Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/07/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Today's edition of the Wall Street Journal talked about Kodak's woes. Kodak will cut possibly a third of its work force and close one third of its manufacturing capability. Makes one wonder if the MBA's will tell Kodak to get out of a loser business like B&W film and chemistry. Kodak is stating that film sales fell at a 27% rate rather than a predicted 20% rate with China switching to digital instead of going through a film stage. I also think that there were significant returns of digital cameras from the Christmas season that also hurt the bottom line. Should the film dinosaur community close ranks around an acceptable company(s) and support that business with their purchases. If we assume Kodak will discontinue B&W film like it has paper, then we should close ranks around Ilford which has gone through its bankruptcy, or Fuji which seems to be weathering the storm in better shape. Efke and others come to mine as business that support the odd film size. On a personal basis, I have switched over to Fuji and Ilford for my B&W materials and Fuji for color. Currently I use Xtol, but I might have to use Photographers Formulary to mix my own equivalent soon as the local stores are not stocking heavily. If the community of film consumers (small and dwindling lot that we are) purchases from one (two) suppliers then possibly those suppliers will at worst sell off to management that can make a nice living making a steady while not increasing income. 0.02 Don don.dory@gmail.com