William Robb wrote: >If digital becomes both an economiclly viable alternative, and >more importantly, a more convenient way to get prints, then it >would have a good chance to supplant consumer film use.
It's becomming more economically viable every day. Remember when compact disc players cost $1000.00 (in 1983 dollars)? It's already becoming as convenient or more convenient than film for getting prints. Most places than do film prints around here will also do prints from digital memory cards. And I'm in Rochester, NY, home of Kodak. Most of the Kodak employees I know have switched to digital cameras (the fools!) >EPA regulations, now that scares me. That's part of the "economically viable alternative" part of the equation. The first part is (of course) digital getting cheaper. The second part is film getting more expensive and EPA regs will be one driving factor here. Another is the price of minilabs: Printing from memory cards is a lot less expensive than developing negatives or slides as well as making prints. This is a big savings for a photofinisher buying equipment. I expect a lot fewer film minilabs to be sold from now on; old ones will be repaired and kept in service and new purchases will go largely to digital machines. As far as the general public is concerned, digital is *already*: Faster Cooler More fun More versatile Cheaper once you've paid for the camera (*over*paid, in my personal view, but that's me) Here's what I think is bizarre, though: As film photography becomes more of a niche of photography as a whole, those who use film rather than (or in addition to) digital will generally be more the specialist/enthusiast type. Yet as this transition is taking place, the film manufacturers are phasing out their specialty films like Kodak Gold 25 and concentrating on the mass market stuff like Kodak Max 400. Short term thinking at its finest: the films being phased out are the ones with the greatest appeal to those who'll be the only ones using film in the long run. I'm a film lover. I don't *own* a digital camera. But I can read the writing on the wall. -- Mark Roberts www.robertstech.com - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
