Citing the difficulty of remaining competitive in the rapidly changing digital era, Konica Minolta is withdrawing from the camera and photography market. The move followed last year's announcement from Bronica that it was also retiring from the medium-format camera business, terminating a 47-year-old brand.

The surge of worldwide digitization has resulted in a rapid shrinking of the traditional silver halide photographic market, according to Konica management. In such a changing world, profits for camera and photo businesses...

Tamron USA has ceased sales of Bronica ETR-Si, SQ-Ai, SQ-B and GS-1 cameras and accessories in the United States market. Takashi Inoue, the company’s president, cited the advent of digital photography for the decline in medium-format sales. The current sales volume cannot sustain the production of Bronica SLR products, he said.

Tamron will post a list of dealers with substantial Bronica inventory and suggests that photographers contact these dealers to purchase equipment. The Bronica RF645 Medium Format Rangefinder will continue to be...