WHAT
NEXT
From
Bob Lewis
Financial reports in the newspapers indicate
that there are signs of difficulties in the Japanese camera industry. The
Japanese camera makers have to change the design and cosmetics of their
products quickly’. Many camera owners like to keep up with the
“Jones’s” (or should that be the “Fujmoto’s?) and the camera
makers have to bring out new models at ever increasing rates. Joe Bloggs
was happy with his old Clonon XYZ 10000 SLR with six modes, autodrive,
speeds from 30 saes to 1/2000 secs, etc. That was three months ago, but he
has a few misgivings when he found that his wife’s ‘Trip’ was
getting better uniform results that he did with his’ XYZ 10000.
Now, out comes reviews in the magazines for
the Knikker. 20000 ZYX. Absolutely wonderful, said the magazine, It must
be better than his old Clonon because the Knikker has seven modes, speeds
from 100 secs.. to 1/4000 sec.s and no rewind lever at all! So Joe Bloggs
must buy the Knikker 20000 ZYX. Such a good specification and it’s in
the “Camera of the Year”! (in the Baffin Island Camera User
Magazine)!. He really feels ill with the pain in his stomach caused by not
having the very latest expensive toy. So off he goes to buy the Knikker
20000.
The fact that you have to read the -Knikker
handbook every time to fjnd out.how to use the depth-of-field when he is
taking close-ups of flowers is difficult. You have to ,find out by tables
because .there is no depth-of-field button on the camera or on the lens
barrel. And, worst still, he did. not, know that you could hold the
automatic exposures. readings in unusual lighting conditions unless you
had to alter the ASA settings; there was no memory-hold button. The lack
of those two very useful facilities was not mentioned in the review or in
~the adverts.
At the Clonon factory all is not well. The XYZ
10000 is no longer selling well and production has to be reduced. The
Clonon Camera Company finds that the production life of a new camera line
is no more than three months. Within that time factor they have to make
further advances themselves or their competitors might bring out a new
model against which they have to compete.
The initial tooling-up for a new product costs
the earth so Clonon would like to carry on with the old model until they
have paid for them. To keep the factory profitable, the only course is to
include none-photographic products, such as computors, typewriters and
copiers. Mind you, there is nothing new in Jap industry; do you remember
the days when Yamaha, the Grand Piano people, started to make noisy
motor-bikes, or was it –vice-versa? Nothing wrong with the system of
course. By diversifying, plenty of experience can be gained as well as
risking profits.
Eric Weatherill writes (in contrast). "I
have sunk my pocket money in a new camera with programmed mode and it’s
own strong oppinion about the correct exposure. After years of making
the camera do as I tell it. I can now leave it to sort itself out, Quite a
traumatic experience at first - helplessness is the best word for it. Now,
after several reels of beautifully exposed transparencies, far more evenly
exposed than I have ever achieved manually. I am tending to rely on it
with more and more confidence that it can do the job better than I can. Is
this called abdicating one’s responsibilities”?