[Leica] Re: Fuji's film site

[lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

On Jun 21, 2007, at 9:53 AM, Don wrote:

> Chris and all,
> The Chairman of Fuji is very emphatically pro film.  After hearing  
> him speak
> at several business conferences I believe it is both a personal  
> choice as
> well as good for Fuji's business.  Mostly on the printing side, he
> continually makes the point that prints on Fuji's Crystal Archive  
> paper have
> a very good color gamut, extremely long life, are the easiest way  
> to share
> images, and fit the needs of the vast majority of the world's  
> citizens.
>
> At least as long as he is Chairman Fuji will be very much pro  
> analog.  I
> suspect based on space in Fuji's trade show floor that when he  
> retires that
> will change a lot.


My Kodak affiliated relatives keep telling me that film and paper are  
the cash cows of the photography business. They are the only aspects  
of the business that show a steady (although rapidly declining)  
profit. Since stockholders demand dividends, or at least positive  
results on the balance sheet, most photo companies are reluctant to  
abandon that side of the business. Kodak is an object lesson on what  
happens to a company that ignores the digital revolution for too  
long. Kodak holds a number of patents in digital photography, the new  
sensor being only one of them, but has been ambivalent about  
incorporating them into new cameras. The attitude of past management  
was that each digital camera sold decreased the value of the analog  
business. It was a difficult juggling act and they dropped the balls.

It is primarily the electronic manufacturing companies, with no stake  
in the film business, that make any real money from digital photography.

Larry Z