Cotty, Replies to your replies in the body...
Bruce Thursday, December 19, 2002, 1:17:54 PM, you wrote: >>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? C> The advantage is that it's the latest thing. The advantage is that you C> don't have to know diddly squat about digital C> manipulation/printing/computers/anything - you take the snaps (!) just C> like you did before, you drop them into the lab just like you did before, C> and you collect the prints. Just like you did before. The point that didn't come across very well is that around here (Sacramento, CA) the potential buyer is being told that digital is in fact cheaper because they don't have to go to the lab anymore. That is one of two main selling points. The second point is that digital will give them better quality prints. This is really where the education part comes in. If properly instructed, that can be true. In too many stores I hear the salesman just quote the numbers. "In normal mode you can get xxx pictures on the card..." C> Sure, the enthusiasts will take things further. They'll settle down with C> a computer and a printer and they will manipulate and they will print. C> They already do. C> When chemical photography first started anyone doing it was an enthusiast C> - they had to be. Later when someone offered to develop and print as a C> service, well-to-do families could take their own pics and let that C> someone do all the technical stuff. Later still a few tried the technical C> stuff themselves, some took to it, some didn't and went back to leaving C> it to the enthusiasts and professionals. I think the difference here is that I am not talking about enthusiasts, but the average Joe who is just trying to capture some family memories. C> Digital is no different IMO. Relatively speaking, early traditional C> photography cost an arm and a leg in the beginning. Those that can, and C> 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. C> It's happening - I see it a lot. My comment here was sarcastic. They are not being told that it will be more expensive, but rather, cheaper. For those who can handle OS's and files and CD and such, it is a great way to go. But for those who struggle with computers the lab is the best place to take it and then it is not cheaper - not around here anyway. >> >>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. C> I see a lot of people happy with digital P and S, and they know nothing C> about image manipulation, and frankly they don't want to. They *do* know C> how to resize and send a pic over email, but really they just want good C> prints to put in their albums, just like they always have done. I wasn't saying image manipulation, just the ability to download to computer and archive to CD. The ones I am talking about don't even know what a photo editor is, let alone resizing something and don't know how to make an attachment for email. There are probably three broad groups in relationship to digital cameras - very computer competent including image manipulation, comfortable with basic file operations (download, archive, email, etc) and those who are clueless (large group). >>Image handling (time, knowledge, cost) is perhaps the biggest >>stumbling block to widespread use of digital cameras. C> Agreed. Just like it was back in the 18th century (without the digital C> bit ;-) C> Cheers, C> Cotty C> ____________________________________ C> Free UK Macintosh Classified Ads at C> http://www.macads.co.uk/ C> ____________________________________ C> Oh, swipe me! He paints with light! C> http://www.macads.co.uk/snaps/ C> ____________________________________
