3 ms·

If no one is buying it - or not enough to sustain production, its going to go away.

by Aloha 8y ago

sho 8y ago
Yeah, I was gonna say. It's sad, but one can't expect a company to keep an entire production line open just for a rapidly dwindling number of enthusiasts. They have better ways to deploy their resources. It would be arguably negligent for them to not do so. They probably shuttered the production facility years ago and are just running out their inventory. It might actually be quite lucrative, if evil, to buy some for later resale.
paulmd 8y ago
Kodak "rightsized" their film production a few years ago, and film sales are actually on an incline since then (both due to enthusiasts and professional cinematographers). They're actually bringing back various classic film stocks as well as introducing new ones based on modern R&D. Ilford has shed their financial legacy (and toxic waste-dump of a site) and is doing better these days too. https://www.dpreview.com/news/9503675822/analog-revival-increase-in-film-sales-spurs-kodak-to-bring-back-ektachrome https://www.dpreview.com/news/9503675822/analog-revival-incr... https://www.dpreview.com/news/1282034127/kodak-alaris-is-bringing-back-t-max-p3200-high-speed-b-w-film https://www.dpreview.com/news/1282034127/kodak-alaris-is-bri... https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/features/great-film-renaissance-2017 https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/features/gr... Fuji just can't get their act together, and to be honest they've never been a very well-run company. Amazing products (best-in-class film, cameras, lenses, etc) but extremely shitty marketing and distribution, particularly outside the Asia market. They're finally sorta getting it together with the digital side of the company (the X-series are great and have a big following in NA/Europe) but the film side has been a mess for 50+ years. Probably a lesson in there for the entrepreneurs of HN - along with the importance of producing the appropriate amount of product. The really aggravating thing is their instant packfilms (peel-apart Polaroid film) - they literally are making the emulsion anyway for their Instax series (which have been selling like crazy for years), they just need to produce different sizes of film, which has traditionally not been A Big Deal for film companies, up until Fuji made it one. They could increase their volume quite a bit if they would just restart production of the standard film sizes that Polaroid, MF, and LF shooters have been using for decades, but they only make the proprietary one that fits their cameras.
- davidgay 8y ago
  > Fuji just can't get their act together, and to be honest they've never been a very well-run company. This is a more than strange statement to make in a thread mentioning Kodak, where one of those two companies successfully managed the transition from film to digital, and the other went bankrupt. https://leaderonomics.com/business/kodak-vs-fujifilm-success-failure https://leaderonomics.com/business/kodak-vs-fujifilm-success... is the first hit on "fujifilm vs kodak", but there's quite a few there with the same message...
  - ghaff 8y ago
    Fujifilm didn't so much manage the transition from film to digital as manage the transition from film to other things that could make use of their technical capabilities in making film. https://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/01/how-fujifilm-survived https://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/01/how-fujif... Not to take away from their cameras. I use them and am a fan but they're pretty much a niche.
ekianjo 8y ago
If you dont invest in your products what do you expect? Film sales are actually on the rise globally and Fujifilm is just letting everyone down.

If no one is buying it - or not enough to sustain production, its going to go away.

by Aloha 8y ago

If no one is buying it - or not enough to sustain production, its going to go away.

sho 8y ago

Yeah, I was gonna say. It's sad, but one can't expect a company to keep an entire production line open just for a rapidly dwindling number of enthusiasts. They have better ways to deploy their resources. It would be arguably negligent for them to not do so. They probably shuttered the production facility years ago and are just running out their inventory. It might actually be quite lucrative, if evil, to buy some for later resale.

paulmd 8y ago

Kodak "rightsized" their film production a few years ago, and film sales are actually on an incline since then (both due to enthusiasts and professional cinematographers). They're actually bringing back various classic film stocks as well as introducing new ones based on modern R&D. Ilford has shed their financial legacy (and toxic waste-dump of a site) and is doing better these days too. https://www.dpreview.com/news/9503675822/analog-revival-increase-in-film-sales-spurs-kodak-to-bring-back-ektachrome https://www.dpreview.com/news/9503675822/analog-revival-incr... https://www.dpreview.com/news/1282034127/kodak-alaris-is-bringing-back-t-max-p3200-high-speed-b-w-film https://www.dpreview.com/news/1282034127/kodak-alaris-is-bri... https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/features/great-film-renaissance-2017 https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/features/gr... Fuji just can't get their act together, and to be honest they've never been a very well-run company. Amazing products (best-in-class film, cameras, lenses, etc) but extremely shitty marketing and distribution, particularly outside the Asia market. They're finally sorta getting it together with the digital side of the company (the X-series are great and have a big following in NA/Europe) but the film side has been a mess for 50+ years. Probably a lesson in there for the entrepreneurs of HN - along with the importance of producing the appropriate amount of product. The really aggravating thing is their instant packfilms (peel-apart Polaroid film) - they literally are making the emulsion anyway for their Instax series (which have been selling like crazy for years), they just need to produce different sizes of film, which has traditionally not been A Big Deal for film companies, up until Fuji made it one. They could increase their volume quite a bit if they would just restart production of the standard film sizes that Polaroid, MF, and LF shooters have been using for decades, but they only make the proprietary one that fits their cameras.

davidgay 8y ago
> Fuji just can't get their act together, and to be honest they've never been a very well-run company. This is a more than strange statement to make in a thread mentioning Kodak, where one of those two companies successfully managed the transition from film to digital, and the other went bankrupt. https://leaderonomics.com/business/kodak-vs-fujifilm-success-failure https://leaderonomics.com/business/kodak-vs-fujifilm-success... is the first hit on "fujifilm vs kodak", but there's quite a few there with the same message...
- ghaff 8y ago
  Fujifilm didn't so much manage the transition from film to digital as manage the transition from film to other things that could make use of their technical capabilities in making film. https://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/01/how-fujifilm-survived https://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/01/how-fujif... Not to take away from their cameras. I use them and am a fan but they're pretty much a niche.

ekianjo 8y ago

If you dont invest in your products what do you expect? Film sales are actually on the rise globally and Fujifilm is just letting everyone down.