Collin Brendemuehl wrote:
> Seems that in December their total digital sales,
> cameras in the $500 to $1000 range, were greater than
> all their film camera sales (SLR & P&S) COMBINED.
>
> The days seem to be numbered for cheap film. Sales
> have likely affected significantly by this trend.
> It was noticable last year but it's really big today.
Was this in dollars or in units sold?
But storm clouds are a-brewin'. Why else would everyone and their
brothers be rushing to get some kind of digital product to market?
Kodak has been making large format inkjet printers for a while as an
offshoot of their foray into copiers, but now they've finally started to
produce appropriately photographic media for them. Last weekend I saw
Kodak's home inkjet printers, and if those aren't a stab at getting
their name back into the home "darkroom", I don't know what it.
Likewise, Ilford have launched the Ilfojet printer and media line,
though I don't know if there are any home units yet from them.
Fuji, Konica, Noritsu, Agfa and Kodak all produced digital-capable
minilabs this year, most of which do not print conventionally at all,
but consist of scanners and an array of LEDs or lasers to expose the
digital image onto conventional photographic paper which is then
conventionally processed; believe me, if inkjet were fast enough, there
would be an inkjet-based minilab.
It's a scary time for the industry, especially in the midst of an
economic slowdown. Expect more staffing cuts at Kodak in the
traditional department.
Aaron
-
This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe,
go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to
visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org.
