Kodak to Phase Out Cameras
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Milestone Kodak products include:
1888 – Kodak camera (introduced the professional photo-finishing industry … note: Eastman’s first camera was view camera in 1887)
1895 – Pocket Kodak (inexpensive box camera – sold for $5)
1897 – Folding Pocket Kodak 1897 (the first of the pocket-sized folding Kodaks)
1900 – Brownie ($1 box camera) – marks the birth of mass photography
1903 – No 3A Folding Pocket Kodak 1903 (first of the post-card sized family of cameras)
1912 – Vest Pocket Kodak (first 127 roll film camera)
1916 – No 3A Autographic Kodak Special w/ rangefinder (first camera fitted w/ coupled rangefinder)
1921 – Eastman View No. 2D (view camera used by many well known photographers including Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston)
1934 – Retina 1 Model 117 (first Kodak 35mm camera, with it came the Kodak 35mm film magazine)
1934 – Baby Brownie (first US plastic Kodak)
1936 – Bantam Special (fist Kodak fitted w/ the fast f/2.0 Ektar lens)
1938 – Super Kodak Six-20 (first auto-exposure camera)
1940 – Six-20 Flash Brownie (first Kodak to accept a synchronized flash)
1941 – Kodak Ektra (first 35mm interchangeable lens Kodak)
1957 – Brownie Starflash (first Kodak w/ built-in flash bulb holder)
1963 – Instamatic 100 (first model of the 126 cartridge cameras)
"I think it's a sad day,” said Andrew Davidhazy, an RIT photography professor.
A day most thought would never come.
"On the other hand, they've not really been in the camera business for a long time,” Davidhazy said.
Davidhazy is a professor at RIT's School of Photographic Arts and Sciences.
"I'm a big supporter of Kodak. From a Rochester standpoint, they've done great things for the city over the years; philanthropy. But all of that was possible because they had this big consumable market to rely on. Once that goes away, it's tough."
He, like many people, see Kodak's announcement that it's getting out of the camera business as a "sad day,” but says it’s not surprising.
Davidhazy says Kodak's not alone. There's not much competition in the camera business, and, he cited a recent vacation during which he brought along his professional camera.
"It does excellent work. I never used it. I used my phone,” Davidhazy said.
Kodak says about 400 people work in divisions that make digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames. About 30 percent of that workforce is in Rochester.
The thought of Kodak without cameras may be akin to Coca Cola without Coke, McDonald's without Big Mac's, or Rochester winters without snow, but some experts say this had to happen.
“They have to do this, no question about it. They're not going to get out of bankruptcy if they can't show they're making profits," said Scott Nasca, financial analyst.
Nasca says bankruptcy lets Kodak make drastic moves, like cutting the cord on unprofitable products. He says that is the only way Kodak can survive.
“It's a sad day, number one, getting rid of the cameras which were really the staple of Kodak, but in the bankruptcy process, they have to really shed the non-productive structures,” Nasca said.
“They were the most influential company in the imaging business,” said Davidhazy.
Davidhazy says Kodak's lifeblood was not just cameras, but expendable materials like film and paper and prints; things not prevalent in a digital world in which ironically more pictures are taken now than ever.
He says the Kodak name still packs punch. Just how much remains to be seen.
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1972 – Pocket Instamatic 20 (first model of the 110 cartridge cameras)
1975 – Sasson prototype digital camera (world’s first true digital
camera)
1978 – Ektralite 10 (first Kodak w/ built-in electronic flash)
1982 – Disc 4000 (first of the Kodak disc cameras – over 25,000,000
sold)
1987 – Kodak Fling (first one-time use Kodak)
1991 – Kodak DCS (first marketed Kodak Professional digital camera)
1992 – Kodak DCS 200 (first professional digital camera w/ built-in
memory)
1995 – Kodak DC 40 (first Kodak amateur digital camera)
1997 – Kodak DC210 (first true one mega-pixel digital amateur camera)
2001 – Kodak EasyShare System (first of the Kodak camera dock system)
2004 – Kodak Pro 14n (first full 35mm frame professional digital camera)
2005 – Kodak EasyShare One (first wi-fi digital camera)
2006 – V570 (first dual lens/imaging sensor camera)
- compiled by Todd Gustavson, George Eastman House technology curator
County Executive Maggie Brooks and Rochester mayor Tom Richards are reacting to the news that Kodak is getting out of the camera business. Both say since the company filed for bankruptcy, changes are inevitable.
"I think we've all internalized, at least I have internalized over the last year internalized the fact that there were going to be some very dramatic change at Kodak, if it happened through bankruptcy or otherwise, it was going to be some dramatic change. I've lived here most of my life, really all my life. All my professional life has been spent here, and certainly for all most all of it, no I would never have envisoned Kodak not being a dominant part of our community," said Richards, (D).
"Even though these small announcements are big surprises to the community, I think overall the path is leading toward a sustainable Kodak in the future, and that will look very different than what we've seen in the past," said Brooks, (R).
Brooks and Richards say the community is able to withstand these changes because there are other companies that are creating jobs and building an alternative economy.