Eastman Kodak Files for Bankruptcy

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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I guess you would have to call this a Kodak Moment for sure. After 131 years in the business, Eastman Kodak has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US Bankruptcy Court in New York. Kodak is another in a long line of old established corporations that failed to adapt quickly enough to the digital age.

Founded in 1880 by George Eastman, Kodak became one of America’s most notable companies, helping establish the market for camera film and then dominating the field.
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You got that right: They failed to adapt to the digital age. They tried to stay in the old film era, which film is great, but technology got so good it made film obsolete in just a few years. Besides, digital processing is faster, easier to manipulate and if you screw up, do it over. A single memory card can last years - for million of photos. Film has 24-36 per roll. No erasing bad photos.
 
What's funny is that they basically invented the digital camera......and then couldn't adapt.....to their own creation....... :(
 
Yeah, this was kind of inevitable really.

Sure they have their line of digital cameras, but that market is so flooded that people either go with cheap Chinese digital cameras from Wal-mart or higher-end name brand ones. Really no place for them. :-/

Oh well, best of luck to them!
 
JoeUser said:
Yeah, this was kind of inevitable really.

Sure they have their line of digital cameras, but that market is so flooded that people either go with cheap Chinese digital cameras from Wal-mart or higher-end name brand ones. Really no place for them. :-/

Oh well, best of luck to them!
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Actually with the adoption of smart phones I don't think people use point and shoot cameras anymore.

I wanted to buy my wife a new P&S camera and there are literally less than 15 to choose from. She'll just have to use her EVO because there is no way I am buying a EOS or anything like that for stupid crap pictures of cats and funny t-shirts.
 
Hate to say it but one of the best digital cameras I ever had was a Kodak. It died after about 10 years but the pictures are better than cameras I have bought that were two to three times more expensive.

Their problem was one of marketing, not technology.
 
Eickst said:
Actually with the adoption of smart phones I don't think people use point and shoot cameras anymore.
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That's not true. People who go on vacation and take more than a few pictures use point and shoot. The problem being is that the point and shoot market us getting squeezed.

Camera phones work for pictures during an impromptu night out which basically covers the low end of cameras, and the DSLR range of cameras have come down in price to cover the high end of point and shoot cameras.
 
Wow when this happened to the music industry they just tried to sue anyone they could.
 
From what I've read online they have kinda the same problem the auto makers did. Employee retirement benefits.

Some are seeing this as nothing more than a way to screw their retiree's out of what they worked for their entire lives.

I don't know. The doo-doo is gonna be flung from all sides before this is all over.
 
I still have a Kodak digital camera in the house - works fine. Problem was Kodak still was heavy into film. It took a while, but law enforcement was probably the last category to go digital - but they're using it now too. They were still using instant camera's and the film up until a few years ago (here anyways).
 
They did this to themselves. Have you ever tried to actually use a Kodak Digital camera. The camera it self was decent enough. However, the easy share software that you are all but forced to use, is probably the worst piece of software I have ever used and it's even harder to get rid of it from your computer.

No remorse for old stuffy fuckers who can't be arsed to even try.
 
The problem is kodak made great film but low quality cameras. Now the film is replaced with memory cards and that is nothing something kodak is know for. Fujifilm either made or bought good lenses and components. The sensors they used were good enough for midrange and below kodaks were lesser quality and it shows in the pictures quality when you go to print it.
 
I never pictured this would happen, but guess it makes sense. Don't adapt in this economy and you're out of business in a flash. Unless you're the MPAA or RIAA but that's a different story. Lot of government blow jobs and other favors going on, moving on... :D

Really I think to stay in business they would of had to downsize their film department, and concentrate more on making better digital cameras. Their cameras were ok, but being Kodak they should have been on the top. And the easyshare requirement does not help either.
 
But think about the current young children who will never have the experience of finding a stash of polaroids in the top shelf of the closet with pictures of mommy and daddy, well mostly mommy and just a little bit of daddy.
 
What a shame, they got totally left behind when the digital craze started. I worked in the photo lab at a local drug store about this time and I noticed it back then, Kodak just refused to admit that 35mm was out and digital was in.
 
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