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06/17/2005 12:00:41 AM · #1 |
By BEN DOBBIN, AP Business Writer
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Ending a century-old tradition, Eastman Kodak Co. will
soon stop making black-and-white photographic paper, a niche product for
fine-art photographers and hobbyists that is rapidly being supplanted by
digital-imaging systems.
Kodak said Wednesday it will discontinue production of the paper, specially
designed for black-and-white film, at the end of this year. But the world's
biggest film manufacturer will continue to make black-and-white film and
chemicals for processing.
"It's a shame to see it go," said Bill Schiffner, editor of Imaging Business
magazine in Melville, N.Y. "Digital has done a lot of good things for the
industry but it's done some bad things too. It's making a lot of these processes
obsolete."
The paper is manufactured at a plant in Brazil. Kodak declined to specify how
many employees would be affected by the production shutdown, which is part
of a three-year overhaul to eliminate 12,000 to 15,000 jobs by 2007 and
shrink the company's work force to around 50,000.
As the industry shifts rapidly from chemical-based to digital imaging, demand
for black-and-white paper is declining about 25 percent annually, Kodak
spokesman David Lanzillo said.
John Eoff, owner of Photo-Lab Inc., said his 91-year-old shop in Schenectady,
N.Y., still sells "a fair amount" of black-and-white paper to photography
students and enthusiasts, while professional photographers have mostly
gone to digital printing systems already.
"What we assumed was going to happen is the traditional black-and-white
paper processing was going to remain more an art form than a commodity,"
Eoff said. Other companies, led by Ilford Imaging of Britain, still make paper
and there will be demand for it, he predicted.
In April, Kodak posted a first-quarter loss of $142 million, citing a steady slide
in revenues from film and other chemical-based businesses and higher-than-
expected costs to cover job cuts. This month, it replaced its chief executive,
Dan Carp, with Antonio Perez, who a few years ago oversaw the rapid growth
of Hewlett-Packard Co.'s digital imaging business.
Kodak grew into an icon on the strength of its traditional film, paper and
photofinishing businesses. It is now betting its future in digital terrain ΓΆ€” from
cameras, inkjet paper and online photofinishing to photo kiosks and minilabs,
X-ray systems and commercial printers.
Ilford, the largest maker of black-and-white photo paper, went into bankruptcy
last year, emerging this year after a management-led buyout. Germany's
AgfaPhoto GmbH filed for bankruptcy last month.
Kodak's exit from the business "doesn't surprise me" because many portrait
and wedding photographers "are switching over to digital," said Christopher
Chute, an analyst with market research firm IDC in Framingham, Mass.
"If I'm printing digital photos on any kind of printer, whether it's inkjet or
thermal transfer or dye sublimation, the kind of paper I use is color agnostic,"
he said. "I can print black and white with great gray gradients and use the
same system to print regular color. There's much more versatility with today's
print solutions."
"More photographers and consumers that shoot black-and-white are shooting
digital, they're processing it on regular inkjet paper, and ... the quality is pretty
good," Schiffner said.
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06/17/2005 12:02:31 AM · #2 |
| I read that...sad but there's always Ilford.. Kodak missed the mark the minute they said film will never die..digital will eat them alive. |
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06/17/2005 12:03:46 AM · #3 |
Film is still a long way from dying. Kodak just isn't able to make a profit selling this product anymore.
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06/17/2005 12:13:25 AM · #4 |
Strange they are still prepared to manufacture film and the associated chemistry for it, but not paper. I guess they think photographers will still shoot on film, then scan the negs?
Message edited by author 2005-06-17 00:14:15. |
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06/17/2005 12:16:01 AM · #5 |
Originally posted by Donaldo:
Strange they are still prepared to manufacture film and the associated chemistry for it, but not paper. I guess they think photographers will still shoot on film, then scan the negs? |
Oddly enough, this is often the case. Drum scanning, even thought it is expensive to do, is a preferred method of digitizing film for printing and other reproduction.
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06/17/2005 12:23:18 AM · #6 |
| Yes I totaly agree with that. I know a photographer who got himself an F5 just as digital cameras were getting better (thinking they would never get as good as film) now he shoots all his work on film and has to scan the lot. Ading hours of extra time to his workflow. He is a very stubourn man and wont take the loss he now stands to lose trading in his F5 on a good digi. |
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06/17/2005 12:24:41 AM · #7 |
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
Film is still a long way from dying. Kodak just isn't able to make a profit selling this product anymore. |
That time may be sooner than you think.
With the advancements of technology, and the speed of the information available to the artist, film will be nudged into obsolesence.
In my industry, HD is everywhere. Film is still promenent, however, HD has one huge advantage over film. Off line editing.
A Director can shoot something at 6am, and by 6:05 have a rough cut of his vision in front of him before it goes to the post house so as to make adjustments on the fly.
You can't do the same with film. In my industry, the old saying goes "Time is money".
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06/17/2005 12:37:09 AM · #8 |
| Reminds me of the line in the movie, I think it was other peoples money where Danny D'vito is addressing a take over meeting and says.. when they invented the automobile there was a company that made horse whips, they made the best damned horse whips in the world, but nowbody wanted to use them anymore. |
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