are the same or not =)

Gear:
3 x GoPro Cameras
1 x Canon S100
1 x Nikon D5100
1 x Sony DSC-TX10
Apple MacBook Pro 15" (Retina Display)

"What do you want to pack today?"
Reply
#7

my event is on thursday ...
cant wait for the showbag..

although i think me and adam might be a bit out of place there. ..
being n00bs and all ..
Reply
#8

yes, noobs!@
Reply
#9

So adam and peter... what did you think??
Reply
#10

It was interesting,
There wasn't a line to use the Pro 14mp DSLR with the 17-35mm f/2.8L, so I went up to play. So nice! So nice, and when I come home and use my camera, not satisfied. The focusing on the lens was so smooth, silent, fast - I've been spoilt! haha! but this is comparing the kit lens to something that costs more than the camera itself.
Learnt some interesting things, looking after camera
Lots of information
Reply
#11

yeah .. not as many people as i expected..maybe somehwere between 10 to 20 people ..which made me feel even more out of place..
i learnt one important thing that night ...
its gonna be a long time till i can afford thier printers ~_~ ...
but yeah ... learnt some useful things that night ..
Reply
#12

definitely more than 10, I estimate 20 to 30 Tongue (10 would be 2 rows on onehalf ofthe room! hahaa)
Reply
#13

Have you guys heard the news about Kodak's closure in Australia? The plant in Coburg is closing with 600 jobs to be cut.

The shutter comes down on Kodak
Reply
#14

Yes, I heard about that, maybe that is something to do with them moving onto digital?

Gear:
3 x GoPro Cameras
1 x Canon S100
1 x Nikon D5100
1 x Sony DSC-TX10
Apple MacBook Pro 15" (Retina Display)

"What do you want to pack today?"
Reply
#15

Yup, doesn't help the poor folks who are going to be laid off before Christmas, I hope Kodak gives them a bloody good payout.
Reply
#16

Heard about that at the Kodak Event Tongue

A while ago, they also stopped production of film cameras in America.
Reply
#17

Yeah I saw that in the Age on Friday... was going to post it as front page news, but was too busy. It's pretty sad to hear... at the focus event, they said that some business units such as paper production and processing chemicals etc will still keep going, but I think digital is definitely the cause of it.
Reply
#18

yeah ..thats a sad thing for them to do .. but supposedly it all pert of thier marketing plan...
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread / Author Replies Views Last Post
Last Post by Freeman
Jan 13, 2015, 13:38

Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)