June 22nd, 2009
Kodak to end production of Kodachrome
It’s the end of an era. Kodak has just announced that its killing off its Kodachrome color film brand this year after 74 years. The cause? Stiff competition from digital cameras. Just not enough people are using film these days to keep products like Kodachrome profitable to produce. Kodak seen its film business “evaporate” as digital cameras took control of the market, CEO Antonio Perez said earlier this year.
Once celebrated in a Paul Simon song, the iconic brand has left its mark on America. The durable, color-rich slides was extremely popular with the Baby Boomer generation. But with newer technology, slides like Kodachrome just became obsolete. Kodak reps have said that Kodachrome accounted for less than 1% of the company’s total sales of still-picture films.
While its sad to see once treasured, pioneering film products disappear one by one as digital technology takes over, it only makes sense for Kodak to focus their money and research elsewhere.
Rachel started playing with her mother's old Brownie camera when she was just a toddler, working her way up from a Hello Kitty point-and-shoot to training on both film and digital SLRs. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations.
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