Who will buy conventional camera?

Yes, I know, but I was still getting garbage back from Kodak at least half the time.

Capital Man said:

Minilabs using new technologies (digital technologies actually!)
are bringing better 4x6 prints to the masses, but I don't think
this will benefit the serious photographer much.

There have bee slow but steady improvements in film emulsuions
during the last 30 years. The new Kodak Royal Gold 200 has better
quality than much slower film from thirty years ago.

Click to expand...

--
Bob
D60, CP5700, CP4500

I know film isn't dead, not by a long shot. Still, the fact that digital has taken over half the market in a few short years is cause for pause. Don't you think?

Capital Man said:

Nevertheless, last year there were twice as many film cameras sold
in the United States as digital cameras. I don't know how that's
panning out this year.

Once again, I have issue with people who yell "film is dead" when
there is no indication that sales of film and film cameras are
decreasing.

Click to expand...

--
Bob
D60, CP5700, CP4500

Capital Man said:

Last year, about 15 million film cameras were sold in the United
States, but only half as many digital cameras.

Click to expand...

So let's see. We've only had halfway decent consumer digital cameras (1.5MP+) for what? 3-4 years now?

And last year, given those numbers, ONLY a third of all cameras sold were digital.

So if we extrapolate that growth rate, in roughly 6 years almost all cameras sold will be digital...

So my grandmother sticks the little card into her $200 camera, turns it on, and take pictures until the camera says "full".

She takes out the little card and gives it to the nice man at the store.

An hour later he gives her back her card (empty and ready to use again), her prints, and a cd of "negatives" (should she want more prints).

She then shows her pictures to her friends over lunch.

No computers, no printers, no photoshop, no profiles.

And she never, ever has to buy another little yellow (or green) box of film again.

This will be too complex for "who" to use?

Actually Granny can do that today with a $200 2 meg camera.

If she wishes to save a little money she can take a quick look at the shots on screen and select those that she wants printed. Real simple "Yes/No Next" type stuff.

In two to three years she will probably be able to buy a 2+ meg camera for less than $100.

She'll slip the card in a slot when she enters the grocery card, wait a minute or two while the files are copied, remove the card, do her shopping and pick up the prints on the way out the door (having paid for them along with her groceries).

Michael Long said:

So my grandmother sticks the little card into her $200 camera,
turns it on, and take pictures until the camera says "full".

She takes out the little card and gives it to the nice man at the
store.

An hour later he gives her back her card (empty and ready to use
again), her prints, and a cd of "negatives" (should she want more
prints).

She then shows her pictures to her friends over lunch.

No computers, no printers, no photoshop, no profiles.

And she never, ever has to buy another little yellow (or green) box
of film again.

This will be too complex for "who" to use?

Click to expand...

--
bob
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
New Gallery - Nat (Spirit) Festival in Myanmar
pictures from Thailand, Myanmar(Burma), and Nepal

Capital Man said:

Once again, I have issue with people who yell "film is dead" when
there is no indication that sales of film and film cameras are
decreasing.

Click to expand...

Pure inertia. A billion dollar industry and infrastructure just doesn't die in a day or two.

Years ago my dad had an 8mm movie camera that came out for birthdays and the like. Lot's of families had them.

And I'm sure that when video cameras appeared on the scene, people trotted out the same arguments: film's better, quality sucks, too expensive, too complex, requires a habit change, and so forth.

But video had almost the same advantages: instant results, resuable media, no more processing, no more film.

Today I, as a consumer, can buy 8mm cameras, 8mm film, and have it processed -- where?

Michael Long said:

Pure inertia. A billion dollar industry and infrastructure just
doesn't die in a day or two.

Years ago my dad had an 8mm movie camera that came out for
birthdays and the like. Lot's of families had them.

And I'm sure that when video cameras appeared on the scene, people
trotted out the same arguments: film's better, quality sucks, too
expensive, too complex, requires a habit change, and so forth.

But video had almost the same advantages: instant results, resuable
media, no more processing, no more film.

Today I, as a consumer, can buy 8mm cameras, 8mm film, and have it
processed -- where?

Click to expand...

For motion pictures, video killed film for home use because film was so expensive. Pure economics. A two minute roll of 8mm film cost quite bit of money to get developed. Video cameras allowed hours and hours of taping for free. It wasn't just a matter of video being a little less expensive. It was a LOT less expensive. Furthermore, the 8mm movie camera my dad had didn't have any sound. A big disadvantage.

The advantage of old movie film: it was only two minutes. Now that video is cheap, people take hour long videotapes of extremely boring events. Yuck! Give me those two minute films back.

Now, bad to digital still cameras vs film still cameras. The digital can cost less in the long fun if one is only interested in viewing on the computer screen. Slides cost less than prints if people only wanted to view the slides on a slide projector, but slide film died out because it was discovered that no one wants to watch a slide show, but they'll look at some prints you show them.

There is no cost advantage to digital if you want prints. Just the oppostie from fact, 4x6 prints from film are cheaper.

Now some here will point out that the advnatage of digital is that you can delete an not print the bad ones. But few non-serious "photographers' think that way. It's obvious that anyone using a disposable camera doesn't care enough about quality to edit his photographs.