Konica-Minolta pull out of Photography

The other shoe has fallen. Not to be out done by Nikon - who announced a pullback in their support of 35mm film cameras last week - Konica-Minolta have announced that they are pulling out the camera and photography business altogether. That's right, not only are they giving up on 35mm film cameras, they're giving up on all cameras and lenses. They're also giving up on film and processing and say they will stop production of minilabs by March. Konica was the 3rd largest film manufacturer in the world, after Fuji and Kodak.

Konica-Minolta said they would cease manufacturing photographic film and color paper by March 31, 2007 and will withdraw from the camera business by March 31, 2006.

Konica-Minolta plans to sell off it's current digital SLR assets to Sony, and Sony have said they will be using the Konica-Minolta lens mount on future DSLR cameras, so at least that may be some comfort to Konica-Minolta users who have a significant investment in lenses.

Here are some excerpts from the Konica-Minolta Press Release:

"In camera business, we have reached an agreement with Sony Corporation(Sony), having numerous image sensor technologies such as CCD and CMOS, to jointly develop digital SLR cameras in July 2005. In order to continue to have our customers use Maxxum/Dynax lenses, and to maximize possibilities of the optical, mechanical and electronics technologies accumulated through development of SLR cameras in the years to come, we came to the conclusion that it was best to transfer assets concerning camera business to Sony. Since then, we have been negotiating with Sony, and as a result, we have reached an agreement with Sony to transfer a portion of assets regarding digital SLR camera system to Sony. In this relation, we have decided to withdraw from camera business, such as film cameras and digital cameras, within Konica Minolta Group as of March 31, 2006. Sony is planning to develop digital SLR cameras compatible with Maxxum/Dynax lens mount system, so that the current Maxxum/Dynax users will be able to continue to use them with Sony's digital SLR cameras. In addition, we will consign camera service operations for Konica Minolta, Konica, Minolta brand cameras and related equipment to Sony."

"In today's shrinking photographic market represented by color film and color paper, we have been considering to scale back and to continue photo business at an appropriate size; however, when we foresee the photographic market, it is quite difficult to maintain profitability in this field, and we have decided to withdraw from photo business. As schemed below, we will, as much as possible, avoid causing any inconvenience in providing products to our worldwide customers in the course of withdrawal. For color film and color paper, while considering our customer needs, we will step-by-step reduce product lineup and cease our color film and color paper production by the end of fiscal year ending March 31, 2007. For minilab business, we will cease production of the system by the end of fiscal year ending March 31, 2006; however we will have such company as Noritsu Koki Co., Ltd to provide maintenance and customer services so as not to cause any inconvenience to our customers."

Film may not quite be dead yet, but it's just taken another body blow.