Kodak Stops Making Cameras

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Kodak has announced that it is ceasing production of digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames. Due to take place in the first half of 2012, Kodak will instead expand its current brand licensing program, and seek licensees for cameras. Kodak will continue to honor all related product warranties, and provide technical support and service for its cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames.

Kodak Press Release

Kodak Focuses Consumer Business On More Profitable Growth Opportunities

Plans to phase out dedicated capture devices business

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Feb. 9 – Eastman Kodak Company (the “Company”) (OTB: EKDKQ.PK) announced today that, as a result of its ongoing strategic review process and commitment to drive sustainable profitability through its most valuable business lines, it plans to phase out its dedicated capture devices business – comprising digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames – in the first half of 2012. Kodak will instead expand its current brand licensing program, and seek licensees for cameras. Following this decision, Kodak’s Consumer Business will include online and retail-based photo printing, as well as desktop inkjet printing.

Kodak has contacted its retail partners, and is working closely with them to ensure an orderly transition. Kodak will continue to honor all related product warranties, and provide technical support and service for its cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames.

“For some time, Kodak’s strategy has been to improve margins in the capture device business by narrowing our participation in terms of product portfolio, geographies and retail outlets. Today’s announcement is the logical extension of that process, given our analysis of the industry trends,” said Pradeep Jotwani, President, Consumer Businesses, and Kodak Chief Marketing Officer. 

In addition to its Consumer Businesses segment, Kodak has a Commercial Businesses segment that includes the Digital and Functional Printing, Enterprise Services and Solutions, and Graphics, Entertainment and Commercial Films units. Kodak’s digital businesses now comprise approximately three-fourths of total revenues.

Kodak continues to have a strong position in the personal imaging market.  While photos are increasingly taken on multi-function mobile devices, Kodak technology makes it easy for consumers to produce a broad range of photo products, anywhere, anytime – from prints to photobooks, photo greeting cards and personalized calendars. These items can be made on Kodak products, with Kodak quality at retail, at home, and ordered for delivery to home.

Kodak’s continuing consumer products and services will include:
• Retail-based photo kiosks and digital dry lab systems, a market in which Kodak is the clear worldwide leader. Kodak pioneered the retail-based kiosk market, and the company now has more than 100,000 kiosks and order stations for dry lab systems around the world, with some 30,000 of those units connected to the most popular photo-sharing sites.
• Consumer inkjet printers, where Kodak has outpaced overall market growth for several years. Kodak consumer inkjet printers provide consumers with high-quality output and the lowest total ink replacement cost. Consumers can send documents and photos to Kodak printers from anywhere, using any web-connected device.
• Kodak apps for Facebook, which make it easy for consumers to obtain photo products using photos from their Facebook albums.
• Kodak Gallery (http://www.kodakgallery.com), a leading online digital photo products service. Kodak Gallery enables consumers to share their photos, and offers product and creation tools that enable people to do more with their photos.
• The Kodak camera accessories and batteries businesses. These products are universally compatible with all camera brands, and extend into other consumer product segments such as charging units for smartphones.
• The traditional film capture and photographic paper business, which continues to provide high-quality and innovative products and solutions to consumers, photographers, retailers, photofinishers and professional labs.

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Samsung's new trio of Wi-Fi cameras

Samsung revolutionizes travel photography with Wi-Fi-enabled long-zoom series
Las Vegas – Jan 9, 2012 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, announced today the launch of a new range of Wi-Fi enabled travel zoom cameras. The WB850F, WB150F, and ST200F cameras enhance the advanced optical zoom and image quality that the WB line of cameras are known for, with Wi-Fi capability to facilitate sharing and saving images – wherever users are in the world. Housed in compact, light and durable bodies, the new zoom series from Samsung make the perfect travel companions.
Samsung’s innovative new SMART Wi-Fi technology aims to change the way consumers take pictures, share and store them. With the new Samsung SMART long-zoom cameras, users no longer have to worry about unearthing a tangle of cables to transfer their images over to their hard drive by using the Auto Backup function. They can also take advantage of integrated free storage space from Samsung’s AllShare Play and Microsoft® Sky Drive® to make their photo accessible anywhere.
Of course, one of the best parts of discovering new places and cultures is sharing experiences with friends and family back home. With the Wi-Fi capability of the new Samsung SMART long-zoom cameras, sharing is quicker and easier than ever. From any Wi-Fi hotspot, users can email photos or share them on social networks such as Facebook and Picasa or post videos to YouTube in a few simple steps. The WB850F also uses GPS features and Live Landmark to enhance the user’s journeys, enabling them to download maps and find out information on nearby locations with the touch of a button. The camera’s Digital Compass can also give users their location and tell them how far they are from certain locations, while the MapView function allows users to download maps and use their camera to help explore new cities.
Similar to their WB predecessors, the WB850F, WB150F and ST200F make it easy to capture incredible detail through their zoom lenses, making it simple to get up-close shots that were once out of reach. The WB850F features a 21x optical zoom – Samsung’s best yet. The WB150F features an impressive 18x optical super zoom and the ST200F includes a 10x optical zoom lens. In order to capture the detail at its best, all travel zoom models feature upwards of 12 Megapixel sensors (16.2 Megapixels on the WB850F and 14.2 Megapixels on the WB150F). The WB850F also features pioneering BSI CMOS sensor technology to reduce image noise and distortion, even in low light conditions. This crystal-clear detail can then be experienced in all its clarity on the 3.0” VGA AMOLED screen featured on both models.
“Taking photographs and sharing them with friends and family is one of the most enjoyable aspects of travelling,” said Mr. Myoung Sup Han, senior vice president and head of the digital imaging business at Samsung Electronics. “It’s about more than simply capturing memories – it’s an integral part of the experience itself. Listening to our customers, we discovered that being able to conserve memory and share images instantly was what was missing from the high-quality cameras that they trust. With this in mind, we added ground-breaking Wi-Fi functions to our travel zoom series, building on the brilliant image quality that high-quality sensors and zoom lenses provide with the ability to store and share like never before.”
Share unforgettable scenes in Full HD
Whether filming at the carnival in Rio de Janeiro or from a vantage point atop the world’s highest buildings, Samsung travel zoom cameras mean users can share their video in HD. The WB850F captures awesome detail in 1080/30p Full HD and 1080/60i for spectacular scenery shots. The WB150F and ST200F feature fantastic 720/30p HD recording, ensuring that once-in-a-lifetime experiences are captured in the same color and vibrancy that existed in real life.
Make any picture come to life with Motion Photo
With Motion Photo, users can make one element of a normal photograph come to life and keep moving while the rest of the frame stays still, such as a friend walking through a crowd of what appear to be statues or a solitary tree bending in the breeze. And with the ST200F, instant in-camera editing along with Wi-Fi allow users to share images immediately without ever needing a computer.
Making it easy to get the best shot
With the new travel zoom cameras, it’s up to the user how to get the best shot. On the WB850F and WB150F, one can explore their own photographic skills with the Full Manual Control setting, also taking advantage of the optical image stabilization (OIS) (available on all models - WB850F, WB150F and ST200F). Alternatively, the Smart Auto setting, available on all the new models, identifies and automatically selects the most appropriate of its scene modes to provide users with the best possible result every time. From a fireworks display to a dimly-lit party, scene detection technology identifies the shooting conditions and automatically tailors the settings to help achieve standout results.
Live Panorama to get everyone in the shot!
Live Panorama, featured on the WB850F, WB150F and ST200F, allows consumers to capture even more of the action, facilitating wide panoramic shots which don’t miss any of the detail, from sprawling mountain peaks through to large groups of friends. The function allows the easy capture of large scenes by simply holding down the shutter button and sweeping the camera across. Users can even preview the whole scene they’ve just captured via the LCD screen.
Fun features to add a twist to your travels
With Split Shot, camera users can divide the screen into three separate shots and create up to three different photographs by simply blending them together to create a whole new view of their travels. Using Magic Frame they can also position their target in the middle of a fun background – either choose from one of the many pre-designed backgrounds like movie billboards or posters or erase part of an existing picture to get even more creative! Or use the Picture-in-Picture feature to insert a photo – whether an eye-catching monument or personal portrait into another image or video so users can combine their favorite shots to make a memorable collage. Finally, users can also bend, stretch, and warp pictures of friends and family for big laughs — with the Funny Face feature. Simply press the 5-direction key to enlarge heads or noses, or create hilarious distortions. When they move the camera, Face Tracking preserves the funny looks just the way they want them.

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