Konica-Minolta is no more. Konica-Minolta withdraws from Camera and Photo business. Probably the most unexpected news pre-PMA that is. I mean most people are speculating what Canon will do to replace the EOS-20D and this comes in from the left field… Looks like Sony’s coming and it’s sure to shake every manufacturer up… pretty big shake too I’d expect.

Over a year ago, I wrote this (about film’s impending demise) while searching for a camera (film that is) for a friend. A year later, it was becoming really true. While Kodak stopped making it’s hallmark Kodachrome film in 2003, 2005 saw most of it’s film production grind to a halt. Fuji too. By the anniversary of that post, major manufacturers (like Konica-Minolta and Canon) were already cutting back production of film cameras (Nikon followed in early Jan 2006). By end of 2005, all major camera manufacturers had digital cameras in their lineup and that film cameras contributed negligible amounts to their revenues (like a few percentage points). With PMA 2006 coming soon, the end is finally in sight. With traditional film holdovers like Leica and Hasselblad moving over, 2006 is the digital year, of course I still think 2007 is the full-frame affordable DSLR year (by affordable I mean 20D pricing of course).