Phantomqueen wrote:
<snip> I'm all for BOTH, but I'm not going to ignore the fact that digital is
taking over the larger part of the market.... Film is going to end up
being a niche market 20 years down the road...I think at this point
it's pretty undeniable, and that industry folks who do choose to
ignore it will rue the day....
They'll either have to adapt or go under....<snip>
While I agree with most of what you said in your e-mail, it may actually be that attitude that keeps them alive.......IF they can survive the next 5 years. My theory (and you can say you heard it here first) is in 4-5 years, if the drug store and big box 1hr labs can't figure out how to get more people to print more of their digital prints (I think the current consensus is that less then 5% of all digital prints make it to paper in all forms. WW and others, correct me if I'm wrong here) they will start pulling out labs. While still profitable it is a high demand, high headache department. Once the profit gets too slim, they will replace it with something else. So, my guess is that in 5 years there will be a drastic drop off in the number of places you will be able to get any processing, film or digital done. A store with good quality film processing if they are in an area with enough film shooters, will probably do well then. The question is will there be enough film shooters in that area to support the lab? Only time will tell.
Futurist in training
Butch
