> Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2004 08:05:13 -0500 > From: "Bill Owens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <pentax-discuss@pdml.net> > Subject: Re: Film is Dying, Chapter 3 > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; > format=flowed; > charset="Windows-1252"; > reply-type=response > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > And, according to our informal count, we sold 74 digital cameras in December > and 8 film cameras. > > Bill
Everyone's GOT a film camera already, and the used market is flooded with them. There's little to push people to buy a BETTER film camera now that digital is looking affordable. I agree, though, that film is waning to a niche market. As digital gets cheaper and better it actually makes more economic sense for the P&S crowd to be buying digital (as well as the WYSIWYG advantages). As digital becomes competitive on quality and convenience grounds, film will only be used by those seeking its unique look and advantages. Nobody has yet come up with a good replacement for slide film for some uses. B&W photography has not died with the advent of color, but it has become a niche thing. One thing that nags the back of my mind is battery power, though. Currently, digital cameras are not cheap enough that people will happily replace their camera in 7 years when you can't get the proprietary LION battery that it came with, and I can't see the companies having any reason to sell batteries for older cameras instead of selling newer cameras. You can get batteries for most older film cameras (they only took a couple of kinds), even the oddballs like the spotmatic, and of course most real cameras don't need batteries anyway. Personally, I've made sure I have a way to power all my DSLRs when I can't get batteries for them any more. Kudos to Pentax for the use of a AA-size battery compartment in the *istD, although I'd love to see a proprietary high-capacity LION battery that fits where the batteries go. DJE
