Strange. All my non-photographer friends who shoot occasional snaps are more than happy with digital. My kids, who never could be bothered with film, are happily snapping away with digital. They e-mail a lot of pics and print a few. It works for them. Seems to work for almost everyone I know. Mini labs that are counting on a resurgence of film are doomed. Paul
> > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: Re: Hurrah for Shel Disrobing the Emperor > > > > The question that we want the answer to is "What do most of the persons > > in the street want out of photography?" because they way forward for many > > of us will be based on the companies' answer to it. There are quite a few > > answers. Some of those answers lead to dead ends. It will be interesting > > to see what, er, transpires in the next few years. > > It doesn't matter what the person on the street wants. > They will be told what they want by the marketing divisions of the > corporations that make photo equipment. > Consequently, what they want is what is good for big business. > > We are seeing a bit of a bump right now, our film processing is actually up > a little bit. This bodes well. > I am seeing people again who assured me they were done with film and film > processing, bringing film to the lab again. > They have tried digital, and found it to be wanting. > > The camera industry (Canon in this case is the lead spokesman) still wants > to get away from film. They can release product after product based on > exactly the same components, with minor tweaks to the software or cosmetics > to give them a new model. > This, they feel, will keep customers buying. > The problem with this theory is that they have already trained the consumer > to only look at one criteria, and they have already hit somewhat of a brick > wall with improving that criteria at a price point that allows them to keep > pricing where the consumer is comfortable. > > One thing is certain, digital is a big PITA for most consumers. They can't > just point and shoot anymore. They have to think, and they aren't very good > at doing that. > People aren't archiving files, they make a set of prints of the files they > want, and either dump the memory card or forget the files on their hard > drive. > The % of copy prints I make from lab prints that have a file extension on > the back printing is astounding, considering how young this segment of the > industry is. You wouldn't think people would have a chance to lose that many > files. > > Batteries are still an issue with most people, as they can no longer just > buy a battery off the shelf, drop it into their camera and go play for a > year or two. Now, batteries are relatively expensive proprietary items that > require a lot of maintenace. > To a certain extent, cellular phones have gotten them used to having to do > battery maintenace, but it is still one more thing that non technical > consumers can, and will, screw up. > > One downside of digital is that we are losing the ability to make optical > prints. Scanning film to print is the great quality equalizer, as it makes > film look just as bad as consumer digital, sometimes much worse, depending > on how the film scans. Some films scan better than others. > > William Robb > >
