In a letter from Jean-Pierre Beauviala (relayed by Mitch Gross on the CML mailing list), the founder of Aaton tells us that the camera manufacturer will be “taken over by new owners”. Jean-Pierre also confirms the problems with manufacturing the Delta Penelope camera.
Dear friends,
AATON YESTERDAY
Over the last couple of years, Aaton devoted its energy and resources to the development of a new high-end camera, Delta Penelope. The prototype got rave reviews for its crisp but still velvet image structure, and its outstanding chromatic finesse resulting in exceptional skin tones and subtle hues.
The CCD sensor used, though its imaging was excellent in the prototypes, has not allowed us to ensure the same perfomances in industrial production. This is particularly regrettable, since many orders have been placed for the camera.AATON TODAY
Aaton is not closed; the company will be taken over by new owners.
At this stage, finance will not in itself solve the Delta Penelope problem, but it will allow us to continue on other developments (based on Aaton patents) already in the pipeline.AATON TOMORROW
The new Aaton will focus on two new products to start out with:
the CantarX+ audio recorder (the current crop will be maintained), and the D-Minima documentary style reflex-viewfinder digital camera.Many thanks to those who send me their personal “encouragements”
and to those who offered us their dreams about the new Cantar, I think you will love to play/work with it.–jp
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UPDATE
We now know that Jacques Delacoux, the owner of Transvideo, has taken over Aaton.
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