Fuji president: We didn’t want to buy Leica, but we wanted Olympus…and are ready to fight Alzheimer!
The prestigious German journal “Frankfurter Allgemeine” posted a full interview with Fuji president Komori. I translated the most important parts of the Interview for you:
1) We were considering the acquisition of Leica but it didn’t fit within our strategy.
2) We were ready to buy Olympus (yes he uses the past “were” and not the present “are”!). We made an offer to Olympus but I think Olympus is trying to remain independent.
3) Only 1% of our company earnings are made through classic film sales.
4) Komori also talks a lot about the med business: “we are developing a new drug against Alzheimer”. And the film knowledge they have is very useful for the cosmetics industry. The antioxidants we use on films do also work on the human skin!
The overall impression I got from the interview is that Fuji is one of the few Japanese companies that is not in a deep crisis (like Sony, Panasonic or Olympus for example). They are heavily investing in research and at the same time they are enlarging their business on more profitable areas like medicine and cosmetics. That’s why they are more interested in an Olympus partnership than a Leica acquisition. And I think that is indeed an intelligent way of thinking business. There wasn’t a lot of talk about the digital camera strategy but I have a positive feeling about the company and their digital camera future!
via Systemkameraforum.
grumps
12 months ago |Great companies, make time for useful R&D and not just wringing every ounce for their profit margins in their immediate markets, although important to a degree!
Vivek
12 months ago |Kodak (remember?
) and Fuji are basically in to heavy chemistry based research as far as their film imaging is concerned. Although primarily concerned with imaging, there are hundreds of different avenues for their discoveries. The intellectual property asset is a very big deal in such companies. So, it is fully expected that they would make use of what they achieved.
Harold GLIT
12 months ago |It is difficult to decide if Fuji getting Olympus would have been a good thing. ( my guess is NO) . On the one hand , Olympus would sell a LOT more cameras if they had a Fuji sensor instead of a Panasonic
On the other hand , who would want any olympus camera to have an fuji designer user interface ( NOT ANYONE in his right mind)
Harold
Eric Lasner
12 months ago |It would actually be great if they bought Leica to tell you the truth, Leica is in a tough position in the near future because they have been unable to bring good technology to their digital M cameras, even if they remain a niche product among those with big pocket and really few talented street photographers (not overgaard, the chinese dude who says “street togs”, the dude that puts cameras in the face of people or steve huff) the future looks really bleak for them if they aren’t able to introduce something to compete in the market (you can’t have a niche product being on top forever).
awreer
12 months ago |right, maybe 80% of Magnum photographers use Leica M’s.
Well…just say once they are not goof photographers and I think we are ready for a good laugh.
Sahaja
12 months ago |That may be changing. I know a Magnum photographer who once used nothing but Leicas – last time I met him (about 18 months ago) I was very surprised to see he had nothing but two D3xs and a Lumix.
Bud
12 months ago |80% – that makes 4 out of 5. Such was in the beginning of Magnum, with R.Capa shooting Contax IIa. Magnum photographers used to switch over to Nikon in the 70′s and to Canon in the 90′s. Today, they have to have a second (real) job to call it a month… Dream on !
Zony
12 months ago |With all of that R&D money, Fuji still can’t they make decent autofocus. Really, is that asking too much ? They need to get the basics right before shooting for the moon.
They have had the tech for the Organic sensor for years now, but were is it?
matt
12 months ago |Leica cant even make AF, period.It’s all man powered focus,just like when the company started…over 50 years ago.
awreer
12 months ago |Indeed…Leica is the inventor of Auto Focus…What are u talking about?
Eric Lasner
12 months ago |.
Eric Lasner
12 months ago |So how many shooters are them? sorry but they aren’t as much as the rest of photojournalists in the world using Canon and Nikon gear.
Sorry but Magnum alone can substantiate a profitable business forever, not with other manufacturers technologies are advancing at a faster rate than Leica is doing.
No doubt Magnum photographers are excellent but think what will happen when Fuji releases a better Xpro 1… that’s not going to be doing well for Leica at all, the M9 isn’t great at high ISO, not the greatest IQ either (their lenses are superb but Kodak’s sensor in Leicas aren’t anything to throw a parade).
Laugh all you want but Leica may not be what’s today in 5 yeards buddy.
Sahaja
12 months ago |Leica no longer sell many M cameras to working photographers. Their real market is rich chinese businessmen, orthodontists, lawyers interested in photography and the like.
Matt
12 months ago |Why Chinese businessmen? Are there no rich European or N. American businessmen? If you ask me, much of the Leica craze is in Japan.You forget to mention all the noob wananbes over in this country who collect Leica stuff.
matt
12 months ago |Thanks god Fuji is marter than the everyday Leica shooter and di not buy the company. Nobody is gonna get value for a camera company that makes camera bling. Leica has been going no where but backwards for a long time. And about the peoiple who use Leicas, lets not go and paint such a broad brush. There are alot of people in North America that dont use their cameras any better.
As for a niche camera being on top…was Leica ever on top? LOL Who else makes 7 thousand dollar rangefinder cameras? When you cant compete anywhere in the market except the 7 thousand dollar rangefinder market[ a market no one wants] it’s says alot about a company. The sooner Leica is gone the better. Getting sick and tired of Leica fanboys who seem to do nothign but try and feed some Leica myth.Leica should het on their knees and thank Panasonic that they even rovie them with AF and all the other good stuff they cant even do, 50 years later. Made in Germany my ass.
XP1Fiend
12 months ago |Leica is more of a lens company these days if you ask me. They just aren’t doing enough in the camera world for me to take them that seriously…
Matt
12 months ago |As good of glass as you can get, there isn’t much point when you have to use your hands to focus. That was great 50 years ago, but in today’s world of speedy Af and getting faster and faster, manual focus hardly aplies to most circumstances.Leica needs to wake up and smell the coffee and start making cameras for the masses, just like the beetle was to Germans. The Leica myth doesnt mean anything except to those who believe in it, and there are not enough of them to ever get Leica to the next step. Leica is at the end of a very very old line. The camera is a tool, not an antique chair for sitting on and collecting. Horse drawn waghons are fine a long time ago, but not when everyine else is using gasoline powered vehicles today.
CRB
12 months ago |Ok, i love photography, but the Alzheimer news is much more important…GREAT NEWS…
Gideon Ophrah
12 months ago |Film back is the retina in photography and part of the soul in photography. It is the canvas of a painting and to whoever painter wouldn’t disagree the importance of say to geso, preparing a suitable canvas with proper texture for his artwork. My education was painting and photography, then motion picture fx, digital film back is one of the most important elements to any success of any digital cameras. Fuji has obvious advantage over other manufacturers and I am a believer in it. It is a regret that Kodak is defunct but companies develop cameras for true professionals should ponder on this quickly – les they just want to make quick money or sell stuffs to collectors that’s all.
My comments on specs of what a digital Leica M should be 5 years ago and now they have Fuji XPro-1 making it right.