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The milestone arrives - it's all over the 'net

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AnandaSim

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On January 19, 2012, Eastman Kodak Company and its U.S. subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 business reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The business reorganization will enable Kodak to bolster liquidity in the U.S. and abroad, monetize non-strategic intellectual property, fairly resolve legacy liabilities, and enable the Company to focus on its most valuable business lines.

http://www.kodaktransforms.com/

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Ananda
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/6861540877/a-compilation-of-tips-for-beginners
http://anandasim.blogspot.com/
http://gplus.to/anandasim

'Enjoy Diversity - Live a Little or a Lot'
 
Their best digital cameras. The latter is still pricey on Ebay.
 
And yet no mention of it on the front DP page. A company who took the first pictures on the moon, gave us the first digital camera, etc etc...and no mention of it? I had to find out on Yahoo.

For a site with such a large staff as DP, this should've been mentioned hours ago. No excuse.
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"...stop blaming the camera."
 
Hen3ry said:
That has got to be pretty much the end of the line. I'm hardly broken-hearted, but it is sad. Now the blow flies of capitalism will descend on it to feed off the carcase and grow fat. :(

Cheers, geoff
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Capitalism was instrumental in making Kodak what it once was.
 
"Photography icon Eastman Kodak (EK) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, as it seeks to boost its cash position and stay in business."

"On its website, Kodak assured customers that the nearly $1 billion in debtor-in-possession financing would be sufficient to pay vendors, suppliers and other business partners in full for goods and services going forward. The bankruptcy filing in the Southern District of New York does not involve Kodak's international operations."

"The company and its board are being advised by Lazard, FTI Consulting Inc. and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Dominic DiNapoli, vice chairman of FTI Consulting, will serve as chief restructuring officer. Kodak expects to complete its U.S.-based restructuring during 2013."

It appears they are trying to stay in business. We Kodak fans have at least another year (maybe 2 or 3 or 4) before someone else takes over design of their cameras. Let's do our part, keep buying Kodak. I bought a Kodak printer. No it is no Epson photo printer, but it is cheap on ink and does lab quality prints and fine text. Need a camera bag? Buy Kodak. Need a camera card? Buy Kodak. We might get 2 Kodak designed replacements to the Z990 before restructuring is complete.
 
I've just ordered some Kodak 35mm films to put in my Z990...doing what I can. No surprise but sad.
 
I understand your patriotic approach but what makes you think that your $$$ are not sponsoring some ceo's vacations abroad ? :)
 
I'd be willing to pay $300.00 for a camera that shoots like P880 or something close to it. That would be $100 more than todays Z990. But I would like to see classic features every photographer expects from a camera and of course kodak colors. :)
 
Sad, I started using Kodak products in the early 1950s. developed my first Kodak film then it was a Othrocromatic ( if it's spelt like that) and made contact prints using their Velox contact printing paper. And have been hooked on photography ever since. I still have some of their boxes that you bought the paper in. I wonder if in perhaps 20 years they will be sought after on the antics road show.
 
Interesting article about Kodak and how other companies are falling into the same trap on EOSHD.com

SF Photo Gal aka Queer Chick
Canon 1DsIII & 5DII/Panasonic GH1-GF1-LX3
 
ColorPics said:
I understand your patriotic approach but what makes you think that your $$$ are not sponsoring some ceo's vacations abroad ? :)
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Maybe it is because I live in upstate New York? Not sure. I believe that the Kodak CEO makes $5 Million a year. Far less than most CEOs of larger companies. What he does with his money is up to him. He lives in Spain. My company pays milage at $0.50 a mile. But I live only 100 miles away from Home Office.
 
ToasterFlyer said:
Is this really the end?? or just a new beginning for Kodak. I would imagine someone will pick up the name and start fresh..

Rich
ny
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How did that work out for Polaroid?

Maybe for an older generation there's some magic in that name, but for me, who really came of age in the digital era, Kodak is a name I associate with cheap cameras. I look back at the photos my mom took of us as little kids and they are blurry and faded. Cheap, fixed focus 110 cameras.

SF Photo Gal aka Queer Chick
Canon 1DsIII & 5DII/Panasonic GH1-GF1-LX3
 
The Register article on this whole situation, they're certainly not mincing words... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/19/kodak_chapter_11/

A few quotes..
Mark12211 said:
"Beset by the digital camera revolution and screwed by a breathtakingly stupid entry into ink-jet printers, the company led by six-million-dollar man Antonio Perez last made a profit in 2007"
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Mark12211 said:
"See how he is singing the IP patent licensing song still? It's like a guy with a broken leg trying to sell adverts on his crutch. Pursuing patent licensing revenues is the last refuge of the technologically blind CEO"
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Mark12211 said:
"This is a damning indictment of Perez's six-year run as CEO. He has blown it and resignation is what is expected by his employees, his stakeholders, Kodak's shareholders and, bless its little woolly socks, the board if it had any bottle."
Click to expand...
Mark12211 said:
"The people running Kodak have got to accept that they are responsible for its demise and can't save it. Kodak needs new leadership, vision, energy and decisiveness ...."
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As far as I am concerned...they focused on cheap cameras at a time when everyone carried around a phone with one built in...dumb dumb dumb!! As for entering the printer market...well...... Other manufacturers have decent printers at the same prices, with higher cartridge costs...personally I always get mine printed in shops...it works out cheaper for me, and less time consuming...so I only print a few at home...if I am like other users...hardly a market for making profit on selling cheap printers with cheap cartridges is it? There ya go...I didn't charge 5 million bucks for that advice! ;) And we were saying this in these forums several years ago too...It's almost as if it was a situation where the ship was deliberately steered into oblivion.

Anyway...here's another article from the same site... http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2012/01/05/kodak_chaper_11/
 
SF Photo Gal said:
Maybe for an older generation there's some magic in that name, but for me, who really came of age in the digital era, Kodak is a name I associate with cheap cameras. I look back at the photos my mom took of us as little kids and they are blurry and faded. Cheap, fixed focus 110 cameras.
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You said exactly what I said here a while back.... us oldies remember Kodak for quality print and slide films...KodaChrome, Ektachrome etc... these were world leading products...and had a worldwide reputation. Professionals used Kodak products, that led to consumers trusting them too...even if they were simply Kodak branded 110 cameras ;)

The original ethos of providing cameras for the masses was a noble one...but in the digital era, camera companies became the image making companies... previously they made the cameras and Kodak gave them the products that produce the end result. Without film...and sensors in the cameras, Kodak needed to have it's own 'PRESTIGE' products as image takers, the digital equivalent of their film products....they failed to keep their reputation alive with cheap flimsy low priced cameras.

I have an idea that in Kodak there were progressive visionary technicians...but....'Lions led by Donkeys?' is a phrase that springs to mind.

I've also just been looking at the Kodak restructure site...I feel for those dedicated workers that gave their all for a company, expecting certain promised benefits on retirement...and now we read....

http://www.kodaktransforms.com/retirees/

"Retiree Post-Employment Benefits

You may be receiving health care, dental, life insurance or survivor income benefits from Kodak. While we do not expect any immediate changes to these plans as a result of the filing today, Kodak needs to ensure that our legacy cost structure — including these retiree benefits — is fairly apportioned and scaled for a company of the size we are today. Therefore, we want to advise you that the Company will be examining these costs and, as necessary, will seek to adjust them."

In the meantime I suppose those 'donkeys' will be out to pasture with their millions...

oh the haves and the have nots of this world...
 
Phil Loughran said:
The Register article on this whole situation, they're certainly not mincing words... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/19/kodak_chapter_11/
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Perez is certainly the fall guy. But since 1976, the transition of Kodak from film to digital has not been well planned. It's like a juggernaut trundling along on inertia in a direction - everyone can see where it's headed by no one can stop it, the onlookers, the driver, the ones providing the power and the invested interests.

IBM headed that way, divested and is still around - it isn't the IBM that gave us the PC (that's now divested to Lenovo) but it is IBM Services. Microsoft is the next one to go, we can see it, there are still worthwhile products but the Microsoft that was Bill Gates pre-trial is gone. Microsoft was strong in mobile phone, then it went missing etc...

I did buy a Kodak Perez printer. Let us say, it is nowhere near the polished product of its brethren - the HP / Canon / Epson.

The P880 is famous in this forum for it's JPEG rendering and it's marvellous lens but looking at it, it did could not retain it's very high RRP. If you can't maintain your price, you are not getting income. It may be a fantastic product (it wasn't - the P880 was plagued with manufacturing defect on the on/off switch) but if you are not getting income, that's not the way to stay in business. My V705 is much treasured - it is over engineered in the body shell, heavy and tough, but the internals must be weak because the second lens AF and sensor has not lasted.

The Kodak distribution channels and perceptions are so bad that camera shops (not department stores) are reluctant to sell it or even use it as a comparison. And the notorious idea of making money from ink supplies after selling the printer? That doesn't work if the office supplies stores refuse to hold shelf space to stock the ink.

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Ananda
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/6861540877/a-compilation-of-tips-for-beginners
http://anandasim.blogspot.com/
http://gplus.to/anandasim

'Enjoy Diversity - Live a Little or a Lot'
 
Does this mean that there will be no more tech support and does this mean we will not be able to buy anymore ink cartridges for our printers? I don't want to have to invest in another printer from someone else. I just got mine two years ago.

This is all so hard to believe.
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Melissa aka mustang_fan
 
Must be some truth in every statement all above. So may I try to add one myself.

These days a company must innovate and diversify to stay in business, with this comes hunger and will to do so. Unfortunately many top guys in western countries spend their time and money on themselves and their luxuries while companies in Asia have sleepless nights thinking about their product. Motivation, creativity and hunger for a company to grow and succeed is what will help them survive and stay competitive. :)
 
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