I presume that consumers are intelligent in choosing what they think the best film format for them. 35mm format is the most popular choice which is a balanced design with mobility, choice of lenses, choice of DOF and affordable price. Consumers voted "no" to APS in SLR market although APS did win a lot of market in the compact cameras but now facing distinction due to the birth of its ultimate predator - digital cam. When the price of sensor drops more in a few years time, I think digital camera will evolve in the similar way. DC with APS sized sensor will occupy part of the compact camera market while 35mm is the main choice of serious amateur/semi-pros. Digital back of 645 sensor size will be the dominating force in pro-market. Pixel size in sensor, like grain size in film, should be as small as technically possible. Let's wait and see.
Now, as the price of D-SLR is dropping, we are already seeing cameras like Olympus D-ZLRs being under threat, like their film predecessors. What happened in film will eventually happen in DC. Long lives Darwin's theory of evolution!
Regards,
Henry Chu
20/1/2003
You may well be correct about digital evolution, Henry, but film was never
optimized. An individual inventor working for an obscure German microscope
manufacturer doubled the frame size of 35mm movie film, and we've been stuck
with that size--and the movie film's closely-spaced double row of sprocket
holes, which were _always_ redundant for single-exposure cameras--to this
very day. The open spool and paper backing of 120 film was designed for
indoor use and for substrates that have long since become obsolete. In fact,
virtually the only film size that could be said to be either "designed" or
"evolved" is the least popular--APS--and it was designed to meet the
existing usage parameters of the lowest common denominator consumers.
I fear that I do not have the trust in "intelligent evolution" that you do.
It's just as likely that convention, inertia, compatibility, ignorant
prejudice, and the vested interests of those who wield the most power will
determine the eventual standardization of the technology.
--Mike
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