scott_gardner1 Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 It's finally official. And sad. Here's one of what is sure to be many obituaries: http://db.riskwaters.com/public/showPage.html?page=210204 I sure hope Leica isn't next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrett Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 What's worse is that this is a _total_ photo-market exit - digital as well as film. As I've written elsewhere, the thing to know about Kyocera is that, if they can't keep aloat in a given market by doing things their own way, they simply leave that market, rather than cheapen the product to sell at a given price point. I regard them as one of the few large companies left whose philosophy appears to be more product-driven than market-driven (anyone who remembers their home audio components from the 80s and 90s will know what I mean; they eventually left that market for the same reasons they're now leaving the photo market). Somehow, I'm not quite as worried about Leica; although there's always a chance they'll flame-out as well (like they almost did in the 70s), I have a feeling they're going to hang in there, albeit a bit smaller (and, I would hope, a bit less frilly - enough of the Leica a la Carte stuff, already!). I'm somewhat more worried about, say, Hasselblad (Bronica's as good as gone already, and I wouldn't put odds on Mamiya living it up in the next two to three years). Fuji is Hassy's principal lifeline for now, but with Canon stuffing bigger sensors in their top-end EOS model every other year, even Nikon's having a time of it keeping up. - Barrett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vatovec Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 Sad news - and Leica is in big debts too, and the things keep getting worse. Hasselblad and Mamiya are allready in the digital age so i feel confident for them - however if pros turn their backs to the medium format alltogether (which isn`t impossible) it may come out another way,... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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