[Leica] tape and film: was Kodak, Ilford, Agfa

[p_intern at bellsouth.net (Allen Graves)]

I live in the town where the old Ampex plant where Grand Master 
multitrack recording tape was designed and made. The most recent owner, 
Quantegy, recently declared bankruptcy and closed the plant with no 
notice, then sold it to another group, who plans to open it again.

In talking to one of the engineers who ran the tape plant for years, I 
was told that the real problem in manufacturing this tape is the huge 
excess manufacturing capacity that still exists in a shrinking, but 
stabilizing, market. He said there are still 3 or 4 makers (or 
potential) makers of high quality 2" tape out there and the problem is 
that any one of them could produce enough tape in 3 months to supply 
worldwide demand for a year or two.

  Let's hope that the film suppliers are able to match capacity and 
demand more effectively before too many product lines get abandoned.

Allen

David Mason wrote:
> This past weekend I was at a conference for recording engineers. There
> was an announcement that there is a new company that will be
> manufacturing tape for old multitrack reels - the companies that had
> been making this tape for so long have dropped production of it in the
> last few years. There were large cheers in the crowd when this
> announcement was made since people have been scrounging for extra
> stock but still 'not new' reels.  I immediately thought of film.
> 
> It seems to me that film users will go through a similar experience as
> the manufacturers reorganize and try to figure out the business. I
> figure its just a matter of the large companies trying to figure out
> how they can survive as a company somewhat near their current size
> with new technologies and for smaller companies to figure out how big
> the market for film is and how they can fulfill the need.
> 
> Perhaps there are some differences since there are more cameras in the
> world but I find it a good parallel.
> 
> 
> 
> Dave
> 
> 
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