kodak bankrupt

[mr8mm]

Well after months of speculation, Kodak filed for bankrupcy. How it plays out we will just have to wait and see.

J.S.

[Ugo]

PANIC!!!!!! if Kodak dies, that's the end for our lovely hobby. Or not? members, your opinions?

[jpolzfuss]

As long as Foma produces Fomapan R100 in DS8, I can continue filming even without Kodak....
As for Super8: As GK's cartridges never made it past the beta-test-phase, this format might drop dead when Kodak stops producing its cartridges.
As for Single8: Unfortunately that format is already nearly dead (even without Kodak's insolvency)...

[aj]

The business remains in production. It protects the company against creditors and should allow for reorganisation. Hopefully the real photography and ciné proves as a core business and will not be abandoned.

[kII]

my feeling is if they continue with super 8 they will streamline the stocks, abandon 100d and b/w, perhaps introduce 50d as a replacement. The concern has to be just how much profit is there with super 8 and is it actually worth continuing to produce? I really cannot see any future with E6 from kodak in all formats.,

[Mr Blackstock]

I believe either two things will occur with Kodak being bankrupt.

1- Smaller companies that service the Super8 community will step in to fill the void. Having the largest film maker as your competitor makes it difficult to compete with their prices, with the major player gone, this will mean there is a vacuum of supply and production, with this smaller companies may do one of two things: take the gamble and reduce prices in the hope they will increase sales, and slowly increase prices and maybe widen their range, or, reduce film they have in stock, and wait to see if demand nessesitates them organising more. If demand is steady they will look for alternative suppliers, this will be GOOD. If demand drops off they will look to sell equipment and restructure themselves, Super8 shooters will see the availability of stock dropping off and will believe that stock is no longer being made and will stop ordering. New people coming into the Super8 world will see all these things as meaning that Super8 is dead. A good indication in the coming months will be the prices of Super8 cameras on ebay, if they fall through the floor people will be seeing Super8 as a deadend.

2-Kodak will restructure itself, carving up the company into smaller entities to better see which can survive either long enough to make money, or survive long enough to be sold off. If film production remains profitable, they may dump the poorer selling stocks, perhaps reducing the Super8 range by a few slow selling negative stocks. If film production lacks profitability they may sell it to either a corporate mortician who will sell everything just to make a quick profit, or sell the film arm to fuji. Either way, just how profitable is Super8 film to a corporation? Would it not be more profitable for a smaller company with far fewer employees and debt?

I believe Super8 will survive, small companies will become bigger players, Chinese companies may start supplying film to cart reloaders now that Kodak is gone. The important part is to keep buying film to send the message that it is still profitable.

reminds me to buy much more than i do!

Just an opinion,

cheers, Gareth

[superadio]

Yeah, this has been expected. What would happen to 16mm and 35mm? Maybe the consum of 16mm is smaller than S8, so they will abandone that too? Hope not, as I am just moved into this format

[carllooper]

The business remains in production. It protects the company against creditors and should allow for reorganisation. Hopefully the real photography and ciné proves as a core business and will not be abandoned.

Yes indeed - there's a difference between "filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection" and going bankrupt.

Kodak is moving to jettison it's digital assets in one way or another, but it has refused to part with it's film assets. It has had plenty of opportunity to do otherwise over the years. But to do that would have meant putting all their eggs in the digital domain. It's film business remains profitable (but not nearly as profitable as it once was of course, but profitable nevertheless).

So for consumers of Kodak film this should be seen as more optimistic than not. Kodak is moving to survive and is holding onto film. In the back of their minds I think they've always known that the Kodak brand has always been at it's very best when selling film so there's no earthly reason for Kodak to part with that particular power.

[Andreas Wideroe]

A sad day indeed. Let's hope they will find a way out of this misery.

Btw. I just ordered 20 rolls of Ektachrome 100D from Kodak.

[Andreas Wideroe]

Here's more info from Kodak:

http://www.kodaktransforms.com/

[Will2]

Kodak is still alive and selling film. This is just a way for them to screw pensions and get out of bad deals they made in the past. Happens all the time these days. Sad way to have to do business.

Don't forget, Fuji makes great film too.

[Nicholas Kovats]

As of today chapter 11 Kodak is shipping me free samples of 800 ft of B Wind 1R-2994 Vision 3 50D 16mm film for a super secret but not so secret project.

Stay tuned...

[woods01]

I think film shooters would better off if Kodak sold the film division to a company that is really interested
in the film market. The only future of film is as in the fine arts niche and the current Kodak management
aren't interested in that sort of market, they want the mass market.

The profits from 35mm prints is rapidly vanishing. Seems all the local theaters are going digital in the
past year. And Kodak still wants to make money selling printers and ink, yet most people aren't interested
in printing photos, they just post them on facebook.

[carllooper]

I think film shooters would better off if Kodak sold the film division to a company that is really interested
in the film market. The only future of film is as in the fine arts niche and the current Kodak management
aren't interested in that sort of market, they want the mass market.

But the interesting thing is that their desire to remain in the mass market (in the digital age) is why they're now in bankruptcy proceedings. They couldn't make any headway in the digital market - despite having made important innovations in that domain. It's not their digital assets which are the problem.. Their brand has been unable to capitalise on those assets. Other companies (with a more digital-centric brand) will buy up those assets and make good use of them. The assets won't get much cheaper than what they'll become through the current proceedings.

In other words it is no longer a question of what Kodak wants (eg. to be in the mass market) but what Kodak will have to wear. Without film Kodak might have a short term injection of capital, and a clean slate, from sale of their digital assets, but which could very quickly evaporate into zero. And then no more Kodak.

Besides which, if Kodak was not interested in the film market, they would have sold it off decades ago. There has been plenty of opps to do that. Either way, they'll either be forced to be interested (if not already), or forced into retirement. There is no where else for Kodak to go.

Another way of looking at is to think of Kodak as a brand, rather than as a company, and that the brand is being restructured. The brand remains good at selling film (if nothing else) so why change that (everything else has been tried) - so that's what the brand should continue to do. The brand is a hundred years worth of history that no competing brand could ever recreate. That's either Kodak's ultimate weapon, or it's ultimate chain, whichever way you like to look at it.

Film is transitioning into the fine arts world (where I work) and having Kodak (the brand/history/film machine) step 'down' into that world would be a very good thing methinks. Now of course, that's just my opinion (but what else would it be).

[Lunar07]

Right on the dot Will2 - It always takes a Texan to call things for what they are

Kodak is still alive and selling film. This is just a way for them to screw pensions and get out of bad deals they made in the past. Happens all the time these days. Sad way to have to do business.

Don't forget, Fuji makes great film too.

Sure, but we have 'Kodak Moments.' 'Fuji Moments' does not sound right!