L, your statement that "by then it will be a different story as more people migrate to d-cameras" may be true earlier rather than later. The newspapers in the Rochester, NY area are running stories about less than anticipated domestic sales from conventional film and processing, and the closing of some of Kodak's photofinishing facilities. These anecdotal sources lead me to believe that the switch to digital from conventional is going much faster than most people had anticipated. In fact, except for the throw-away cameras, most people are opting for digital cameras, particularly if they would ordinarily have been willing to spend $100 to $200 on a reasonably good conventional camera. The reason, as Eli Harari indicated almost two years ago, is that $300 is the real price point for digital. If you can get a decent digital camera for $300, you'll be more inclined to go in that direction rather than continue paying high conventional film, processing, and printing costs.
Two major improvements over the past year have included the ease with which most people can email photo images and the availability of stand alone printers at low prices, which will print directly from the flash card, without need for a computer. In short, one can determine the success of digital cameras and removable flash cards by the increasingly poor performance of conventional camera and film sales.
Art |
