----- Original Message ----- From: "J. C. O'Connell" Subject: RE: It's over (was Re: Ilford in trouble? and digi snappers)
> NOT TRUE, because you are forgetting something very > important, ARCHIVING. > > With film, you get the negatives as well as the prints. > > With digital you now have the extra work of somehow > transferring the files to hard drive, Cd, or DVD > or some other digital media. That is NOT simple > to someone with little computer literacy and even > to someone who knows what they are doing it is extra > work. So film is the simplest and easiest from a user > standpoint. Not only that, when you delve into the "AUO EVERYTH > ING" mode on cameras, film has the advantage because color > print film, the overwhelming choice of the non-technical > photographers, has much more exposure latitude and hence > room for error than digital. Sure you can see a bad digital > shot on the LCD and shoot again to fix it, but it is going > to take knowledge and time to override the automatic settings, > once again, not simpler than film. I recall a few years back, Mafud saying that a 10 dollar disposable camera was as good as a digital point and shoot WRT image quality. That was true then, and to a great extent, is still true today. I have found that a lot of my digital customers are not interested in archiving their files. Long experience shooting film has taught them that they never use the negatives anyway. For an occasional reprint, the copyprint machines do an OK job, and work from the print rather than the negative. The cost is greater, but the convenience of not having to dig through a box of negatives makes up for it. I have a few customers who are so technically inclined (NOT!!), that they hand their card to me, and have me make them a print of each file then wipe the card for them. This keeps it as easy as film for them, but puts a load on the lab. This is the customer type who should have stayed with film, but got pressured into digital by the continual marketing onslaught that says everything digital is better. Or by a family member. It doesn't matter. William Robb
