Will kodak re-enter the DSLR market again?
Kodak pulled out of the lucrative DSLR market last year with the last camera being the full frame 14 mega pixels Kodak DCS Pro. Although not a big player in this market, they are a major player in the compact market. In addition, they are also a major supplier of CCD sensors and are also moving into CMOS imaging sensors via technological tie-up with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer. Owning your own imaging sensor technology is a big issue to camera manufacturers as so clearly demonstrated by Canon's success and also starkly shown with Konica-Minolta recent withdrawal from the photographic market.
Although Kodak's consumer digital stills camera division is dong well in the home market, they are gradually reducing dependency on film products for survival. Their CEO even recently announced that 'Kodak is now a thriving digital company'...
Having said all the above, Kodak currently lacks the ability to produce their own camera body platform for a DSLR revival, nor the lenses and other peripherals that is required to go with building a DSLR system.
Their previous DSLR business model of building DSLRs using camera platforms were supplied by two major camera manufacturers, Canon and Nikon. This is no longer valid as both manufacturers now have their own thriving and profitable DSLR businesses which makes it illogical for them to supply camera bodies to other manufacturers.
Although I'll concede that building alternative DSLRs for popular lens-mounts such as Canon and Nikon still have some business validity, if one is not aiming high for sales volumes!
It was noted that photographic products writer Thom Hogan speculates that Kodak can still return to the DSLR market by a business venture with Sigma... I'll agree that that is one possible scenario (perhaps the only possible scenario!), but Sigma would need to re-design their current and aging and slow DSLR cameras to compete with the latest Canon, Nikon and Olympus cameras. Sigma would also need to be prepared to flush their investment with Foveon down the toilet to partner Kodak... A very big if!
Although Kodak's consumer digital stills camera division is dong well in the home market, they are gradually reducing dependency on film products for survival. Their CEO even recently announced that 'Kodak is now a thriving digital company'...
Having said all the above, Kodak currently lacks the ability to produce their own camera body platform for a DSLR revival, nor the lenses and other peripherals that is required to go with building a DSLR system.
Their previous DSLR business model of building DSLRs using camera platforms were supplied by two major camera manufacturers, Canon and Nikon. This is no longer valid as both manufacturers now have their own thriving and profitable DSLR businesses which makes it illogical for them to supply camera bodies to other manufacturers.
Although I'll concede that building alternative DSLRs for popular lens-mounts such as Canon and Nikon still have some business validity, if one is not aiming high for sales volumes!
It was noted that photographic products writer Thom Hogan speculates that Kodak can still return to the DSLR market by a business venture with Sigma... I'll agree that that is one possible scenario (perhaps the only possible scenario!), but Sigma would need to re-design their current and aging and slow DSLR cameras to compete with the latest Canon, Nikon and Olympus cameras. Sigma would also need to be prepared to flush their investment with Foveon down the toilet to partner Kodak... A very big if!
posted by vdaswong at 3:20 AM
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