Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/06/14

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To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: Kodak & Fuji in Japan (off topic)
From: JayPax@aol.com
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 1996 23:22:58 -0400

In a message dated 96-06-14 10:27:17 EDT, you write:

> And I'm sure it's true that Japanese people prefer Fuji, the film is tuned
to their
>skin tones, just like EK film is to caucasian/black skin tones (they come up
>the same on a color analyzer according to Bob Mitchell of Photo Technique
>magazine. I don't know, I've never used an analyzer). I wonder what pallette
>european film is tuned to? 

Eric:

It is interesting that Fuji has changed their marketing strategy and
saturation level over the years. I rememebr that when Fuji first entered the
US market in the late 1960s, their films had very subtle saturation.  To me,
it almost had a "washed out" look.

In fact, I remember some of Fuji's magazine advertizing at the time which
showed a Japanese man's face close up and emphasized that Japanese eyes could
see things that others' eyes couldn't, and so could the Fuji film.  In fact,
those ads could be considered a bit politically incorrect by today's
standards!  Anyway, I was never able to figure out how that would make the
product appeal to western consumers who (if the assertion in the ad was true)
presumably couldn't tell the difference anyway!!

Well, obviously, they changed their emphasis, as they now make the most
saturated product on the market.  The new Ektachromes would not be here if it
weren't for the competition from Fuji......which is good.  As the proverb
says:  "As iron sharpens iron, so one man (or multinational imaging
corporation) sharpens another!!