Kodak plans a new FILM camera

[Soeren]

Hmm Why a 35mm SLR? There are plenty on the usedmarket so how many would buy new?
I really don't see a market here. Why not a 6X6 fixedlens ala Fuji's or a Retina 4....?

 

[firecracker]

This sounds more like Chinese Phenix quality to me. I'm just guessing Kodak's probably thinking about doing what Kenko has been doing with the Phenix OEM products.

 

[Ian Grant]

Hmm Why a 35mm SLR? There are plenty on the usedmarket so how many would buy new?
I really don't see a market here. Why not a 6X6 fixedlens ala Fuji's or a Retina 4....?

The Pentax K1000 was for many years the preferred camera by many photography courses around the world in colleges and Universities because it was simple, no automation and rugged. Pentax stopped production a few times but had to resume again because of high demand.

That demand is still there, I looked at a Chines K mount camera a year or so ago out of interest and the salesman said with the amount of film you use it wouldn't last 6 months.

There is still a demand, photography departments can't buy off ebay to fill their shelves, and Vivitar have an extremely good reputation for designing cameras and lenses and having them built to exacting standards.

Ian

 

[Soeren]

The Pentax K1000 was for many years the preferred camera by many photography courses around the world in colleges and Universities because it was simple, no automation and rugged. Pentax stopped production a few times but had to resume again because of high demand.

That demand is still there, I looked at a Chines K mount camera a year or so ago out of interest and the salesman said with the amount of film you use it wouldn't last 6 months.

There is still a demand, photography departments can't buy off ebay to fill their shelves, and Vivitar have an extremely good reputation for designing cameras and lenses and having them built to exacting standards.

Ian

But will any lowpriced no fuss cheap camera reach the quality of the K1000? or the X700 for that matter?

 

[Ian Grant]

But will any lowpriced no fuss cheap camera reach the quality of the K1000? or the X700 for that matter?

That will depend on the specifications and criteria that Vivitar and Kodak specify.

Remember that Vivitar's Series One lenses were on a par optically & mechanically with the lenses from the big 5 camera manufacturers but significantly cheaper.

Ian

 

[Ray Heath]

don't Canon and Nikon still make base level film cameras?

if so, wouldn't it be better to support them?

 

[Ian Grant]

The problem is many colleges & university photography departments already have K-mount equipment, budgets are usually tight so they won't want to invested in new lenses as well when all they need is to replace worn out camera bodies.

Ian

 

[PHOTOTONE]

Both Cosina and Nikon as well as Vivitar and Phenix market "entry level" 35mm SLR cameras. The Nikon is made by Cosina. I assume the current Vivitar is made by Cosina, but it "could" be Chinese. What the Colleges want is a basic non-automatic 35mm SLR camera with Pentax "K" mount, that is reasonably rugged, and has match-needle metering, and that is all. No auto-focus, no motor drive, no auto exposure. This is a teaching tool. You can't teach if the camera does all the thinking for you. There are people right now that travel around and accumulate Pentax "K" mount cameras, have them serviced and then sell them in Bulk to colleges and universities. This is the market the new camera will compete in.

 

[CBG]

I have worked for major corporations my whole career (in the US of A.) and I can tell you emphatically that they, Kodak workers who may lurk here, CANNOT post information regarding the corporation. They are strictly forbidden form doing so by the corporation. That's just the way it is. Accept it. Your support for Kodak and its product should not be contingent upon a Kodak employee posting here. They have excellent customer service by phone - call them!

... But, I would like to add that this should not preclude a designated Kodak top exceutive or assistant from being here to publicly take information from APUG and respond with a company answer, like a hot line on APUG. There are many ways that they could handle this if they wished.

The problem is that due to market changes, and heavy secrecy in the film mfg. area, it is difficult to set something like this up without having accidental disclosure of critical marketing or scientific plans or methods...PE

It would seem like the major manufacturors like Koddak could set up a deliberate contact here, carefully screened to avoid the problems of casual postings.

I would welcome their participation, and suspect many others would.

C

 

[dynachrome]

New Kodak Film SLR

I have three Vivitar V4000S bodies. They sell for very little. The last one I got was about $15. All of them work well. One came with the 35-70 kit lens. It can be annoying to focus anythng that slow but the performance of the lens is actually pretty good. The V4000S bodies are marked Made In Japan so I assume Cosina made them. They don't even have separate pressure plates. The pressure plate is molded in one piece into the back. The V4000S weight next to nothing and has a sensitive and accurate meter. I do not get the same feeling using the V4000S that I do with Nikkormat FT2 or a Canon FTb or a Minolta SRT 201 but with the right lens attached it works quite well.

Some years ago Kodak had Tamron make zoom lenses with their name on them. They were sold in blister packs with the brand name Kodak Gear. Digital point & shoot cameras can be purchased for very little money and can give surprisingly good results. When you step up to a DSLR the price jumps quite a bit. A simple film SLR like a Vivitar V4000S is capable of image quality which would require a very expensive DSLR. Even with the cost of film and processing a film SLR can be a good buy for someone whose volume isn't terribly high. Having negatives & scans made instead of prints or scanning you own negatives can give many of the advantages of a DSLR at a lower cost.

 

[Kilgallb]

I work at a product development firm. A few weeks ago an industrial designer brought in an old Voightlander 35 mm. It is a mechanical masterpiece built by craftsmen. Too bad the design is so poor. However, it still works as it is all mechanical as does my K1000. The mechanical engineers felt sad thay willl never get the chance to build such an interesting contraption. This is due to the abiltiy in the past for crafstmen to adjust parts, file things or select different tolerances on parts and generally make such a device function perfectly. No way we can do that now with wages so high. Or can we?

I am off to a business trip to China tomorrow. I can tell you that China can hand build build anything to any quality you want and do it cheaper. For instance, building data projectors is still a hand building process. If selling Chinese built K1000 knock offs to a billion Chinese and Indian customers will keep 35 mm film alive I am all for it. With better materials and a huge market, a mechanical K1000 knock off marketed by Kodak could be just the medicine this art form needs.

 

[Phillip P. Dimor]

I think it's neat. It fills a niche, a niche that is good for everyone. If this camera can help spark a lifelong interest in traditional analog black and white photography for a student, then that's just awesome.

Stop bitching about Kodak, it's getting really f****g old and it does no one any good.

What about all those jobs? And why should I just support Canon and Nikon for axing the majority of their film cameras so they can concentrate on printers, p&s digis and those annoying dslr's. Atleast Kodak makes something I can use.

Argh end rant. If i'm allowed one negative angry post per year let it be this one.

 

[minoltafan]

Long live Kodak!!!!

 

[Curt]

What ever keeps them producing chemicals, film and paper, cameras too are great, anything that extends traditional analog photography is great. I'm 56 please Kodak give me 20 more years of great products. The first camera I ever saw was a Kodak, with my mother and father as the photographer.

Curt

 

[Thanasis]

Great news from Kodak. Never thought id see this happen.

 

[jd callow]

This is good news. It would be nice if they built a boutique item like fuji's folder. I think it would be pretty cool to see a kodak interpretation of Rollie's 35s, a modern Medalist or didn't they make a military issue 70mm RF in the 50's. Sorry I'll stop dreaming and continue to buy their film, paper and chems.

 

[Snapshot]

Unexpected but good news! Let's hope for more of the same in the near future.

 

[DBP]

While you are there....

I work at a product development firm. A few weeks ago an industrial designer brought in an old Voightlander 35 mm. It is a mechanical masterpiece built by craftsmen. Too bad the design is so poor. However, it still works as it is all mechanical as does my K1000. The mechanical engineers felt sad thay willl never get the chance to build such an interesting contraption. This is due to the abiltiy in the past for crafstmen to adjust parts, file things or select different tolerances on parts and generally make such a device function perfectly. No way we can do that now with wages so high. Or can we?

I am off to a business trip to China tomorrow. I can tell you that China can hand build build anything to any quality you want and do it cheaper. For instance, building data projectors is still a hand building process. If selling Chinese built K1000 knock offs to a billion Chinese and Indian customers will keep 35 mm film alive I am all for it. With better materials and a huge market, a mechanical K1000 knock off marketed by Kodak could be just the medicine this art form needs.

How about looking into what it would take to build a modern folder?

 

[marsbars]

All I can say is any thing that bolsters the use of film is a good thing. Digital my seem easier to the uninitiated but there is far to much work involved when you add all the PS time and the hardware to run it. Film is so easy, provided you understand the basics.

 

[pauliej]

I wonder how this 35mm SLR will differ from Kodak's previous 35mm SLR's? Any thoughts?

PJ

 

[PHOTOTONE]

I wonder how this 35mm SLR will differ from Kodak's previous 35mm SLR's? Any thoughts?

PJ

Kodaks previous SLR's? Well, the Kodak Retina Reflex was made by Kodak in Germany and was a high quality, but quirky design. The last 35mm form factor cameras Kodak marketed were digital, and were essentially Canon and Nikon bodies, modified by Kodak for digital. New outside shell castings and internal electronics.

In this case, what it appears is that Kodak is going to take basically an already designed and currently manufactured product and put their name on it. Basically no engineering.

 

[naknak]

My two cents to the story is this: If amateurs want film to survive,they must learn to do their own BW or color prints.Otherwise,making film scans they will sooner or later slide into digital images hopper.

 

[thuggins]

Several folks have pointed out why there is a market for this sort of product in the photography departments of schools. But it is sad that so many people are surprised at this development. Apparently, they have been putting too much stock in the inane comments of the digitrolls over at that "photo" site.

It goes without saying that there will be solid demand for 35mm SLRs ten to fifteen years down the road. By then the closets will be mostly cleaned out, and all the "I bought it at an estate sale and don't know anything about" cameras will be sold off. Repairs to 70's and 80's cameras will become rare as replacement parts have finally dried up.

Digital isn't killing 35mm. As much as we all hate "that auction site", it created a market for used equipment that never existed before. Film camera sales are quite brisk there, with a lot of stuff commanding impressive prices.

 

[PHOTOTONE]

Many educators feel that a solid grounding in the fundamentals of traditional analog photography is an excellent base for learning digital. Knowing analog makes a person a better digital photographer. Therefore there is continued interest in teaching analog photography. I concur with this thinking.

 

[RoBBo]

Many educators feel that a solid grounding in the fundamentals of traditional analog photography is an excellent base for learning digital. Knowing analog makes a person a better digital photographer. Therefore there is continued interest in teaching analog photography. I concur with this thinking.

That's the entire basis for the photo program at my school, it's why we have the best darkroom facilities of any school in the nation.
And dare I say, photographers as well.