Camera
Demolition
D liti

In M 2005 the German-
I May 2005, th G
Belgian camera and film
manufacturer AgfaPhoto
went bankrupt.

Later, the AGFA building in
Munich as demolished.
M nich was demolished

An old business which had been
profitable for many decades was
now literally blown into pieces
within a few years.

A lot of people came to watch
this
thi spectacular event.
t l t

The company said:
"AgfaPhoto has been
g
suffering from intense
competition i the market lot
titi in th k tl t
t ad t o a p otog ap c
traditional photographic
equipment and products,
and the shift among
d th hift
consumers towards digital
products."

In
I a statement, workers'
t t t k '
representatives described it
as "a development that is
both
b th surprising and painful."
i i d i f l"

125 kilos of explosives
later the building hit the
g
ground.

AGFA used to make
consumer cameras…

… And film.
film

The shift to digital imaging
put this former industrial
giant out of business.
business

AGFA had
been in the
camera and
film industry
for about a
century.
century

Compact,
Compact
user-
friendly
amateur
t
cameras
had been
sold for
ld f
decades.

Within a few years, people
stopped buying film.
t db i fil

And in the camera business,
AGFA simply couldn t keep up
couldn’t
with the Japanese dragons.

No film sold, no
sold
cameras sold.

Once a great competitor to
Kodak,
Kodak keeping them from
complete hegemony…

… is now out of business.
business

In 2001 the company announced that about 4000
employees will be laid off over the coming three years.

In 2004, the
2004
p
photography
g p y
section of
AGFA was
divested
through a
management t
buyout.

Prior t th b
P i to the buyout, AGFA
t
had tried to sell the
company through press
statements…
t t t

Sounds pretty desperate…
desperate

But once the buyout had
y
taken place, the new CEO
spoke confidently…
k fid tl

On a press conference, Bing
p , g
Liem, CEO of AGFAPHOTO
North A
N th America, said:
i id

"We feel very strongly we’re
positioned for success…”
iti df ”

One year later
later,
AGFAPHOTO went
bankrupt.

Words don’t
change facts.

Since the company had a
competence base in precise
mechanics and chemistry, y,
attempts in digital imaging
were outsourced.
t d

The German consumer
electronics firm PLAWA
manufactured cameras
for AGFA
AGFA.

Comparing these
products to what the
large Japanese firms
could make, they were
make
clearly inferior.

A couple of reviews
from consumers:

“Never buy this camera.
Never
Slowest digital camera
ive
i ever seen. Sl Slowestt
shutter lag and very
slow at even viewing
your images.”

The camera doesn't
make sharp pictures
k h i t
and the colours aren t
aren't
good. I have another
digital camera, a
Olympus C-830L, this
C-830L
camera makes much
better quality pictures!
My opinion: this camera
isn't worth the money!!!!

“i don´t lik everything”
d t like thi ”

“Nice toy, and only as a t ”
“Ni t d l toy.”

“This is a so-so camera but really ices
so so camera,
the cake is that when the thing broke
(the LED screen began to leak) tech
support was AWFUL. They sent me two
pp y
refurbished cameras, neither of which
worked AT ALL. They refused to test the
cameras before sending, or to get me a
new one Unrelenting complaining
one.
FINALLY got me a refund.”

“Plawa's first stab at an Agfa-
cam i 't looking too incredibly
isn't l ki t i dibl
hot… The metal housing looks
durable, but incredibly bulky, and
there's no word on optical image
th ' d ti l i
stabilisation or any other fancy
specs.”

If the camera business
went so-so…

The film business
was collapsing…
p g

No medicine can cure a
business which there is no
demand for at all.

Virtually no one is
consuming film, and those
film
who used to produce it had
p
two options: change their
business or di
b i die.

Agfa ended up in
the latter
th l tt
category.

“A development that is both
surprising and painful."
i i d i f l"

Another one bites the dust.

Image attributions
I tt ib ti

Christian Sandström
doktorerar på Chalmers.
Han forskar och föreläser
om teknikskiften och
digitalisering.
www.christiansandstrom.org
christian.sandstrom at chalmers.se