In a message dated 9/10/98 11:57:34 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
farrar@xxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
<< The reason digital is taking over press photography is that the images
can be immediately uploaded to the central site, even in remote sites
(using cellular modems.) The 5 figure prices are nothing, if it saves
several hours in getting the photo to the editorial offices. Quality
just has to be good enough, and having a picture hours earlier is much
more important than having one that looks great. (I think we will see
a big decline in the quality of coffee-table books of photos by
journalists!) >>
I've been reading this thread with interest, had some time to think about it,
and thought I'd throw my $0.02 in. I think the real significant impact of
digital will occur when the technology gets two things right: a low cost,
convenient storage medium (akin to 35mm negatives or APS cartridges), and
cheap, easy to make "snapshot" prints (3R or 4R). I can envision a small
digital camera, at roughly 1024x768x24 resolution, storing images on a small
disk, something like a shrunken ZIP disk, perhaps. The disk probably only
needs to store about 10 or 20 megabytes (more than enough for 20-40 images
with medium JPEG compression). Accompany it with a small printer, that can
print 4x6 or 5x7 prints at 300 dpi directly from the disks (or maybe via cable
connection to the camera). Price the camera and printer together at $500 or
less. The disks probably need to get down to about $5-$10 each. Except for the
price, I think the technology is almost there already. It just needs to be
packaged and marketed properly, At this point you will start to see the 35mm
P&S market dry up, maybe as fast as the CD replaced vinyl in the mass market.
It has incredible implications to the photofinishing industry as well.
Given that, things could start getting real interesting. If in the span of a
few years the mass market for 35mm (maybe even APS) were to go away, who's
left using it? Pros, and maybe some die hard amateurs with their OM-1s :-).
It's probably just a matter of time until 35mm loses the mass market to
digital. At that point the market for 35mm is now at about the same level as
medium format, maybe even less. Maybe the real long term competition for the
35mm format is really medium format, not digital.
Too bad I can't get a 6x4.5 back for my OM's...
Paul Schings
Coventry, RI
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