Consumers are heading back to retro and brands who had the hot gear from the past, are reaping the benefit, no more so than in the image capture and display market with both Kodak and Fuji Film set to roll out modern versions of popular retro products.
Fujifilm Holdings aims to grow sales in its Instax instant camera business to US $1.01 billion next fiscal year, more than triple the level 10 years ago, by building on its Gen Z fan base.
At the same time Kodak after an almost 40-year hiatus, is bringing back the Super 8 camera which has been described in the past by the likes of Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Patty Jenkins and Steven McQueen all great movie directors as delivering a “great cinematic” experience.
Of course, Kodak has rolled out several key upgrades in its 21st century version of Super 8 Camera, including a 4-inch vari-angle LCD screen and ‘Extended Gate’ video recording. But don’t get your hopes up yet as the gear is set to cost over A$7,000.
The Kodak Super 8 Camera has boxy form factor, C-mount interchangeable lens (it comes with a 6mm 1:1.2 lens which is a full-frame equivalent 35mm lens approximately and will work with any C-Mount lens), plus pistol grip and top handle.
Today the big difference is the introduction of a 4-inch LCD vari-angle screen that allow users to compose a scene.
You will also be able to see aspect ratios using an overlay, navigate menus, and see camera settings.
It’ll record audio via a 3.5mm input onto an SD card (and you can monitor audio levels on the LCD).
As for the Fuji Film offering Instax sales are targeted to grow roughly 15% for the financial year ending March 2025 compared with fiscal 2022. This would mark the fourth straight year of record-breaking revenue for the product.
According to Niki Asia Fujifilm has seen demand increase from a younger generation that has been drawn to the retro novelty of taking one-of-kind snapshots that they develop before their eyes.
The company looks to grow sales by releasing new Instax models and wireless photo printers for smartphones.
Fujifilm is also expanding capacity to manufacture film, providing a continuous revenue source after cameras are sold.
“We’re in a situation where supplies are not keeping up,” said Fujifilm President Teiichi Goto.
Tens of millions of Instax cameras are in use around the world, taking roughly 1 billion photos each year, Fujifilm estimates. Trillions of pictures are believed to be taken with phones annually, creating what the company sees as a wide margin of untapped demand for printed photos.
To capture that demand, Fujifilm expanded the Instax marketing team roughly fivefold over the past 10 years, staffing it mostly with people in their 20s. For product development, the company surveyed thousands of people.
Operating profit in Fujifilm’s imaging segment is expected to grow 21% for the year ending March 2024.
The Instax business contributes tens of billions of yen in operating profit to this segment. It also has the highest operating profit margin across the group, at about 20%.
The high-end Instax Mini Evo, launched in December 2021, continues to be popular, with sales doubling on the year from April to September two years after its release.
Young people have driven this growth. The delayed reveal of the photographs and the analogue feel help create an emotional connection with the cameras, consumer analysts say.
“The more efficient society becomes, the stronger the reactionary shift towards low-tech things that are less efficient but allow people to enjoy their own unique experiences,” said Keigo Bove, a youth research leader at marketing company Hakuhodo.
