”Cosmetic product development had a lot more in common with films than we had thought,” said Yoshisada Nakamura, a senior research manager at Fujifilm Corp., an established manufacturer of cameras and other imaging and information technology products.

”The technology employed to keep films from deteriorating is similar to a method of slowing the aging of skin,” he said in a recent interview about collagen, a key substance used to create both films and some cosmetics products.

Fujifilm, a unit of Fujifilm Holdings Corp., is among those non-cosmetics companies that have ventured into the cosmetics market in an attempt to diversify their sources of revenue.

Some are posing a threat to conventional manufacturers by taking advantage of their strong name recognition, as well as employing the expertise they have built up in their mainline businesses for creating skin care and makeup products.

Others, however, appear to be struggling to penetrate the domestic market where such big-name brand companies as Shiseido Co., Kanebo Cosmetics Inc. and Kose Corp. have a solid presence.

Fujifilm decided to move into cosmetics because it anticipated that the market for camera film would shrink as consumers shift to digital cameras.

Initially, some even within the Tokyo-based company questioned the wisdom of building a cosmetics unit. But its Astalift line of brand products based on know-how developed in photo film research has proved to be a revenue generator, due also in part to its advertisements featuring Japanese pop singers Seiko Matsuda and Miyuki Nakajima.

Japan’s cosmetics market is worth an estimated 2.2 trillion yen (about $26.16 billion) per year, according to research company Fuji-Keizai Group. ”Unlike foods and other industries, cosmetics offer relatively high profit margins, an incentive for aggressive attempts to make new entries,” said Tomoyuki Yamazumi, analyst and manager of the group’s Tokyo marketing division.

While Fujifilm does not publish exactly how much it is earning from its skincare products, a company official said sales in the division in fiscal 2009 more than doubled from a year earlier.

Widely known for its eye-drop products, Rohto Pharmaceutical Co. released a line of skin care products under the Hadalabo brand in 2004, and they have since proved to be a major hit.

Behind the success appears to be its policy of pricing much lower skincare lotions and other products sold at high prices by conventional manufacturers. On top of that, ”We had a thorough knowledge of how the marketing channels using drugstores works,” a public relations official at Rohto said.

The Osaka-based company’s cosmetics sales hit 10.6 billion yen in the 2009 business year, topping the 10 billion yen threshold deemed to be a measure of success in the cosmetics market.

Kose Presdient Kazutoshi Kobayashi concedes new entrants’ presence has come to be felt in the market, saying, ”They exert considerable influence in some cosmetics products.”

Not all companies, however, are scoring success. Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. started selling its InnerSignal line of women’s cosmetics apparently to counter Shiseido and other conventional players in the market. They are sold at high-end shops such as Mitsukoshi Department Store’s flagship Nihonbashi outlet in Tokyo.

Its beauty essence serum, for instance, sells for 10,500 yen ($125), for a 30-milliliter bottle, matching those of similar products offered by established manufacturers.

The Tokyo-based company does not release earnings data for cosmetics products but an industry source said that it ”is strongly associated with Oronamin C Drink and other (mass-market) products and has been unable to communicate to consumers the benefits of its (upmarket) cosmetics products.”

Otsuka officials said they are planning to continue efforts to penetrate the market.