Kodak 'phasing out' low-end digicams, creating 5MP sensor for cameraphone

During the same 24 hours that BenQ called it quits on the digital camera market, Kodak has reportedly had similar thoughts when eying its low-end camera lineup. According to CNET, Kodak President Antonio Perez shared that the firm would be "abandoning the low-end of the digital camera business" at the JPMorgan Technology Conference in Boston. He also added that while the company "wasn't making much money" in that segment, it was developing its own five-megapixel CMOS sensor to be used in a (presumably mid-range) Kodak-branded digicam. More interesting, however, was the addition that this very sensor would also make its way into "several Motorola cell phones by the end of the year." Unsurprisingly, Mr. Perez was fairly tight-lipped about any further details on the deal, but it's about time we saw something more advanced than a grainy 1.3-megapixel shooter built into mainstream handsets.

[humpty @ May 21st 2007 8:48PM]

They left the dslr market a few years back and now the low end. Their prosumer line are jokes and the mid range is fragmented has many good competitors. No one is using their digicam or dslr sensors anymore in any significant quantities.

I give them a couple of years before they fold.

[joe @ May 21st 2007 9:35PM]

I am a Rochester native and it pains me to no end to see what is going on with this company.

This man should be run out of town. No low end? Please, their cameras are almost all low end...the mid gets crushed by the competition and there is no high. Whiskey tango foxtrot is going on in old upstate?

How about their printer they just released? Photolab quality my @ss. More mediocrity. Humpty has it right...these guys are gone or sold in the next 5-10 years...

[drr3761 @ May 29th 2007 1:34PM]

don't knock the picture quality on the new printer. it is very good and DOES have a color gamut greater than an agx print. I love it.

[drr @ May 22nd 2007 2:48PM]

don't knock the new kodak printer. there are many positive reviews (ny times, business week, wallstreet journal, pc magazine). I have one and I love it. The pictures are excellent AND look professional as long as you use real inkjet photo paper.

[Dan @ May 21st 2007 9:41PM]

So, where's the high end Kodak?

[Simon @ May 21st 2007 9:47PM]

My mainstream phone has a 3.2 MP camera, so do many others, and have been > 2 MP+ for a long time now. I cant believe phones are still being made with 1.3 MP cameras?

[Rusty @ May 21st 2007 10:24PM]

I've got a 2.0mp in my phone with auto focus, macro etc.
Takes GREAT snapshots!
Yes, it doesn't come close to my 5.0MP Sony H1, but for a
"simple shooter" it does pretty good.

[kappy @ May 22nd 2007 12:42AM]

I have a 3.2mp cam in my phone, they aren't terribly uncommon, you just can't get them readily from a U.S. carrier. You can check out the shots I've been taking at http://flickr.com/photos/kaplanfx/

-kap

[endless @ May 22nd 2007 2:15AM]

its a shame they botched their high end DSLR stuff so badly.

[Evan @ May 22nd 2007 9:20AM]

Once again, engadget falls for megapixel numbers.

More megapixels does not mean better photos. A professional 3-CDD SDTV video camera is under one megapixel, but is far more "advanced" than any consumer camera and can take images with extremely low noise and superior color definition.

The main problem with consumer cameras are low sensitivity, noise, and poor color. Increasing the resolution isn't going to make better photos, it'll just produce higher resolution versions of the same crappy photos!