Why Fujifilm Survived (& Kodak Didn't)

Comments · 1.3K

• 50

  @50PullUps · 3 years ago

  I can imagine an engineer at Kodak passionately arguing that the company needs to change direction… and a manager flatly responding with “We don’t do that here.”

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• BE

  @bejeweledman · 3 years ago

  I used to wonder why Fujifilm entered the cosmetics market, where I saw an advertisement material featuring Seiko Matsuda in her late 40s (or early 50s) about a decade ago. It was only later when I understood that manufacturing photographic film gives you a shortcut to understand how to manufacture collagen for cosmetics.<br><br>This is a really smart move, it simply gives Fujifilm a very reliable cash cow without much effort.

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• MI

  @MitchFlint · 3 years ago

  I remember in the mid-1980s when a Fuji representative came by the studio and gave me a roll of 35mm Fujicolor to try. He listened to my concerns regarding having to test every new batch of Kodak professional film for color balance. <br> &nbsp; Then I saw a Kodak rep at at trade show and told him about the testing problem, but he wasn&apos;t concerned and said Kodak&apos;s interest was in consumer products. I told him he should pay more attention to pros, because we were often asked by consumers what film we thought was the best. &nbsp;<br> &nbsp; The Fuji rep came by a few weeks later with a ten-sheet box of Fujichrome Professional 4x5 for me to try. The quality was astounding and I started using it exclusively. After that, whenever an amateur photographer asked me what film I liked, I always said &quot;Fuji&quot;.

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• CV

  @cv4wheeler · 3 years ago

  When in grad school in 1982, I applied for a &nbsp;summer internship at Kodak in Rochester, it was my first choice. When they didn&apos;t get back to me, I took a position at Marathon Oil--it was OK, but Kodak would have been great (I figured). Finally, when their first choice went elsewhere, they called me, too late. I thought it might be possible to spend my career working for Kodak, glad now it didn&apos;t work out. Whew, a close one.

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• BR

  @brn2bwild2001 · 2 years ago

  We invented a single chip solution for digital cameras. I wanted to keep the technology here in the US. We held a high level meeting at Kodak when Fisher was CEO. We demostrated a working digital camera with the new chip. We were stopped mid-way through the presentation and were informed &quot;Kodak is a chemical company and we have no interest in digital cameras and frankly they will never replace chemical based film cameras.

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• SP

  @spaceranger3728 · 3 years ago

  A friend spent most of his career at 3M. For a few years, he found himself working at Kodak as a result of Kodak&apos;s acquisition of the 3M product line he worked on. He said Kodak&apos;s management was utterly Neanderthal compared with 3M&apos;s.

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• AN

  @andrewknowles6731 · 3 years ago

  I worked for Kodak briefly in 1998 and was shocked how they were stuck in 1970&apos;s corporate America, we even had a lady bring around the tea trolley mid morning. Then I worked for HP from 2004 in the graphics business and slowly but steadily we took all of the markets that Kodak though they were safe in. ie High end digital commercial printing ( Indigo) &nbsp;Photo Book production ( Indigo) and then High speed inkjet ( HP high speed webpress). &nbsp;The whole time Kodak seemed to be totally reliant on customer goodwill and old technologies that clients in the end couldn&apos;t justify in a competitive market no matter how warmly they regarded the Kodak brand.

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• NO

  @nondescriptnyc · 3 years ago

  I recently saw that Fujifilm is promoting its anti-aging cosmetics line, Astalift, which presumably applies some of the traditional film-production technology. &nbsp;The flexibility in their strategic planning is truly impressive.

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• RT

  @rtbarker · 3 years ago

  Regarding the state of the film industry for photography, it&apos;s ironic that, as of 2023, Fujifilm is rumored to be selling film products that are made by Kodak in USA.

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• IR

  @irridiastarfire · 3 years ago

  In Australia in the late 90&apos;s Kodak reps went to many independent print labs and told them &quot;If you don&apos;t switch to Kodak we&apos;ll set up across the street and undercut your prices, even if we have to run at a loss&quot;. This caused a great amount of resentment. Since most of those print labs also sold camera equipment it&apos;s likely Kodak weren&apos;t exactly preferenced by sales reps / purchasing. It probably wasn&apos;t a major cause in their demise but Kodak did create a lot of bad will during their later years.

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• RI

  @ricardokowalski1579 · 3 years ago

  As a stubborn nerd I resisted the trasition to digital for over a decade.<br>I was the &quot;target consumer&quot; that truly believed that digital <b>did not</b> have the quality of film. I shot whole rolls of 36 with the certainty that only 4, maybe 5, images would be good enough to print. The wait for developing, the contact sheet. The interaction with the lab guys to get the prints as &quot;just&quot; as I wanted them... was part of the hobby. I loved the grain in the enlarged photos, &nbsp;using a magnifying glass to find the grain when I could not see it. Planning ahead with fast film for night outings. I hauled around my SLR above my head while walking into a flooded cave. The confused looks I got from friends and family when I was geeking with exposure lock or manual focus. Fun times.<br><br>Having said *that*. &nbsp;When digital became &quot;good enough&quot; I switched.<br>I still have my lenses and film camera, but they are now part of someone that is not today&apos;s me.<br><br>Solid content.

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• GH

  @GhostOfSnuffles · 3 years ago

  I loved those little Fuji &quot;disposable&quot; cameras. They were cheap and you could drop them off at the local drug store and be back in an hour with all of your photos developed. Best part is that the photos almost always came out looking good. In the days before digital camera were affordable even a complete amateur&apos;s like myself could take good photos of important life events. And by important life events i mean photos of my friend flipping me off when we went camping.

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