So what exactly should Kodak have done?

Theo Sulphate said:

Did the consumer-oriented film processing labs complain about the extra expense required for equipment to handle disc and APS formats?

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Film manufacturers probably told them that the new formats would bring them more orders. I'm sure the latter came true for types 126 and 110.

Prof_Pixel said:

I suspect that isn't true. Yes, each roll used less sensitized material but the finishing and packaging process became much more complex.

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They developed 110 and its kin because modern humans became less able to manage the terribly difficult process of engaging a film leader with a spool and rewinding it after exposure. It was the beginning of our plug and play world.

Ian Grant said:

I think Kodak under estimated the abilities of the users and dumbed down far too much [...]
We here on APUG see or think of Kodak for the high quality films etc, but others saw digital as an enormous improvement over Kodak's consumere 110 and Disc cameras

APs was a format that never made sense except as a marketing format, with no real potential for serious users of small format films.

Ian

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Not really that dumb but too lazy to learn something.

Ian Grant said:

APS was a format that never made sense except as a marketing format, with no real potential for serious users of small format films.

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As far as I know it never was directed at them. But it could have attracted "serious users" too if it was based on the 24x36 format and if it came with SLRs that accepted lenses from the type 135 platform.

But keep in mind that about the same time a revolution in emulsion design was in the making, as well as cameras that exploited the AP-System to the fullest.
All never made it to the shelves.

Thus we only saw the budding of APS.

AgX said:

...
But keep in mind that about the same time a revolution in emulsion design was in the making, as well as cameras that exploited the AP-System to the fullest.
All never made it to the shelves.

...

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You mean APS digital sensors?

The APS format was the size of a digital sensor. They were designed to match.

Wayne said:

They developed 110 and its kin because modern humans became less able to manage the terribly difficult process of engaging a film leader with a spool and rewinding it after exposure. It was the beginning of our plug and play world.

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126, 110 and Disc all were Drop in loading/ unloading with not much chance of random fogging. So a Win for the consumer.

110 Allowed the consumer to carry a camera in their Purse, More oportunity to capture important Moments and More exposures tor print on Kodak Paper.

Disc actually fit in the customers pocket. Even the proverbial shirt pocket. BAR CODE (then fairly new) allowed the photofinisher to dispense with twin check taps, and made possible a totally automated photofinishing flow. (the actual film has a bar coded serial number that matched the label on the Cartridge.)

The disk camera was actually the same size as the smaller of the compact digital cameras like the Nikon S3000 series so it was ahead of its time there.


Kodak also was the domanant player in processing equipment so the photofinishers would expect to upgrade the equipment for each format. Kodak was right their with modification kits for older printers.

Prof_Pixel said:

They did in 1957 with the introduction of the Star cameras which were great little cameras.

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My first camera as a child was a Brownie Starflash.

benveniste said:

As a result, the technology graveyard gets littered with products such as Kodak copiers,
In short, I think Kodak's demise was as inevitable as the fall of the Roman Empire. Digital Imaging only provided the death blow to an internally weak company.
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Where I worked we had a couple of Kodak Copiers for several years. They were rock solid printshop level units. 2000 sheet trays. Very high speed. The technology WAS film inspired. instead of a drum like most units of the day their was a band of film coated with a photoconductor. the band was big enough that one image was a being made while another was being transfered. exposure was by electronic Flash. A Kodak Tech came in every few weeks to give them a cleaning and overhall.

Only real silly thing was the stapler used a very large spool of wire and the Kodak Tech was needed to change it although lots of other machines are that way also.

Another Business that they could not handle and spun off at a loss.

Xmas said:

You mean APS digital sensors?

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No, I was referring to cameras that would exploit all features APS film yielded, in the sense of non-image data storage.