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Thread: Camera Bellows from England ceased trading

  1. #31
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: Camera Bellows from England ceased trading

    What a shame. I do hope they come back, as they are my favorite bellows makers by a long shot.

  2. #32

    Re: Camera Bellows from England ceased trading

    Quote Originally Posted by GPS View Post
    Wow, one must wonder over this logic too, indeed.
    Not that difficult to grasp really. Camera Bellows was in business to produce bellows. A decision was made to cease operations by someone that had the legal authority to do so - ie. the owners. We do not know not does it really matter who did it or why they did it. At the end of the day it is old news.

    The only thing that matters is six months from now is a succeeding entity going to be in a position to produce new bellows?

  3. #33

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    Re: Camera Bellows from England ceased trading

    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Kadillak View Post
    ...

    Camera Bellows was in business to produce bellows. A decision was made to cease operations by someone that had the legal authority to do so - ie. the owners. We do not know not does it really matter who did it or why they did it. At the end of the day it is old news.

    ...
    After the great logic comes the great wisdom?
    By the way, it does matter who did it or why they did it because on these facts can also depend the survival...

  4. #34

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    Re: Camera Bellows from England ceased trading

    Quote Originally Posted by Tracy Storer View Post
    Keith Lowe of CB accepted my offer to post info. In spite of CB being closed down by their parent company (PANAVISION) He and Tony will be trying to get back up and running in a couple months. They were in the black, just not making enough for the guys in suits how many layers up the food chain.
    Tracy, I'm interested. Does he have an email, so that we can track his progress? I'll send him encouragement and an order. He was the person who did such a great job on a bag bellows for an older Arca 6x9 that I have.

  5. #35
    IanG's Avatar
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    Re: Camera Bellows from England ceased trading

    The position of Camera Bellows is similar in many ways to that of Taylor, Taylor Hobson a few years ago when they were owned by Rank. A large company with little understanding of the subsidiaries quite different market.

    Luckily for Cooke Optics, Rank sold off Taylor,Taylor Hobson and they in turn let Cooke separate.

    Camera Bellows have not been so lucky, but the UK has a tradition of new businesses rising from the ashes of closurers.

    No camera bellows company is ever going to be as profitable as Glanvill/Camera Bellows in it's heyday, but that was also Kodak's heyday as a camera manufacturer, and both are well in the past. But there's still a good profitable business making the worlds best camera bellows as long as the company is small & flexible.

    Comparing other Manufacturers to Camera Bellows is like comparing an Argus Brick to a Leica, both make images

    Ian

  6. #36

    Re: Camera Bellows from England ceased trading

    Quote Originally Posted by wfwhitaker View Post
    This morning I spoke with a gentleman named Tony Eaton at Camera Bellows. I don't know Tony's capacity with the company, but he was the person I was directed to when I first asked about what was going on. Apparently there is a great deal of legal wrangling and for whatever reasons Camera Bellows is ceasing business. Why this has been so secretive is beyond me. But Tony was very quick to say that there are plans to have Camera Bellows back up and running in early 2009. At this point about all we can do is hope for the best. But at least there are people involved with the company who are interested in its continuation.
    Hi. Tony Eaton will continue to trade under the new name "Custom Bellows" Please visit www.custombellows.co.uk for more info. James.

  7. #37

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    Re: Camera Bellows from England ceased trading

    Quote Originally Posted by Vivid-Vision View Post
    Hi. Tony Eaton will continue to trade under the new name "Custom Bellows" Please visit www.custombellows.co.uk for more info. James.
    Great and good news. The Custom Bellows seems like a genetic clone of the Camera Bellows...

  8. #38
    wfwhitaker
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    Re: Camera Bellows from England ceased trading

    I love it when a post of mine gets quoted in the context of good news and man, that's GOOD news!
    Last edited by wfwhitaker; 10-Dec-2008 at 19:09.

  9. #39

    Re: Camera Bellows from England ceased trading

    When you make specialty products for small markets and do make a profit from them you should stay in business or sell to someone who will do so. Doesn't matter if it is pencils, bellows, photo paper or condoms. You have a built in customer base and a steady profit in that area. Cutting it is wrong.
    You can call it wrong or a green or anything you want but in a free market it is precisely what makes this country great. Every day business capital is constantly pursuing the optimal place for it to go to work. Very simplistically when those that are taking the business risk realize a return less than the expectation they solely placed upon the business, they have the right at any time to throw the cards into the center of the table and walk away. If the business was started with the expectation that they could make a return of 40% and are only making 20%, irrespective of what you may derive as your position as a Monday morning quarterback they have a failed business plan. Anyone that says that it is wrong that the business owners "screwed" the customer by closing and should be more than happy with a more "reasonable" return of investment needs to have their economic valves adjusted. From an academically perspective that is not how business in a free market economy has worked from day one.

    You may not like it but here is the beauty of the system. When a product leaves the market it presents a fabulous opportunity for someone to fill this void in the market should they not have as high an expectation as the initial party that is leaving said business.

    But when the void in the market remains market forces deductively tell us that it is highly likely that there is not longer a viable market for this product.

    Before you get all worked up over this remember a couple of things. One. Nobody has access to the corporate balance sheet for any business so saying that they are "making a reasonable" profit is complete speculation. Fact is you do not have a clue as to real monetary viability let along profit. Second. Market participants in the private or public sector need to have the ability to enter and exit as they see fit for any reason or no reason at all. That is their unalieable legal right. I own my own business and this is something that I take very seriously. Can you imagine a business owner being told that they need to accept an 8% ROR because closing their doors is wrong. You will be quickly told to either purchase the enterprise or shut the &#%@ up.

    I stand by my earlier position to not take it personal - it is just business. And as we all know sometimes business SUCKS. If you want to feel warm and cuddly - buy a puppy.

    Cheers!

  10. #40

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    Re: Camera Bellows from England ceased trading

    Thread is closed.

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