Kodak Alaris article in Amateur Photographer...

For those who missed it (i.e. anyone not in Britain mostly), there was a short news article in the Amateur Photographer of 18th January entitled 'Kodak on mission to double printing'. It was based on a briefing given by Lee Palmer (European general manager for personalised imaging) in London last month. The article says that a recent survey suggested that only 2% of images are ever printed, and Kodak Alaris want to double that to 4% to boost colour paper sales, the paper being made in Harrow, England. They propose to do this via smartphone apps and tablet computer apps to allow direct upload of digital images. The article also states that professional film sales increased by 15% last year but that overall sales, including consumer film, were down by 30%. It doesn't separate out how much just consumer film sales were down.

I think it's an interesting, if brief, article. Kodak Alaris seem to be on a mission and at least have some idea where to go, and that fact that Pro film sales are up is very interesting. Let's hope it works out for them.

Thanks for sharing. Good stuff (sort of).

Seems Kodak is finally getting smart, (must be the Alaris part). Looks like they are basically funneling their film sales into their paper and print division. Which is smart, film sales will probably continue to decline but print will hold out longer, so they are being financially smart, and will survive, but it does mean that they probably will never make a new film again, just continue with what they still have, which I guess is pretty good news overall

I'm not too worried about no new films, I'd just be happy with the continuation of what we already have!

xtolsniffer said:

They propose to do this via smartphone apps and tablet computer apps to allow direct upload of digital images.

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The feature of making photo books / uploading photos for printing, both from a smartphone, is something already offered from photofinishers.
There is a lot of research applied at that industry. A industry typically overlooked.

I agree, a lot of companies already do it, with varying degrees of success, though the sites I've used are often slow and cumbersome, and the quality of prints is usually pretty poor. That's one reason that I still send print films away, low effort on my part to get high quality results, but at a financial cost obviously.

There were a couple of other pro-film features in there too. In their 'Ideal Cameras for Landscapes' feature, the X-Pan and several medium format cameras were mentioned and there was another feature near the start (which I can't remember at the moment as the magazine is at home).

I was quite surprised at how pro-film it was.


Steve.

That might possibly have been a different issue Steve, I couldn't see anything in there about landscapes or the xpan, but there were quite a few pro-film letters on the letters page. Always good to see.

It was one I bought last night at Tesco, so I assumed it was the current one!


Steve.

I'm just happy they're working at promoting and expanding. Just keep the film coming.

The copy of AP I have is dated Saturday 25th of January.

xtolsniffer said:

there was a short news article in the Amateur Photographer of 18th January

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That explains the difference then. It's probably because I went to Tesco in my converted DeLorean!

On page eight is an article titled 'Darkroom Revival Sparks Kit Shortage'. It is about a school which has appealed for equipment to expand it's darkroom facilities. Something I am aware of happening here too as a couple of years ago, I gave away an enlarger to a local school which was also expanding its darkroom.

Starting on page forty nine is the feature I mentioned earlier suggesting some medium format cameras as well as the X-Pan for landscape use. The first image in the article is captioned 'This picture was shot using medium format film for a smooth gradation of tones that is difficult to achieve when shooting digital images'.


Steve.

I just picked up that edition in Sainsbury's tonight, I shall look forward to reading it.

Steve Smith said:

Starting on page forty nine is the feature I mentioned earlier suggesting some medium format cameras as well as the X-Pan for landscape use. The first image in the article is captioned 'This picture was shot using medium format film for a smooth gradation of tones that is difficult to achieve when shooting digital images'.


Steve.

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To whom should we accredit the above quote, Steve? If it is the AP editorial staff then that is surely a sign of AP hedging its bets on what to it was the inal demise of film and the darkroom with its slow processes and smelly chemicals and yesterday's "greybeards" .

In the magazine game you need to recognise the sense of appearing to be riding with the hounds while supporting the game fox if he appears to stand a chance of survival

pentaxuser

Steve, it was a good edition. There were a few film-mentions in there, and Roger Hicks as usual gets in a good mention at the end about film and digital co-existence. I've always found the editorial staff pretty even-handed in the treatment of film vs digital, I've had a few pro-film 'Backchats' published in the past. I notice that the prize for 'letter of the week' is no longer a choice between some film or a memory card, it's just a memory card. When I got letter of the week I got sent 20 rolls of Fuji Superia 200. Not a film I usually use, but it works really nicely in my cardboard pinhole camera as my Olympus Trip 35.