Kodak bankruptcy plan approved, former film giant exits consumer business

Working in the industry revealed Kodak as an arrogant company that was competent technologically however management was extremely incompetent. When Nikon released the D1 they hardly blinked, the rest of the industry realized the monumental event while Kodak management looked at film/processing sales as a forever cash cow. Kodak ccd's were among the best and can be found in high end cameras and backs to this day, yet management ran the company into the ground. I will miss the brand as it was a cornerstone of every photographers life, so sad to see it end up this way.

what about the Tri-X films?

Time to order some Portra 160 and drag the Mam 645 out. The fall season is upon us.

Don't blame the current management for Kodak's demise. Back in the early 2000's, when I was an active technology investment banker at one of the leading securities firms, I proposed to Kodak's management that their company acquire Lexar Media -- a company I had then recently helped take public.

They turned my detailed proposal down cold, articulating the position at that time that digital photography would always be a small derivative of the well-established, film-based market. Instead, Kodak half-heartedly did a licensing deal with Lexar, which clearly evidenced its disdain for solid state film.

The rest is history.

Now Kodak need to get rid of that dreadful font they use in their logo. It looked dated the day it arrived.

CEO Antonio M. Perez. Man, he single-handedly destroyed Kodak as a viable company. And now, the idiotic Board of Directors are keeping him on, like nothing had ever happened to the company, huh?

Man, I am so glad i do not have any of my money invested in U.S. companies.

I just feel bad for all those employees losing their retirement benefits.

I still love my portra, ektar, tmax and trix films. They look great and no digital can match the look, especially B&W on medium format camera.

Not to mention no highlight clipping. When I shoot Portra 400 at +6 or even +8EV, it looks fantastic. Great for high key photography. When I try that on my DSLR, it looks terrible (pure white).

And if you wonder what it looks like, just take a look at the Nagano Toyokazu photos featured here on August 4th.

I am also a traditional photographer, still using Tri-x. What is going to haoppen to Kodak is not going to make me to leave it. Still there are other films and chemical like Ilford or Bergger to take photos. If I need to change, I would do the same I did 20 years ago, to find a film and chemicals that is according to my feelings of expressing with photography. I would try to find one as much similar to Tri-X. Or maybe I might find something even better!!! Anyway, I hope Kodak films and chemicals run by KPP do a good job and keep us happy for another 200 years.
However, all of us photographers who still use films, we can teach to Kodak a lesson, we can take photos in the way we want and like and not in the way business people want. The difference between them and us is we do creativity and they do only money. Any business can be profitable but also creative.

I wish you all good photos today.

KODAK WHO?

Sad

I chose Fujichrome 50 over Kodachrome 25 because they were just as good and better at higher shutter speed.

Kodak technology? they might have had some good sensor technologies but they contributed to one of the worst design in camera history -- the Oly 4/3" mount which is a disgrace to both companies, shame.

I say good riddance. Like the old AT&T they unjustifiably screwed consumers for years on what was essentially a bulk commodity. A management team that just couldn't see the way forward.
Nikon, are you paying attention?

One of the sad things is the loss of high tech. Kodak had a wonderful research team that invented some very innovative things.

The problem was that management could not see their potential and the need to pull out all the stops to develop them, not believing that film sales would drop like a rock. Almost any photographer could have told them what was going to happen.

Another sad loss was Bell Labs, the patents, research, and inventions are now done in China.

Just ordered another 30 rolls of Ektar 100 and 50 sheets of it in 4x5.

I still have Kodachrome 135 and 120 film in my freezer.
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5196/5842743706_b1ecffa5a1_b.jpg

This was the move that Kodak should have made 10 years ago instead of throwing away resources trying to fool photographers with those imitation Canon and Nikon bodies. Still, better late than never. Congratulations Kodak on your successful reorganization. :)

I can't help but feel sad about this, even though I haven't used Kodak anything for 20 years. Any time you lose a landmark in history, it's sad.

Wikipedia's entry for Perez explains why Kodak and the US are screwed:

"He was criticized for being one of the worst CEO's in the nation, citing the decline of Eastman Kodak during his stint as CEO.

In February 2011, Mr. Perez was appointed to President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_M._P%C3%A9rez#Awards.2C_Recognitions.2C_and_Controversy

Kodak took great pride in it's family approach to new hires. Kodak would hire sons and daughters of employees that would conform and carry on the tradition of the Kodak way of doing business. Hence no one to be innovative, bring forth new ideas and rock the proverbial boat. They invented the digital camera and did nothing with it. Their cash cow was film and processing until Fujifilm beat them at their own game. As a working professional, when I tried the Pro Fuji films and Crystal Archive paper, I never went back to buying Kodak products. For a company that was the leader in it's field shows no company of any size is immune from not being innovative and catering to customers needs.

Certainly it was not for lack of film that the downfall of Kodak was not well documented.

American companies are taught 2 things:
1. Grab as much profit in the shortest time possible and don't worry about the future.
2. Keep shareholders happy at all costs, customers come second.

The night and day differences in the trajectories of Kodak and FujiFilm would make a great case study for business schools.

All that's left is to give top managment big bonuses for their trouble. Then, it's mission accomplished!

Great job, American business schools. You teach how to gut market-dominant companies to nothing in a few short years.

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