The Days of Kodak as A Camera Company End

A sad era and time has come upon us as a society.  The company that was synonymous for cameras is now finished in the camera industry.  Kodak has put an end to its camera business.

Remember the days back before digital cameras and digital photography, when you would buy canisters of film to take pictures?  Those were the days where 9 times out of 10 you would pick up a canister of film from Kodak and when you would take your film to be developed it would be printed on Kodak photo paper.

I remember as a kid a little Kodak kiosk in the parking lot of our little shopping mall where we would drop off our film to be processed.

A little bit of my childhood has died today.

According to cnet:

By the end of June, Kodak expects to phase out its digital cameras, pocket video cameras, and digital picture frames, the company announced today. The company plans to focus heavily on its current brand licensing and on attracting companies that might need some of its patents.

Is this what growing up feels like?  Watching products from your childhood and teenage life disappear in a flash.  It makes me sad.

The Kodak Website says the following  consumer products and services will remain:

• 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 (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.

I'll admit I  miss loading 35mm film into a camera to take pictures.  There was something about the click when you closed the camera and the motor taking over.  Then the sound of the film winding back into the canister once you took your last picture.

Those were the days.

Does that make me sound old?