Mamiya calling it quits in the camera biz???

Well, when A&O bought up a piece of Agfa, there was a bunch of doom and gloom (or rather, a further bunch of doom and gloom to the original doom and gloom) on the making of traditional chemicals. Yet A&O continues to make Rodinal and others. So lets not simply assume the Mamiya cameras - esp film ones - will stop being made just because of the purchase.

Well, if nothing else this whole Mamiya going out of business scare just goes to show that even if you read information on what you may think are reliable sites, it is best to wait and get the official word from the company(s) involved.

This is what Robert White has to say about it. Long Live Mamiya, then?

www.robertwhite.co.uk/mamiya.htm

What a public relations - Marketing fiasco! Who and what to believe. Mamiya waited a while before stateing that Cosmo planned on continuing in the Medium Format Film and Digital camera business and now you have people like Michael Rechmann over at Luminous-Landscape saying that he has additional info from Japan and says: "This new company currently has only two employees, though this will increase as some Mamiya staff are transferred. My guess is that Cosmo will simply take over responsibility for parts and service, with all manufacturing and R&D to come to an end, if it hasn't already. Cosmo's parent, Cosmo Scientific, appears to be too small a company to undertake a revitalization of the Mamiya brand, though it would be wonderful if my surmise is proven wrong."

I guess time will tell but if Mamiya knew that Cosmo had plans to continue things, why on earth not immidiately state that as to avoid consumer panic. Now, we have a situation where anyone thinking of buying into the Mamiya system will be very leary and doubtful which alone could spell the end for any potential future resurrection.

Stargazer said:

This is what Robert White has to say about it. Long Live Mamiya, then?

www.robertwhite.co.uk/mamiya.htm

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Gibran said:

I guess time will tell but if Mamiya knew that Cosmo had plans to continue things, why on earth not immidiately state that as to avoid consumer panic. Now, we have a situation where anyone thinking of buying into the Mamiya system will be very leary and doubtful which alone could spell the end for any potential future resurrection.

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Folks, there is not going to be any medium format resurrection. New medium format camera sales have been all but nonexistent for the last several years. It's a bit of a shame, but people just do not want them like they once did.

Isaac

Robert White are a very reputable dealer and I personally would put my faith in what they say rather than take note of all the speculation floating around. Also in my opinion it's far too soon to write off medium format. Some professionals are returning to it from digital and it continues to hold a place in many fields. Mamiya themselves updated their 645 autofocus model quite recently which they wouldn't have done if the market was completely dead. Also Rollei & Hasselblad are still in there.

Just a quick update, Mamiya America Corporation (MAC Group) posted a release recently:

http://www.mamiya.com/assets/pdfs/Mamiya_Digital_Imaging.pdf

That is a PDF file, for those not wanting that link to directly open a PDF, go to:

http://www.mamiya.com/newsevents.asp?id=5&id2=130

Basically the latest News & Events page from MAC Group on Mamiya.com.

Perhaps that alleviates some concerns of professionals. Obviously tons of good quality used gear available, though I guess the thoughts of a huge drop in used prices is less likely.

Ciao!

Gordon

Not realy

firecracker said:

By the way, another division of Mamiya is for manufacturing golf clubs? Anyone interested in investing for that?

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No not really, Firecracker, golf is a good walk spoilt.

Sorry, this is an old news from May 16.
http://www.mamiya-op.co.jp/home/camera/eng/news/news20060516.html
(English)

The latest is here saying almost same thing.
http://www.mamiya-op.co.jp/home/camera/news/news20060705.html
(Japanese)

Mamiya keeps on going.