New wave of cameras catches on

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Three surfing buddies from the North Shore went looking for a way to sidestep restrictions on selling one-time-use cameras in the United States and instead stumbled on a new market to get more use out of disposable cameras.

Camera company vice president Dan Ihara, left, and national sales manager Mark Zanetti don't do as much surfing as they did before they joined Snap Sights! Their surfing buddy Joe Ganahl founded the company. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Industry surveys have shown that customers have little interest in buying cheap cameras they have to load themselves. But Snap Sights! has found a growing market for the five pre-loaded cameras it now sells as "reusable" and environmentally friendly.

"Our original goal was to just evade the patent issues," said Joe Ganahl, 44, Snap Sights! founder and owner. "We needed to avoid the term 'single use.' Then it turned out that we hit on another niche."

Snap Sights! top camera comes with a flash and is guaranteed waterproof to 85 feet, although Snap Sights! officials say the housing has held tight at 200 feet. It costs just $12 to $25, depending on the retailer, and has gotten positive reviews in consumer-oriented, scuba industry magazines.

But Snap Sights! 15-foot-rated camera sells nearly twice as well than the more expensive model at the military exchange at the Hale Koa Hotel, where it goes for $8.99.

The exchange sells 42 of the $8.99 cameras per week "and we were out of stock for a couple of weeks," said store manager Tracy Weedin.

Less expensive one-time underwater cameras made by other companies don't sell nearly as well as at the exchange as Snap Sight!, Weedin said.

At the Mililani Wal-Mart, customers come in to have their film developed from what they think is their single-use Snap Sights! camera. Then the Wal-Mart clerks explain that the camera can be reloaded with regular 35 mm film.

"People don't even know they're reusable until they come back," said photo manager Pua Conte. "Then they're even more excited. (Snap Sights!) are actually very popular. They sell really, really well."

Joe Ganahl has been selling plastic, disposable cameras made in China since 1995, trying to find a place among the two giants of the industry, Kodak and Fuji.

At first he customized the packaging and cardboard that wraps around the cameras for hotels, corporations and various other groups from Hawai'i and as far away as Florida.

"The idea was, 'Here's a piece of paper. We can print anything on it and get rich quick and live happily ever after,' " Ganahl said. "None of that happened. It was real labor intensive. Instead of customizing cameras for a lot of different people, I needed to figure out how to sell the same camera to a lot of different people."

By 1998, Snap Sights! began offering disposable underwater cameras that caught on with Hawai'i tourists. The cameras now can be found on every island, from K-Mart to 7-Eleven, Chevron to ABC Stores, and in more than 40 countries, from Russia to Egypt to Australia.

Since 1998, Snap Sights! sales have steadily grown by at least 20 percent each year, the company said, although it would not disclose its annual sales.

As the market for disposable cameras grew around the globe, Fuji began exercising its patent rights against the competition. In March, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey awarded Fuji USA's parent, Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd. of Japan, a judgment of nearly $23 million against Jazz Photo Corp. and Jazz Photo (Hong Kong) Ltd. Jazz Photo also was ordered to pay $7 million for the period from 1995 through August 2001, when it sold its one-time use cameras.

By then Ganahl and his surfing friends Dan Ihara, 39, and Mark Zanetti, 42, were out of the disposable camera business, having switched to their reusable product.

The company has only seven employees but last year moved into a 7,700-square-foot building in Mapunapuna.

Even though Snap Sights! sells cameras around the world and hopes to open up new markets, "we're definitely a local company," said Ihara, the company's vice president who likes to snorkel, fish and surf. "Everybody was born and raised here."

The company also hopes to launch a waterproof MP3 player in the fall that it plans to call H2O Man. The player even can be used while swimming and surfing, Ganahl said.

While the company's focus continues to change, Ganahl, Ihara and Zanetti insist their relationship hasn't.

"It's fun to work with your friends and for your friend," said Zanetti, the company's national sales manager. "The only difference is we don't have as much time to surf."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.