Digital as APS

When APS first came out a camera shop I frequented said that they were

not going to take in any more point and shoot 35mm cameras. APS was

going to eliminate that market and all his 35mm PS cameras were just

going to be albatrosses around his neck. I guess I should have bought

up his Contaxes and Miniluxes and other high end ps cameras because

while APS has fallen by the wayside those are still commanding top

dollar.

 

 

 

 

I beleive that just as mechanical watches and vinyl lps came

rebounded, film won't go away

 

 

 

 

Chad Hahn

...not the best analogy...

Hmmm...wasn't APS's problem that it was just stupid from the word 'go'? Nobody says digital is stupid.

Digital isn't going away, and furthermore it is going to drive film to extinction. Look at the tobacco industry, which continues to grow and prosper and entrap kids of increasingly younger age despite the fact that the product they sell is lethal to both the consumers and innocent bystanders and despite the fact that the huge health insurance industry is pumping their money to counter it. Digital camera marketing is funded by the multi-trillion-dollar computer industry and the film industry is financially no match to counter it.

<em>I beleive that just as mechanical watches and vinyl lps came rebounded, film won't go away</em>

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You can believe anything if you want to believe hard enough, though that don't make it so.

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I don't think film will go away completely any time soon, but you will slowly see companies drop out of the business, the variety will slowly diminish, prices will slowly climb, availability will slowly become more difficult, and processing less convenient.

<p>

I think the worst-case scenario for 20 years from now is that you'll only have a few choices, you'll order and process it via mail-order, and you'll pay about 2 or 3 times what you do today for both film and processing (not considering inflation). Oh yeah, and for all this extra effort and expense you'll be getting inferior results from what digital will offer you at the time, so you'll just be an irrational old codger clinging to the past out of nostalgia.

<p>

If your concern is less along the lines of "will I still be able to use my Leicas", and more along the lines of "will the thousands of dollars I sank into my Leica kit slowly evaporate in value", then you may have a more pressing concern over the next 5 years or so, unless your stuff is in pristine superficial condition and will interest fondlers.

<p>

-harry

<i>you'll just be an irrational old codger clinging to the past out of nostalgia</i>.

 

<p>Harry, have we met? You sound like you know me... :)

I shoot APS (only in panoramic). I haven't found any cheaper way to get 4x10 prints. I have an APS SLR so I can use my decent Nikon glass.

"Digital camera marketing is funded by the multi-trillion-dollar computer industry and the film industry is financially no match to counter it."

 

APS was funded by all the major camera and film companies.

 

I'm not saying that digital isn't here to stay, and I'm not saying that it isn't useful. I just don't think that it will elimate film. They said that the internet would kill books and magazines, but that hasn't happened yet.

 

Chad Hahn

If film goes the way of the DoDo you can still buy chemicals from Sigma (for the developer ~ and I read once that Jeff Dunas makes all his own home brew developers) and a good supply of egg whites and silver nitrate should keep you in glass plates for quite some time.

 

Photography will go back to its roots for us film zealots. Picasso would approve!