Fotoman ceases production

AgX

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Arca-Swiss just announced the sale of their new wide-angle cone-focussing high-end camera. So, there still seems a market...
 

David A. Goldfarb

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That's unfortunate. They were making good, affordable, often unique products, and Paul Droluk has been a useful contributor to the LF forum and I think he's been on APUG from time to time as well.
 

Terence

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FilmIs4Ever said:
No offense, but, who cares?
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I was hoping they'd get around to making the whole plate film holders they discussed. So I, for one, care.

And it sucks in general when a creative and responsive business has to close for lack of work.
 

eclarke

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FilmIs4Ever said:
No offense, but, who cares?
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I agree, who cares? You can always get a digital P&S, Photoshop your "images" onto Flickr and forget these crappy old wet prints. With some luck all the film companies will cease this year and then we can get on to using these analog cameras as boat anchors. Better yet, we can all get camcorders and post to Youtube, no sense in messing around with still pictures. Even better yet we can all just plop ourselves in front of monitors and TVs and look at somebody else's stuff. Way better yet, the human species and the human experience can go extinct and the earth will be better off. I care..it's an extreme shame that these guys have quit and it sends a strong signal about the health of analog photography...Evan Clarke
 

JBrunner

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FilmIs4Ever said:
No offense, but, who cares?
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No offense, but I care. They make a good product. I'm glad to have my 617. You don't live in Australia by chance, do you?
 

Sal Santamaura

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FilmIs4Ever said:
No offense, but, who cares?
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Sorry, but despite your stated desire not to, the post (like many of yours) does offend.

Terence said:
I was hoping they'd get around to making the whole plate film holders they discussed...
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Fotoman announced on January 5 of this year (on its Q&A page) that those film holders were never going to happen:

Dead Link Removed
 

keithwms

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FI4E, as a film shooter, what I cherish most about film equipment is the diversity. That diversity, from SLRs to TLRs to RFs to view cameras and others, is a major advantage of shooting with film bodies. Maybe even the major advantage. So anything that implies that we will have less diversity going forward is bad, very bad for photography as a whole.

Before you retort that there are plenty of cameras on the used market: the used market is not going to sustain film gear. The used market does not bring new ideas to the market. The used market does not train craftspeople or give camera designers a salary. The used market does not listen to our ideas about what would be useful to have. What fotoman was doing was putting new gear with new engineering into the hands of amateurs and professionals... at very reasonable prices.

So... big loss, and everybody in photography should care and think about how to prevent more film cameramakers from going under. On that point I'd say, go ahead and grab some good deals on the used market, but also consider the long-term, adverse effects of doing so. When you buy used gear, you are putting money into a company that has only virtual, convoluted ties with the actual photography industry and has no stake in the growth of that industry- actually quite the opposite!

Now, I realize that some folks cannot afford new gear, I get it, I get it! But fotoman was one of the very few camera companies that was producing affordable new gear. So, again... big loss for all of us who don't want to shoot with identical black boxes in the long term.
 

BradS

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It is sad to see any manufacturer of film centric products cease. Fotoman produced innovative quality products for film users - so their announcement is especially felt.

I have had the pleasure of owning and using several of their products. Their stuff was and is top notch and seemed to me to be offered at reasonable prices. Bummer.

I wish the proprietors and their employees all the best in their current endeavors and hope that they may at some future time return to the Fotoman business...
 
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Jose A Martinez

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It's a sad news... I'm glad that I decided to buy my 617 a year ago, it's a great camera and I think it will last forever.
 

Terence

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Sal Santamaura said:
Sorry, but despite your stated desire not to, the post (like many of yours) does offend.

Fotoman announced on January 5 of this year (on its Q&A page) that those film holders were never going to happen:

Dead Link Removed
Click to expand...

Double dang. Missed that.
 
OP
OP

TheFlyingCamera

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I'm not surprised that the whole plate holders never happened, given that they couldn't get the 5x7 holders off the ground, and there is definitely a greater demand for that size. I think that is sad to say but nonetheless emblematic of their business problems - it took them far too long to get certain products out the door, or to decide not to get them out the door, and as a result, they lost business (same with that DMax camera they were touting forever... lots of talk, little action). Perhaps the pace of innovation/product delivery was too intense to be sustainable, or maybe they over-diversified their product line... who knows. Whatever, they will be missed.
 

Travis Nunn

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a little late...
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
 

ChrisC

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Fleath said:
Damn, I've been pining for a 45PS for some time.
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That makes 2 of us. After just buying a 90mm lens I was considering one as my next big camera purchase. Would be great to bring along on big tramping trips.
 
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