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| Digital
SLR future? With
no need to look or act like a 35mm SLR,
highly compact Olympus interchangeable-
lens digital SLR could be uniquely shaped.
Watch for a wide focal range but small lens
system. |
If every mention of the words "digital imaging"
causes you to grind your teeth in fury, or you're
already an enthusiastic digital imaging practitioner,
or you're somewhere in between, know that digital
photography and imaging is here to stay and grow.
Relax. Despite all the promotion, newspaper
and magazine ads for digital cameras and accessories,
blizzards of articles proclaiming the joys of
digital, testimonials (often paid) of photographers
declaring they have switched totally to digital
imaging (resembling the pitchmen and women pushing
quick diet plans), film and digital photography
will continue to coexist and allow you to mix
and match whenever you wish.
For how long? Twenty years ago, many pundits
(including myself) were asked when digital would
"take over." We usually gave the year
2000, probably because it was such a nice round,
quotable number and seemed to be so far away.
Well, here we are nearly two years past the
mark and it hasn't happened, except in excessive
digital blather.
My new prognosis? Digital and film will coexist,
each with its own uses, for the next 25 years
or more. In 2001, 844 million rolls of 35mm
film were shot. Ninety percent of all U.S. households
have film cameras in use (mostly 35mm and APS
point-and-shoots), and 16 million 35mm SLRs
are also operational. Last year, 140 million
single-use film cameras were bought in the U.S.
alone and the number appears to be growing.
Just when do you think single-use film cameras
selling in the $10 range will become digital?
Is it likely even in the distant future? And
when will all these film burners magically turn
into digital-only camera users?
Let me enumerate what I think are the five
principal reasons for so much uproar about digital
everything. Then we'll try to forecast what
we can expect in future digital SLRs that might
make them attractive, even to today's digital
disdainers.
1) With 90 percent of U.S. households
already owning an actively used film camera
(usually a 35mm film point-and-shoot) and something
like five percent having digital cameras, it's
obvious that digital cameras are easier to sell
than film cameras because the market is wide
open, while 35mm point-and-shoots, frankly,
have evolved about as far as they can go. It's
hard to sell new ones. Therefore, it pays for
manufacturers, importers, and retailers to favor
digital camera advertising, which also provides
additional scanner, printer, and software sales.
Plus, film point-and-shoot cameras do not need
accessories. Unfortunately, the hullabaloo for
digital everything has made would-be purchasers
of 35mm SLRs and related equipment hesitant
to buy more.
