Editors and designers here, long suspicious of digital as being reproduction quality (probably because people constantly send them stuff at 72 dpi) were placated by the three photos the photo director had out on the table -- 11 x 14 digital prints of a detailed still life, taken with 35mm, medium format, and the new digital camera ... people were asked to guess which was which. The digital was far more detailed and nuanced than the 35mm, and the medium format shot was perhaps a tad sharper than the digital, but it was about as fine a distinction as could be made by eye at this size. The photo director said film's only edge (for them, at this point) is its better handling of specular highlights (bright spots with virtually no data, or all white, and how they transition to some data as the color and detail comes back).
I don't know how much film the photo department uses, but they won't be buying much of it any more.
Joe
Kodak braces for film's fade
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/biznews/07246A1A3QC_ek24_business.shtml
"Photographic film, the product that helped create both a city and a company, is heading for the fate of the American elm tree, white gloves, enclosed phone booths, slide rules, carbon paper and other pieces of vanishing Americana."
"Rochester�s largest employer acknowledged publicly for the first time Wednesday that film � its franchise for more than a century � is headed into a slow and lengthy decline, at least in the United States."
"Kodak indicated that consumers were switching to digital cameras at a faster rate than expected and reducing their use of roll film accordingly � by 8 to 10 percent this year and more in coming years."
-- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
