>One other big fly in the ointment...cost. At least around here, one >of the BIG selling points of digital is that it saves on cost of film >and processing. Having a lab produce prints and a cd is no cheaper >than the current film solution. So where would the advantage be?
The advantage is that it's the latest thing. The advantage is that you don't have to know diddly squat about digital manipulation/printing/computers/anything - you take the snaps (!) just like you did before, you drop them into the lab just like you did before, and you collect the prints. Just like you did before. Sure, the enthusiasts will take things further. They'll settle down with a computer and a printer and they will manipulate and they will print. They already do. When chemical photography first started anyone doing it was an enthusiast - they had to be. Later when someone offered to develop and print as a service, well-to-do families could take their own pics and let that someone do all the technical stuff. Later still a few tried the technical stuff themselves, some took to it, some didn't and went back to leaving it to the enthusiasts and professionals. Digital is no different IMO. Relatively speaking, early traditional photography cost an arm and a leg in the beginning. Those that can, and wanted to, did. Those that didn't, didn't. >"Here consumer, spend 2X-3X more on your digital camera that uses more >batteries so you can get pictures on par with what you currently >get..." I don't think so. It's happening - I see it a lot. > >Right now, those that I see happy with digital (not advanced >hobbyists) are those who are quite computer literate and capable of >off loading the images to disk and burn a CD. My wife loves our >Coolpix 990. We have about 4000 shots on it. I can tell you >emphatically, that if I wasn't around to do all the *dirty work*, that >she would be back shooting film right now. I see a lot of people happy with digital P and S, and they know nothing about image manipulation, and frankly they don't want to. They *do* know how to resize and send a pic over email, but really they just want good prints to put in their albums, just like they always have done. >Image handling (time, knowledge, cost) is perhaps the biggest >stumbling block to widespread use of digital cameras. Agreed. Just like it was back in the 18th century (without the digital bit ;-) Cheers, Cotty ____________________________________ Free UK Macintosh Classified Ads at http://www.macads.co.uk/ ____________________________________ Oh, swipe me! He paints with light! http://www.macads.co.uk/snaps/ ____________________________________
