3 Tech Brands Owned By Fujifilm

VGV MEDIA/Shutterstock Add SlashGear on Google: Preferred Source Google Discover For those of us who love the look of old-school photography, it’s a bit disheartening to see the modern state of film production. For motion picture film, Kodak is basically the only name in the game. At least in film photography, there’s a bit more to choose from, though Kodak is still the industry leader. The photography market still happens to include Fujifilm, which has historically been the second-biggest manufacturer of film in the world.

The Japanese company started all the way back in 1934, where its sole purpose was to produce film. It still does that, but its selection of different film stocks has dramatically shrunk from what it used to offer. Currently, it only offers two different consumer-friendly stocks, both of which are color negative stocks. For professionals, things are a tad better with four stocks in both 35mm and medium formats, but none of them are color negative stocks, which is incredibly odd. Even odder is that three of the four stocks are color reversal, giving photographers a single black and white stock to work with.

If it’s not obvious, film isn’t really near the top of the company’s priorities anymore, despite its history. Instead, Fujifilm has spread itself far and wide in the kinds of products it offers. Most of what it makes still relates to photography in some way, but it’s certainly adapted to the modern digital age for the majority of it. Many of these products are released under the main Fujifilm name, but others are released under brand names owned by Fujifilm. Here, we’re going to look at the three major brands owned and operated by Fujifilm and explore what each one produces.

Fujifilm Fujifilm has a ton of cameras that bear the Fujifilm name right up front, but the company does have a separate brand of cameras that get to be their own thing. That would be Instax. Fujifilm first established Instax back in 1998, and since then, it’s been the company’s brand for a variety of instant photo cameras. This is where you take a picture, and the camera instantly prints out it out. Polaroid is the company probably best known for these types of cameras, but Instax puts up a good fight and has a couple of instant cameras well worth your money.

While instant photo prints are Instax’s bread and butter, the brand actually offers a few different types of cameras. Primarily, it’s the traditional, analog instant cameras. There are four different mini cameras for small printouts, two larger square models for the most traditional instant photo size and shape, and then one wide camera for the added size. Then, it also has something called a hybrid camera. These are actually digital cameras with an LCD viewfinder that still let you print out a copy of your photo straight from the camera. You can also connect these cameras via Bluetooth with your smartphone to edit photos, save them to your digital library, or print photos from your phone through your camera.

Instax also offers one full-on digital camera that can connect with one of the brand’s designated printers. If all you just want to take photos on your phone but still want them printed, you can get a mini, square, or wide Instax printer to do just that. So, if you don’t need your prints instantaneously, you can always get them later.

Fujifilm All the way back in 1984, Spectra was founded in Lebanon, New Hampshire. This was a company putting all of its focus into developing piezoelectric drop-on-demand inkjet printheads, which was a newer technology in the early 1980s. Nowadays, these kinds of printheads are all over our modern inkjet printers. As the use for these machines evolved into servicing people turning digital products into physical material, Spectra renamed itself Dimatix in 2005, meaning “digital materials transfer.” One year later, the company was acquired by Fujifilm, and rather than be given a name like Fujifilm Print Solutions, it’s now known as Fujifilm Dimatix.

To this day, this brand is still cranking out inkjet printheads. They’re not just used for standard printed material either. These printheads are in printers for textile printing, industrial applications, and wide format graphics. Fujifilm Dimatix has a variety of different printhead lines for these applications. The Samba line handles everything from commercial print to textiles to UV labels. Skyfire printheads can be used with a wide variety of different inks. Various Starfire printheads can be used for ceramics, textiles, or decorating. Dimatix has three Q-Class printhead lines — Emerald, Sapphire, and Polaris — that are primarily used for architectural or industrial purposes. The Galaxy and Nova lines are great for wide format graphics and packaging. There are also the S-Class printheads, which are high performance models that can handle anywhere from 450 to 900 dpi.

Lastly, there’s the Dimatix Materials Printer. This is a printer designed for testing various fluids for finding new ways to print. Fujifilm Dimatix is one of the top inkjet printhead companies in the world, and it shows no signs of slowing down.

Sonosite Not everybody who is need of an ultrasound is in an optimal situation where they can visit their local hospital or medical facility. Most notably, there are people in the military who are wounded in battle and need immediate trauma care. Having a portable ultrasound device allows doctors to perform point-of-care ultrasounds (POCUS) that could be life-saving. That’s where a company like Sonosite comes into play. It began as a product line in the 1980s under the parent company ATL Ultrasound before being made its own company in 1998, and it was created with the specific intention of developing a battlefield-ready ultrasound that weighed fewer than 10 pounds.

Sonosite remained its own company until 2012, when it was formally acquired by Fujifilm to be renamed Fujifilm Sonosite. While POCUS in a battle zone was its initial focus, Sonosite has expanded to be the industry leader of POCUS in hospitals as well. As it turns out, having portability is still an asset within the building of a hospital as well. Sonosite currently produces five different ultrasounds. The Sonosite MT is the model that harkens to the company’s original mission for maximum portability. For vascular access with a wireless transducer, there’s the Sonosite iLOOK. The Sonosite LX has an incredibly high frequency range for detailing you might not get in other ultrasounds, while the Sonosite PX is a pretty flexible option that can be used in many different settings. Then there’s the Sonosite ST Pro, which comes with a giant, easy-to-read touch screen for ultimate clarity for the patient. If there’s a situation where an ultrasound is needed, Fujifilm Sonosite probably has one that’ll work.