R.I.P Eastman Kodak

What a shame, I was loyal to Kodak brand even till the end, I can't say it was the top high end, but they definitely made good quality cameras and I don't have one that doesn't work.

All well...maybe they will release the locked firmware for my camera now. My next camera was going to be a canon anyway...their firmwares are locked, but not so hard that it is impossible to turn off the JPG compression.

@killerbug

I have an Easyshare C813, any idea how I can disable JPEG compression on that? Or where to begin looking?

Seems I want to use higher resolution, the compression increase and the pictures look worse than low-res shots (which don't capture the desired detail)... AGHHHH American product managers with MBAs, who's MBA is in Foot Shooting, it appears.

I have not found many options for hacking any Kodak models...the Canons are hacked en mass, but the Kodaks usually don't even get the OEM firmware updates that they need so desperately.

:( Oh well, cheers for taking the time to reply.

The times are a changing.

This is precisely what happens when a company becomes overly complacent in their product line and their business plan.

Seriously, Kodak cameras are so ghetto compared to .................well...............anything. Even Olympus. They're not innovative and their cameras aren't well constructed and attractive. Kodak has lagged behind the times and seemingly pinched every penny to avoid necessary expenditures to stay current.

It's sad they're going down as jobs will be lost eventually and economies slumped as a result but this is what's to be expected from American business.

Look at the hurt American car manufacturers had to go through from foreign auto makers before making changes. Shame!

EK rested on their laurels through film sales alone. Camera sales were a luxury & after thought. It's kind of like thinking if Ford build a car then buying Ford oil must be a no brainer. It was an old marketing scheme from long ago.

It's kind of like saying an actor makes a good film director or a musician make a good sound engineer (hold your water haters), it only happens in very rare occasions that you get people that can do both... WELL!

EK obviously knew more than early on that they needed to step up their game, but chose not to. Or better still, greedily, maniacally proprietize the shit out of their technology & ran themselves out of the game.

Few other companies might want to take notice of this history lesson as well, for their fate won't be as long lived.

The list of mistakes Kodak made in the 90s and early 2000s where so numerous it is hard to know where to start.
1. Moving away from pushing picture quality and standards, into trying to push cheap point and shoot cameras
2. Advantix: Probably the best point and shoot consumer film every made, but why invest millions or more into a new film format that of course required new proprietary hardware at the end of what was clearly the slow death of film for home use. the initial cameras released were low quality and overpriced and it even cost more to develop the pictures.
3. Not embracing digital. Kodak could have taken its decades/century of experience and worked to push the envelope of quality and standards with digital media. They instead left it to the competition hoping people would just keep buying film.
4. Complacency to push and innovate in dieing media types.

Originally posted by ddaring:

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The list of mistakes Kodak made in the 90s and early 2000s where so numerous it is hard to know where to start.
1. Moving away from pushing picture quality and standards, into trying to push cheap point and shoot cameras
2. Advantix: Probably the best point and shoot consumer film every made, but why invest millions or more into a new film format that of course required new proprietary hardware at the end of what was clearly the slow death of film for home use. the initial cameras released were low quality and overpriced and it even cost more to develop the pictures.
3. Not embracing digital. Kodak could have taken its decades/century of experience and worked to push the envelope of quality and standards with digital media. They instead left it to the competition hoping people would just keep buying film.
4. Complacency to push and innovate in dieing media types.

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It's surprising that they invented the digital camera, and never became a real player in the market. This has been a long time coming.

Originally posted by ddaring:

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Complacency to push and innovate in dieing media types.

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my kodak polaroid had a great relationship with my girlfriends in the 1980's. nudge nudge wink wink
I wish I kept those pics.

ronatola, polaroid is a seperate company from kodak just like ford & gm.

Originally posted by ddp:

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ronatola, polaroid is a seperate company from kodak just like ford & gm.

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