It was an international brand with profits in the millions, but at the turn of the millennium, Fujifilm was on shaky ground.
Inside the Storm: The life and death battles of global businesses. A rare look behind the closed doors of big global businesses and their fatal decisions, which have defined the financial and political realities of the current century.
Produced by MAKE Productions
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Video “Fujifilm: A Century of Innovation and Survival” was uploaded on 08/06/2025 to Youtube Channel Best Documentary





































This history is fantastic. Thank you Fujifilm for the photography culture commitment, very impressive. I love the Fuji cameras and colors, happy user here.
This documentary never mentions the huge success of Fujifilm’s digital camera business. It only mentions the success of Fuji’s Instax camera (analog technology) but none of the extremely popular digital cameras such as the X and GFX series. In fact the successful transition of Fuji’s film business to digital cameras should have been one of the key parts to this film. Very sloppy journalism.
I think they left out a significant factor in the change from film to digital. It was really the change from paper to "posting" that was the tipping point. People want to share photos and for decades they were shared on paper. When my kids were little in the 1990s, we always ordered multiple prints when developing photos. We used some for our album and send others to family. Once it was easy to post digital photos on Facebook and other photo-sharing sites, paper became obsolete more than simply the film itself.
I watched the most nonsense channel
What is this… I can't afford the ridiculous cost of a camera every year, and I can't believe they're making this kind of documentary
It doesn't have a high-speed press, and at least it's blurry, so it barely fits because it's the latest trend. Have you seen Fujifilm recognized in many camera competitions?
I haven't heard of anything but medium-sized yet
Absolutely fascinating and interesting walkthrough of a significant successful transformation, – appears this presentation is at least 10 years old as the recent camera launches with X-series not mentioned. Maybe a follow up presentation? Thanks.
지들이 라이카인줄 착각하는것들.
Fujifilm faced two crisis, and countered both with their legacy
When photo paper business is going down, they switched to healthcare using their chemical knowledge
When their digital camera market failed to win the market, they look back at their colour profiles and transform them into film simulation, and gain market share even when their price and spec are inferior
No idea how they survive when they can’t keep any stock of their cameras
Fujifilm made a smart move to not to compete in fullframe market. Their X and GFL line of digital cameras successfully differentiated from others in the mirrorless market. However, I wouldn’t say Fujifilm is guardian in film photography as they discontinue many of their favorite film. They mainly only repackage kodak film right now.
fuji now become a company sell egos not technology.
Digitale Fotografie ist nicht vom Himmel gefallen, sondern war ein Prozess im Massenmarkt von rund 10 Jahren.
Inspiring to Say the Least.
Very cool look into Fujifilm. Thank you for an education. As a hobbyist photographer, I am grateful to know that (a) Fujifilm does not rely upon the sales of cameras or film to make the company successful and that (b) they have no intention of abandoning the business of cameras or film. That's a very nice bit of information.
소니 따라가면 가랑이 찢어집니다.
더 이상 기술의 발전은 무의미 합니다. 기존 있는 기술의 퀄리티에 신경쓰세요.
그리고 물량 간당간당하게 뽑아서 단종 놀이 하지 마시고..
X시리즈에 방진방적 좀 넣어라 시발
I was kind hoping for more story, or at least some mention, of the modern/current Fujifilm digital cameras, both medium format and aps-c, the film simulations, etc.. Seems like it would have been worth including.
Would that last longer if we consider the poor customer service support Fujifilm is currently proposing from their repair center in Europe. Close to 5 months now for a X-T3 waiting a basic repair, with NO news and NO update from Fuji despite many ask for a repair status.
If Fujifilm had some kind of customer centricity, this is gone now.
Ho avuto la XT1 ora sono in possesso della XT2, XT3, Due Corpi XT5, il 150 /600. il 5o /140 e altri obbiettivi . Mi manca la XT4, quando me la REGALATE…..
Fujichrome transparency film was the go-to stock once upon a time. Now it's often their digital cameras that lead the way. Kodak's management got it so very wrong. Millions of people must today think 'who the heck is Kodak?'
My childhood was shot on Fuji Film, now the don't even make it…. Bring back Pro 400H and Superia X-Tra 400!
日本では富士フィルムは生き残れない
Not even one minute into the documentary, and you got the foundation to Fujifilm’s success, and why today they are still relevant. “Management isn’t a democracy. It’s a dictatorship….a wise dictatorship.” If you watch Kodak's documentary, it didn't happen the same way.
KODAK turning down the sponsorship for the 1984 Olympics is mind-boggling!!!
This is such a bizarre documentary. Why not talk about Fujis digital cameras. They had a DSLR out in 2000 and yet it rambles on for ten minutes about innovation, then finally tells us they made vitamins and skin cream…. and still not digital cameras!? They even show some of the modern digitals Fuji makes in the B-roll!!
I have been using Fujifilm digital cameras since 2000. They always produce cameras with that take digitals photos with the best colours. But the day I really felt proud to be a Fujifilm cameras user was when I went to the Fujifilm museum next to their HQ nearly 10 yrs ago. I saw the exhibition about their project of saving photos from the 2011 Tsunami. It was so touching! This is really a company run by people with passion!
Thank you for this amazing documentary.
Awesome fuji. Now just make cameras that focus correctly and maybe you will stay in business
With the rise of digital cameras, Fujifilm, Kodak, and Agfa still believed that people would need to print photos. Aside from film, there was a huge business in developing equipment, chemicals, photographic paper… What they couldn't foresee was the emergence of the iPhone and, immediately after, Facebook and Instagram, which now allowed photo sharing without any physical media.
I still take photos with cameras from fifty years ago, using film and developing them in a lab, just like my parents did, or just like I did when I was young. I got fed up with the thousands of photos on my smartphone, which I never looked at, so I went back to my roots and rediscovered the joy that photography brings. Now I combine these legendary cameras with excellent digital cameras from Fujifilm, Canon, Nikon, and Olympus (OMD), especially when I need to recover my finances from the cost of developing so many rolls.
What a fantastic documentary am thank you so much. 👍
Great documentary and kudos to Fujifilm president, the right person at the right time. Sadly this shows only part of the story and does not elaborate on their fantastic line of mirrorless cameras.
One thing that it wasn't mentioned anywhere was yakuza scandal and fuji link with them around the year 2010. (Love fuji anyway, their fuji pan is one of my favorite cameras all time)
makes me proud to shoot FUJIFILM daily
Sampsa Samsila has a voice that after listening to it makes you want to commit suicide.
Because natural resources diminished. They were required to make cellulose, development, paper, chemicals etc. at an higher and higher costs for company and customer. The used chemical wastes had to be disposed of; and somewhere. The BB brained society being dumbed down needed simplistic tech, to fit their deminished brain functions, and capabilities. Digital took care of the decline of humanity, and its environment. Digital compared to film, is so phoney looking. Glass lenses and mirror relex system so, far superior in quality; over plastic lenses. Such a sad ending to photography and most of its accessories. Good luck🎉
fuji: we will keep film alive
also fuji: and by that we mean our main product is now a kodak gold 200 rebadge. plus: stops making eterna, outsources acros, superia only available domestically, 30 bucks a roll at minimum for velvia/provia
eterna in particular is weird to me because so many high end movies are shot on film again, and it's free marketing for kodak every time it happens.