The Consumer Electronics Show – or CES as everyone calls it – is the world’s biggest event of its kind. Not open to the public, the show gives technology providers the opportunity to showcase their latest products and services to the media, analysts, partners and peers.
This year there’s been an interesting trend in product design, and it’s all about nostalgia. At the top of the retro list is the gorgeous new Kodak Super 8, their first version of this legendary camera since 1992.
Given the ongoing vinyl revival, growth in printed book sales, and the so-called Instagram generation’s love of photo filters, you might ask what took them so long.
With the news that Quentin Tarantino has made his latest movie, the Hateful Eight, available to watch in 70mm at a handful of suitable cinemas in the US, Kodak seems to be having a moment, after their near-death experience a few years ago.
From the Guardian:
The analogue revival is more than a marketing stunt. Just as film-makers such as Abrams, Tarantino and Nolan still prefer to shoot on “real” analogue film, so demand for the audio-visual old-school is rebounding. Alongside Kodak’s new cameras at CES this year, Sony is exhibiting a new record player (a machine for playing vinyl audio discs, younger readers) and Polaroid is exhibiting a new range of instant cameras. Amazon, too, reports that its top-selling camera and audio products this Christmas were a turntable and instant-camera film. All of these products combine analogue “warmth” with digital functionality, which suggests that either the near future won’t be as virtual as some algorithm predicted it would be, or that we’re sick and tired of having new formats continually foisted on us.
Will Kodak reissue new versions of the Brownie and Instamatic next? We hope so!
