Historic photos from the Seagull factory show workers assembling the much sought-after cameras. Photo provided to Shanghai Star

Saving the jia

Photographer captures heavenly locales

During an interview with CNN, Zhang Yimou, the film director famous for his movies Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern, said one of his dreams before he got famous was to have a Seagull camera.

Zhang said his family struggled to give him enough food, but he became crazy for photography at the age of 18, and sold his own blood for money to get his hands on a Seagull camera, which helped him get admitted to the renowned Beijing Film Academy in 1978.

The 1980s was the peak of Seagull cameras popularity, and in 1989 alone, the company's revenue reached 1.5 billion yuan ($244 million), according to Qu.

Between 2004 and 2010, the camera maker experienced a period of downturn, and it became a camera parts producer for Japanese brands.

After ownership restructuring in 2009, the leadership of the company decided to undertake a branding overhaul. More than 100 million yuan was invested into research and development over five years with an 80-plus member team in Shanghai and Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

The time-honored brand launched its first independently developed digital camera, CK 10, on August 15. The new camera model, available in black or brown, is designed for amateur photographers and features several special modes for taking photos such as baby mode, children's mode, family mode and so on.