----- Original Message -----
From: "Pål Jensen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2001 3:01 PM
Subject: Re: Digtal is here. Film production to be stopped!
> Gerald wrote:
>
> > I don't buy the CD comparison at all. First, CDs and vinyl
are consumer
> > purchasing pre-recorded information (other's work). Even
20+ years after
> > CDs begin, consumers are still using analog cassettes for
the recording of
> > their own works. Digital cameras are the same way and
cassettes.
>
>
> The point I was trying to make wasn't that there are
similarities between LP's and film, but that a company may
discontinue a product, even if it sells well, in order to force
the consumer over to a more profitable product.
> The more money these companies put into digital, the less they
put into film. They will want this investment back. There are
two ways of doing this: a) Either make the new product massively
appealing and/or b) make the old one less appealing by eg.
increasing its costs, reduce the availability or downright
discontinue it. The history is full of such cases and its a real
danger in the film vs. digital issue.
I suppose what we have to hope for is that film stays
profitable enough to keep making, and that the continued R&D
costs of digital, along with market forces keeps the traditional
film makers from making enough profit on digital stuff to allow
them drop the profitable film manufacturing. This will, of
course, have a deleterious effect on improvements in film
technology in the short term, as companies switch R&D budgets
from film to digital technology.
I submit, that this has already taken place at Kodak. In the
amateur film market, generation 6 films have been available for
nearly twice as long as generation 5 films were available for,
and so far, Kodak seems to be in little hurry to replace them. I
have seen a few samples of generation 7 Max 400 (a marketing
name change from Gold) and once or twice, generation 3 Max 800
(much improved over generation2, but still garbage (IMHO).
Even the green one has been a bit slow with new films lately
in the consumer end.
Hmmm, the sky may be falling after all.
William Robb
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