However, most of us who are arguing the other side of this are not mass consumers, we are decicated serious photographers. You never see our serious work in your lab. Never have, never will. We are not your customers, never have been (except for our snapshots, where we too are mass consumers). We are not abandoning film at the rates you are seeing in the mass consumer market. Mass consumers are fickle, always have been, always will be. A cheaper, better, or more popular product comes along and you, sir, are out of business. Even from my point of view a $100 digital works better for snapshots than a $100 point&shoot camera.
Consider this, when the Simon brothers started making Omega elargers their production was 10 units a month. Now no MBA us going to have anything to do with something like that unless they figure they can sell them for 1000% profit. Hell, they have to make at least enough to pay their own 6 figure salary. All major corporations today are run by MBA's. But there are still folks like Rutan out there in the world, to whom the adventure is more important than the money (See, those Space Ship One threads were on topic).
Here is a bit of a poll: How many of the folks on this list who have been into photography as a serious hobby for 5-10 or more years, and for whom it still is a serious hobby have 100% abandoned film?
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William Robb wrote:
It's not just my market. The PDML isn't the only group of people I talk to. I work in the photo finishing industry, and have contacts in the industry outside my market area. Everyone is down. My lab is doing remarkeably well at 50% down. Some are down more.
Wish what you like, But daily, there are more people using digital cameras, and fewer using film. Ignore the numbers if you like, but they are there, and they don't lie. The camera makers are cutting back on film camera production. The film makers are announcing cuts in film R&D and production. Photo labs are processing less film. What part of this don't you get?
William Robb
-- graywolf http://graywolfphoto.com/graywolf.html
