[Leica] Demise of film

[chs2018 at med.cornell.edu (Chris Saganich)]

Eastman set-up that town for failure early on.  Before Eastman put 
the screws to the place Rochester was one of the most successful and 
creative cities in the North East regarding technology.  That's the 
reason Eastman set up shop there because of the already highly 
advanced work in precision manufacturing and  optical work.  Eastman 
came to complete dominate the Rochester economy choking off or 
swallowing up nearly every other business in town.  Xerox, named 
Haloid at the time was a photo supply operation and survived the 
Eastman onslaught because they were so small as to go 
unnoticed.  They bought the rights to a process invented by a clerk 
in an electrical machine patten office to copy diagrams for patten 
research and then developed photo-copy paper and machines to use the 
process.  By that time Rochester was already a efficient company town 
and Xerox despite its innovative spirit couldn't return Rochester to 
its pre-Kodak dynamic economy.  Efficient company towns are destined 
to stagnate and fail so if your living in one get-out while you can 
and don't look back!

Chris


At 11:30 AM 4/1/2010, you wrote:
>*Q. What percent of your sales are film cameras?*
>
>The film cameras are running under 5 percent.
>
>This doesn't really tell me anything. Is that based on unit sales or
>revenue?
>
>Even if you knew the answer, the real question is how many units  of
>film cameras were sold last year compared to the units sold the year
>before that.
>
>
>
>Richard Man wrote:
> > Sad. The digital onslaught continues...
> >
> >
>http://www.northjersey.com/news/89346507_Leica_president_focused_on_big_picture.html?c=y&page=1
> >
>- - - - - - -
>
>The real question is how much film is being sold and how long will it
>continue to be available. Film cameras live a very long time. I took some
>pictures the other day with a 60 year old camera (Leica IIIc) using an 80
>year old lens (Elmar 35mm f3.5).  According to my two relatives still
>gainfully employed at at Kodak the commercial film operation will be shut
>down within 10 years. This brings a sense of gloom and doom to Rochester,
>NY, a city that prospered on the basis of full Kodak employment. Too bad.
>Rochester and its suburbs are really quite nice and houses and real estate
>are going at a small fraction of their price in boom years.
>
>Now if everyone bought Leicas with Kodak made sensors - - -
>
>Larry Z (a dissatisfied Kodak stockholder)
>
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