on 12/8/03 3:50 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >> No, it's not dead, just seriously, but not critically, ill. > > Sadly, I do think it is critically ill. The next few years will be most > interesting. > One of the local office suppliers has a 3.1 MP camera for CAN $149.00. > Granted, it doesn't have a zoom lens, but sheesh, thats cheap. > People talk about a solid market for film, but if this digital is this > inexpensive this early in its market penetration, film doesn't stand a > chance.
I cannot believe I'm jumping into this discussion. Forgive me for butting in. :-) Anyway, I think it is too easy to forget a very real fact here... As long as there are people like my parents, I don't think film will die. Or stated another way, until digital can be done more conveniently and _without_ a computer, I don't think that film will die, or even be severely wounded by digital. My parents won't ever touch a digital camera. Not because they don't own or use a computer--they do. But they barely know how to use it. They get email, send email, write letters, and occasionally browse the internet. But they will never do digital photography. Not only that, but there are tons of people--yes, even in the US--who don't own computers, or who don't want to be bothered learning how to use the necessary software to deal with digital photography. Until the labs can truly make it convenient to deal with digital--and it will have to be the labs-- I don't see film dying. Here is a question. If somebody doesn't have a computer, what will he use as a "negative"? I mean, a print is nice, but most people want the negatives--at least most people I know, and sometimes they actually _use_ those negatives. :-) As I see it, far more people use cameras than use computers. (Although, please correct me if I'm wrong.) :-) But as long as people want a simple, non-computerized interface for dealing with photos/snapshots, etc., film will not go away. It may not be the highest quality, but I believe it will hang around, and even be lucrative for quite some time. Of course, if the labs did find a way for dealing with the computer aspect of digital, then I could see film going the way of the dinosaur very quickly, but without that crucial element, I don't see film going away... And then there is also that element--namely people who will not go digital, not because it's not better, but _precisely_ because it is new! I like film. I enjoy film. I don't really want to go digital. Having said that, I hope to purchase just this week a (shhhh, don't listen) Canon PS A60. :-) And I may find that my Program Plus and gear are suddenly unwanted... I hope not, but who knows... I do know this, my parents, who shoot a lot of film, are not going digital--and they are not alone. My two groszy worth... -- -Jon Glass Krakow, Poland <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "[The] law established by the Creator, which has existed from the beginning, extends over the whole globe, is everywhere and at all times binding upon mankind. . . . and is paramount to all human control." --Rufus King, signer of the Constitution
