Re: [Leica] RE: Film days numbered?

["Anthony Atkielski" <anthony@atkielski.com>]

From: Lee, Jonathan <Jonathan.Lee@hrcc.on.ca>
Sent: Monday, October 11, 1999 19:55
Subject: [Leica] RE: Film days numbered?


> The days of film are numbered?!

Without any doubt.  The only source of disagreement is over the exact magnitude
of that number.  Nobody really knows.

> Ha! People who say this are the same people who told us
> 10 yrs ago that the copmuter will lead to a paperless office!

It already has, at least in some companies.  I've worked in such offices.

> 1080 digital images are going to take a up a lot of
> expensive memory and/or disks.

One DVD will suffice.

> 2. Cost.  The penetrance of computers is not 100%.

Digital photography does not necessarily require a computer.

> Right now, it costs $20 to buy a disposable camera
> and get prints.  Untill an imaging setup is available
> that can duplicate this, film will continue to exist.

Such an imaging setup is technically possible, but not currently feasible.  That
day will come.

> 3. Convenience.  There are no and are unlikely to be in
> the 10-15 yr horizon, 1 hr imaging places so dig prints
> can be made for $10.

There are several one-hour labs near me that can do exactly that, while you
wait.

> 15 years ago, people were saying that the view camera was
> dead and rangefinders would die soon.

For most practical purposes, they were right.

> Now look at it, rangefinders and view cameras everywhere.

Where?  I hardly ever see true rangefinders anywhere, and view cameras are rarer
still.

> ANother thing, platinum printing is aslo making a
> comeback.

You can print digital images in exactly the same way as film images, if you
wish, so printing technologies are irrelevant to film/digital questions.

> 5. Archivability.  Save your digital images on a ZIP
> drive today.  10 years from now, you probably will ahve a
> hard time accessing that information.

You'll copy the images to a different medium long before it wears out.  And
since it is a digital image, there will be zero loss.  This means that digital
images have an unlimited lifetime, whereas analog (film) images do not.  This is
one of the great advantages of digital technology, and it is one reason why
digital will eventually replace film.

You are confusing the storage medium with the storage representation.  This is a
very common error in discussions of digital vs. film.  In analog
representations, the medium and the representation are one and the same, and
inseparable.  In digital representations, they are completely unrelated.

> It will be like trying to access all those letters and
> files that you saved on 5.25" disks back in the deep dark
> days of the late 80s.

Easy, you mean?  Just slip the disk in a drive and read it.

  -- Anthony