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Posts Tagged ‘comeback’

AgfaPhoto brand makes a comeback with budget cameras and digital albums

21 Dec

Agfa-Gevaert used to be an important player in the consumer camera space, but the company failed to keep up with digital developments and in 2004 the consumer imaging division was bought out by management and transferred into the Germany-based AgfaPhoto GmbH.

The new company filed for bankruptcy just one year later, however, and these days the Agfa brand is licensed by holding-firm AgfaPhoto Holding GmbH. Agfa-Gevaert’s has completely exited from consumer business and is focusing on industrial printing, health care and information systems.

Now we’re seeing a comeback of the AgfaPhoto brand on cameras, however. The brand has been licensed to French electronics sellers GT Company which has launched three new products for the comeback:

  • 21MP digital compact camera DC5200 with lithium battery for approximately $ 45 (39 Euros)
  • Digital Instant Camera Insta Shot IS210 that captures and prints 2.1’’ x 3.4’’ images for $ 113 (99 Euros)
  • A range of digital photo and video albums that range from 2,4” to 10” in display size and can store up to 4000 photos and 90 minutes of HD video. Prices range from $ 45 to $ 113 (39 to 99 Euros).

If these new rather simple models don’t quite tickle your fancy, have a trip down memory lane and take look at the Agfa digital cameras from times gone past on our camera hub.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Yashica’s comeback camera hit by claims of delays and poor quality

19 Oct

The Kickstarter campaign for Yashica’s digitFilm Y35 camera has produced a wave of complaints about delays in shipping product as well as cameras that don’t work. Running with the foreshadowing strapline ‘Expect the Unexpected,’ the campaign seems to be delivering on its promise to be unexpected by giving some of the 6935 backers exactly what they weren’t hoping for.

The campaign raised HK $ 10,035,296 (approx. $ 1,280,225) for the firm and promised a digital camera that you load with different ‘film cassettes’ that apply specific styles to the pictures. While a delivery date of April 2018 was given at the time of the launch many backers have yet to receive their cameras.

In the last update, on 18th September, the company explained that they are dealing with 38 different combinations of product, and that they were working hard to get orders completed by the end of the month. However, four weeks later the feedback section is 3900 comments long, and while some are complaining that their camera hasn’t arrived others say the shutter button doesn’t work or that the camera switches off unexpectedly.

One user who has received his camera tells those who haven’t to stop complaining, as the product is so bad they’ll be happier now than when it arrives.

The picture isn’t much brighter on Indiegogo where the project took the total raised to $ 1,515,695, as more investors are making the same complaints. The principle problem seems to be the lack of communication from the manufacturer that’s leaving customers in the dark about their cameras and their money.

This hasn’t been a good period for camera-related campaigns on crowd-funding sites, as this failure comes right after the collapse of Meyer Optik Gorlitz, and its associated brands, which left many photographers out of pocket and without the costly products they had backed.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Yashica is teasing a comeback to the camera market

17 Sep

The legendary Yashica brand may be planning a comeback to the camera market, and people are kind of freaking out. Unfortunately, very little detail is available at this point, but a teaser video and website published by Yashica show a woman using a camera that looks like an old film model, and even taking selfies with it.

There is no way of knowing if this means Yashica will release a film camera or a retro-style digital model, but it would certainly be intriguing to see a digital version of an old Yashica like the Electro 35.

According to Wikipedia, the Yashica brand name disappeared from the camera market in 2003 when Kyocera, which owned the brand, halted production on all Contax, Yashica, and Kyocera-branded cameras. In 2008 the Yashica trademark rights were sold to the Hong Kong-based MF Jebsen Group and in March 2015, 100 Enterprises International Group Co. Ltd. was appointed as Yashica Global Sole Agent.

If you want to keep up with future developments and see the information that has been posted so far, you should have a look at the Yashica website where you can also sign up for email updates. As for the teaser… well, it doesn’t give much away:

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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