News tagged with "kodak"

The first consumer point-and-shoots didn't have art effect modes or face detection smile-shutters. They looked like the Kodak 1, a leather-encased box with a key to wind the film, a shutter release and not much else. Introduced to the public in 1888, each Kodak 1 contained a roll of film with 100 exposures. The UK's National Media Museum owns a collection of prints from these first consumer 'compacts.' Click through to take a look at a set of these early snapshots.

The Kodak planning to exit from bankruptcy on September 3rd looks very different from the familiar imaging company that filed for Chapter 11 last year. The U.S. Bankruptcy court has approved Kodak's plan for reorganization, a step that means the company can resume independent operation soon. CEO Antonio M. Perez issued a statement emphasizing Kodak's move into commercial imaging for a profitable future, including "packaging, functional printing and professional services." Click through to read more about where Kodak now stands.

Kodak hopes to sell its consumer film and processing kiosk businesses to its UK pension scheme, to allow it to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The move pays off the company's biggest debt - an estimated $2.8bn it was expected to have to pay to the pension scheme over the coming years. The pension scheme is reported to be paying $650m for the Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging units the company announced it would sell last August.

Olympus has issued a press release confirming JK Imaging and four other companies have formally signed-up to the Micro Four Thirds standard. JK Imaging announced last week that it would be offering MFT cameras under the Kodak brand. Australian company Blackmagic Design, which already offers a movie camera with a passive Micro Four Thirds mount and is rumored to be working on a fully compliant version, also joins. The other three signatories are less consumer-facing.

Just a week after announcing it was licensing the Kodak brand name, JK Imaging has been showing a Micro Four Thirds camera at a press conference in China. Details are vague but the camera, reported to be called the S1, does appear to be sporting the official Micro Four Thirds logo. The camera, which will offer Wi-Fi for communication with smartphones, is said to be based around a Sony CMOS sensor. (via PetaPixel)

Financial news service Bloomberg is reporting Apple and Google are working together to purchase some of Kodak's imaging patents. The companies are said to be working together - lending more weight to reports in the Wall Street Journal from back in August. The story suggests the two companies, along with the groups of smaller companies with whom they'd been preparing bids, will offer more than $500m for the patents. Such a figure would give Kodak access to $830m of external funding that is dependent on the value of the patent deal.

Kodak has announced it will sell two of its business divisions, ending its role as a consumer-facing photographic company. The Personalized Imaging business includes print kiosks and consumer film, while the Document Imaging business includes scanners and commercial document management. Both businesses will be sold as going concerns. Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal has reported that many of the world's biggest technology companies, including Samsung, Apple and Google, have formed a consortium to bid for Kodak's digital imaging patents, significantly lowering the price the amount the sale is likely to raise.

Kodak will stop making digital cameras within the next few months. The company, currently in bankruptcy protection, will also stop making pocket video cameras and photo frames as a cost-cutting measure. Instead it is looking to license its name to other manufacturers who wish to sell cameras under the Kodak brand. Closing the business will cost around $30m, mainly in the cost of laying-off workers, but will save around $100m per year in running costs. All product warranties will be honored.

As film giant Kodak files for bankruptcy protection, everyone from photographers to economists is looking back at the company that was, for so long, synonymous with American photography. The company has entered the US 'Chapter 11' process by which a court oversees its restructuring and protects it from its creditors as it attempts to reorganize into a profitable business. However it emerges from the process, Kodak will never again be the photographic titan it was during the film era. This has prompted many retrospective articles, including a heartfelt and personal piece by New York Times writer and photography blogger David Gonzalez.

Pre-CES: Kodak has announced the Easyshare M750 Wi-Fi enabled compact cameras, along with its release of four other compacts. The M750 is a 16MP camera from which images can be pulled, wirelessly, from the camera using the Easyshare Camera App on iOS, Android or Blackberry devices. It can also connect to Wi-Fi networks, to allow simple uploading to social networks such as Facebook and YouTube. The company also says it is releasing the M215 and M565 14MP 5x zoom compacts, the C135 rugged camera and the Z5120 superzoom to its Easyshare range.

Financial paper the Wall Street Journal is reporting that former photography giant Kodak is preparing for 'Chapter 11' bankruptcy protection. The company's shares fell below $1 per share yesterday, with the New York Stock Exchange announcing that the price must rise above this level within the next six months if the company is to avoid being de-listed (the share price must exceed $1 at the end of a calendar month and have averaged above $1 for the preceding 30 days). Reports claim that the company is planning to enter the court-administered Chapter 11 process if it cannot find a buyer for its portfolio of 1,100 patents covering many aspects of digital imaging.

Kodak has sold its Image Sensor Solutions business to Platinum Equity in a bid to strengthen its financial position. The company, which has struggled to manage the shift in the consumer photographic market from film to digital, also recently revealed that it may have to raise cash by the sale of more than 1100 patents to survive the coming year. Image Sensor Solutions provides sensors for the Leica M9 and S2 and a number of medium format backs, as well as a wide range of specialist imaging applications.

Kodak has released three cameras, including the Easyshare Touch M5370; a 16MP, 5x zoom touch-screen compact. It features a 28-140mm equivalent lens and follows Samsung's trend of using MicroSD cards. The company has also created the Z5010 14MP 21x (25-525mm equiv.) superzoom and the M5350, which appears to offer a similar spec to the M5370 but without touch-screen and taking full-size SD cards.

Pre-CES 2011: Kodak has announced its latest additions to be exhibited at CES 2011 including its first waterproof camera, rugged pocket camcorder and a 3D photo printing service. The three compact cameras introduced are the 12Mp waterproof EasyShare Sport, 14Mp touch-enabled EasyShare Touch and the 10Mp Easyshare Mini with a built-in front-mirror for self-portraits. The cameras will retail at $79.95, $149.95 and $99.95 respectively.

Kodak has announced the ESP 9250 Wi-fi-enabled all-in-one inkjet printer with print, copy, scan and fax capability. It includes the company's proprietary fade-resistant inks with what it claims the lowest total ink replacement cost in the industry. The printer features a 2.4-inch LCD, built-in templates and supports various memory card formats. The printer is now available at $249.99.

Kodak has released what it calls the world's thinnest 5x optical zoom compact. Measuring 15mm on its thinnest side, the EasyShare M950 digital compact offers 14Mp sensor, 35-175mm equiv. lens and 2.7" LCD. It includes features such as 720p HD recording, direct online sharing options and takes Micro SD/SDHC memory cards. The company has also announced the Pulse 10-inch touchscreen digital frame with internet access. Both the camera and digital frame are priced at $199.95 each and will be available from the end of this month.

Kodak and Samsung Electronics have agreed a licensing pact that will allow access to each other’s patent portfolio, settling a dispute between them. The agreement also saw Samsung pay towards what Kodak describes as 'its royalty obligation.' In November 2009 Kodak had challenged Samsung over alleged patent infringement of technology used in their Blackjack II camera phone.

Kodak has announced the 'Slice' touchscreen camera built around a 3.5" LCD. It features a 14MP sensor, 5x optically stabilized zoom lens and will be available in black, nickel and 'radish' colors for US $349.95 from April 2010. It also has internal memory to store 5000 HD-resolution images. The camera' combines its share and face recognition functions to tag pictures directly for easy upload ito popular social networking websites.

Kodak has announced four EasyShare M-series digital compacts. As usual, Kodak is promoting the cameras' ease of use - the new models feature improved in-camera tagging and searching based on face recognition. The M580, M575, M550 and M530 are 14MP and 12 MP cameras featuring a variety of lenses from 8x to 3x with the the top two models extending from 28mm equivalent.

Kodak has introduced the Pic Flick print and share application for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. Currently available only in the US, the free app allows users to wirelessly print images from their iPhone and iPod Touch on Kodak's recently released Wi-Fi-enabled ESP 5250 All-in-One printer or upload them on the Easyshare W820 and W1020 wireless digital frames.