The development of electronic cameras, which store the image on a disc for later showing on computer or TV screens threaten the ordinary film and camera market.
Fuji has three developments in the pipeline. The first is a magnetic see-through overlay on colour film. The second is a method of showing colour negatives as positives on the TV or computer screen. And the third is much higher resolution film or faster film at the same resolution.
The first two will enable people to call a picture up on their computer screen an encode instructions to the photo shop for reprints, blow-up or cropping. The instructions will be encoded on the magnetic strip.
The computer viewing will enable all the advantages of electronic photography.
The higher resolution and faster film will come in a format known as 235. It may not be compatible with all existing cameras. It will not run on a sproket system, but a cartridge system. Research has shown many users do not like having to feed the tongue of film into the empty spool, and many get annoyed if the film is not properly wound on and no pictures are recorded.
Fuji hopes it will stave off the electronic onslaught until 2000 and allow electronic and film camera to share the market. The managing director of its Australian distributor, Paul Cummings, says the new 235 format has been agreed upon by Fuji, Kodak, Canon, Minolta and Nikon.
The new film, he says, is likely to be used by professionals who need high resolution work as well as amateurs. He likens the predictions of print-free electronic photography to the predictions of the paperless office.