Film, Paper, and the Demise of Kodak

On Kodak’s selling of its traditional camera film and photo paper business: “We solidly believe in them. We’re not shutting down or exiting these businesses. The market for photo paper remains strong.” And in fact the company has been making capital investments in those areas, Monahan [director of worldwide strategy for Eastman Kodak] said.

http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/business/?p=1434, November 6, 2012

A recent posting on Matt Daneman’s Rochester’s Democrat and Chronicle blog reminded me of an earlier post – Kodak introduces new film! Not a joke!, except that Kodak is now in bankruptcy. And they still don’t get it.

Now is not the time to invest in traditional film and silver halide paper. Digital memory cards have largely replaced film, and sales of traditional photographic 4×6 prints decline each year. Take in whatever revenue you can from these businesses, but to say, “We solidly believe in them.” and to continue to make capital investments in these areas is almost too incredulous to believe. Decisions like this that led to Kodak’s current situation, and it looks like nothing has changed

About Mark Mizen

I have over twenty years professional experience in all aspects of photography and digital imaging. I am Chair of the ISO WG5 TG2 committee responsible for physical properties and durability of imaging material and am currently with HID Global working on systems for security printing for IDs, licenses, and credit cards. Previously, I was Director of Digital Development at Creative Memories from 2009 to 2012 and was responsible for the Creative Memories digital products and services. I also established and directed the Creative Memories Technology Center, which evaluated new products prior to product introduction, assisted with production difficulties, and provided technical information to support product sales.

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