16 June, 2005
Kodak to Stop Making Black-and-White Paper
Ending a century-old tradition, Eastman Kodak Co. will soon stop making black-and-white photographic paper, a niche product for fine-art photographers and hobbyists that is rapidly being supplanted by digital-imaging systems.
Kodak is really throwing its hat into the digital ring, trying to reverse its recent poor fortunes. This is probably a good move by them, allowing them to pursue newer technologies and not have to worry about fighting the inevitable downslide their B&W photographic paper business would have faced.
More and more people are now printing monochrome prints on inkjet printers. The quality and archivability of prints coming out of the latest generation of Epsons (such as the Epson Stylus Pro 4800) rivals high-end darkroom prints, with much less hassle, lower per-print cost, faster reproduction speed, and near-perfect repeatability.
Just as there are still people shooting and selling tintype photographs, there will always be people shooting and developing film and printing in their darkroom. It will become a niche artform, though, with mainstream photographers embracing the newer digital technologies.
Filed under: Business,Printers
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