Equipment->News: July 2005 Archives

Buy those yellow boxes of film in bulk now, Kodak is awash in red ink despite slashing jobs left and right. I wouldn't be surprised if they jettisoned their film division altogether: From: http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/20/news/fortune500/kodak.reut/index.htm:

Kodak to cut another 10,000 jobs
Company posts loss, plans to slash up to 25,000 positions partly due to slumping film sales.
July 20, 2005: 10:28 AM EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Eastman Kodak Co. Wednesday said it would cut up to 10,000 more jobs than previously announced to speed its move into digital products, and also posted a quarterly net loss due to restructuring costs and a faster-than-expected decline in film sales.

Shares of Kodak (down $2.55 to $26.19, Research) fell more than 6 percent in premarket electronic trading from their closing price Tuesday at $28.75 on the New York Stock Exchange. Although the stock has bounced back in recent weeks, it is still down about 10 percent this year, and is underperforming the Standard and Poor's 500 index by about 13 percent so far this year.

Hot off the newswires, Sony and Konica-Minolta are collaborating on future generations of digital SLR cameras (DSLRs) built around the Maxxum/Dynax/alpha lens mount. This bodes well for the future longevity of this lens mount. The recently released Maxxum/alpha 5D camera is getting rave reviews, along with its more professional older sister, the 7D.

Here's the full press release:

Konica Minolta and Sony Agree to Jointly Develop Digital SLR Cameras

Tokyo (July 19, 2005) Konica Minolta Photo Imaging, Inc. and Sony Corporation have reached an agreement to jointly develop digital Single Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras. Taking full advantages of their respective imaging technologies and key devices, the two companies will develop and commercialize new digital SLR cameras based on and compatible to Maxxum/Dynax lens mount system.^*1