Limtex, I think you're right about the price cutting. Just need to get people to switch to digital cameras and the rest will take care of itself. Earlier today, my son sent me photos from the Memorial day parade in Middlebury, Vermont, with the grandchildren. I printed them out and made copies for their great grandmother. No way you could do this as fast or as cheap with conventional photos. We are now at the point where a $300 camera with 2.1 mpixel resolution will produce good quality photos of the sort that the average photographer would expect, and decent prints at a cost of about $0.30 - $0.60 per print, depending on size, etc. On a cost basis, the cameras are now fully competitive with conventional cameras, except for the throw away variety, as Eli predicted less than two years ago. Every time a camera is sold with either 8 mb or 16 mb flash cards, it is almost guaranteed that the buyer will shop around for two extras--a flash card with at least 32 mb capacity, but probably higher, given the current prices; and a set of rechargeable NiMH batteries. The corner drug store or WalMart with one-hour photo developing and printing will almost be history. Before they go under completely, let's hope that the kiosks that SNDK and PMI are working on will be ready to install where the one-hour photo places used to be.
On video streaming, I have no idea where you can find a discussion, as my computer is not fast enough to handle the software.
Art |