What will happen when the digital imaging wave dies

Thanks for all the replies.

I didn't want to imply that I love film so much that I want and hope digital dies. I started with film and now shoot 95% digital. I like digital. I think my "anger/disappointment" stems from "everyone and their mother has a camera and thinks they can produce great images right out of the box." ...and in some way devaluing the efforts of "photographers." Pro or enthusiast.

Being honest with myself, I think I see this mob of medicore point and shoot images chasing me and I'm consistantly trying to stay ahead, keeping my images separate from theirs. ...I must be different, I must be better. I think that what drives me. ...and to some extent why I still shoot film.

Thanks for the therapy.

John
 
jfretless said:
Thanks for all the replies.
I think my "anger/disappointment" stems from "everyone and their mother has a camera and thinks they can produce great images right out of the box." ...and in some way devaluing the efforts of "photographers." Pro or enthusiast.

John
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Nah. Hundreds of millions of people have word processors installed on their PC's. Authors don't seem to worried about that.

Technology helps people produce technically correct images; always has. But, it can't help people make images worth looking at.
 
Ahhh nostalgia! They don't make it like they used to. Respectfully I think this the current trend is being driven / supported by a whole convergence of technological advances, not only in digital imaging although that's important. But in things like social networking and internet technologies which also are very important. If you were just taking photos for to show mum and dad the grand kids, then it would not be as big - and in fact film would probably be just as good. But the ability to place you life in photos on the internet for the world to gawp at seems to be a universal human desire - supported also by the availability of tiny cameras - including those in cell phones and the like. Moreover general costs associated with computing are falling - you can now buy a terabyte "brick" - an external hard drive which could store millions of photos for about $150 Aust currency. How easy it is to point, click then save. This inevitably means a lot of rubbish is saved too. Perhaps if it can be long term archived somehow this may be the first generation to be really studied in minute detail by future historans.) The reality is that this convergence of related technologies makes it easy for all this to happen and it will continue unless "the next big thing" (whatever that may be ) comes along. Perhaps it will be video - all major manufacturers now include a video capability in their consumer DSLR offerings so I guess they think so! The rate of technological advance is enormous and digital imaging has traveled light years in the past few years. Until a couple of years ago I stuck with film because the value equation for digital just did not stack up at that time - very high costs combined with very low image quality compensated for only by a convenience factor. Now it does stack up and is getting better every day. For us purists, digital imaging still suffers a bit in certain respects by comparison with film (dynamic range f.e.) but in general the quality of digital images is close to that of film and getting better daily. Except for maybe small niche applications I am afraid that film has gone the way of the dodo and the masses will continue to fill Klickr, Photo Bucket, SmugMug and all the other photo sites (plus social networking sites like Facebook I suppose) with zillions of crap images that depict their lives - their 15 minutes fo fame I suppose..
 
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Yes..digital will stay. But what is effecting the long term form of digital is the camera companies who are transforming every future DSLR or Point & Shoot products into Streaming Video that just happens to allow single image selection.

So it is the development of large "flash" memory that is shifting the direction of digital. So that what you get is a movement to sharing or galleries like "You Tube" which are video centered "social" platforms. Rather than single image dedicated galleries. There is a certain kind of "Narcisistic" mind set that is also underlying the digital-video connection. So now single images are being painted as out of touch... and video is now considered as capturing the decisive moment ! Or better explained the moment is now consider the full action of an event...not just 1/250 sec. Of what could be a event that lasts 5-30 seconds.

I do not say that all digital will be in this one display style. Only that the more we move to ultra size flash drives the law of unintended consequences is closer to the final reality. Similar to how in HG Wells time machine society split and morphed. There was a very interesting scene in the "time machine" movie where the "flash memory" Rings were spun and displayed and told a small story of historical importance. Flash memory was never know or even discussed in the "Time Machine" movie or book. But now with 20/20 hind sight...it is easy to see the "rings" are in reality flash memory devices.

Do I care about how digital endures? Not really. As an artist "first" for me...film based images are never going to be irrelevant in the future. Just a painting and printmaking are still a valid as always. Does sculpture die ?

I can only hope that art critics some how die out. As they are irrelevant.
 
The Telepone Company is behind the Digital Wave

The Telepone Company is behind the Digital Wave

Yes..Canadian telephones with a secret coded "round dial" that none of the current generation can operate. Yes the round dial phones will again rule the world...and James Coburn will come back to make the final episode..."Return of our man Flint" !

35mmdelux said:
To OP:

Simple -- the telephones will take over.
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Chriscrawfordphoto said:
Fred,

This isn't just a male phase. I know A LOT of women who have gotten into digital photography and have declared themselves to be pros a month after obtaining their first camera. The reason is the same as most men who do that: The gear is more expensive than they can really afford, so they hope to make some money from it. Some of these women are making money, most I know are doing photos of children, pregnant women, and sometimes weddings. Other women are paying them for these photos!
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So true! I've seen female photographers locally earning good money, just as you describe, who shoot jpg files with their Canon in P mode, and don't understand exposure or iso. Yet the camera produces quality that is perfectly acceptable to their client, and the only people whinging are the professionals who spent years learning their craft. The revolution is here.
 
fbf said:
Regardless what will happen to digital, film is not coming back.
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Maybe you're right. But here's my 2 cents worth.

Point 1) I have difficulty buying film here in Thailand - if I don't pre-order it's sold before it ever hits the shelf!

Point 2) I've recently started to upload my images to a few stock libraries. About 50/50 digital and film. ALL my sales to date have been film shots!

Film may or may not be coming back - but it sure ain't going away either.
 
I started my digital information career on PhotoNet. And I have seen a drop off of posts about digital gear. I wouldn't be surprised if image posts are down too. But for me, if you use color the variety of color films still available offers so many variation possibilities that you just want to use film. Add the fact that you can use an interesting film camera plus color film, well (BHF and Ektar100 an all Kodak day):

3676680657_64cb7fda8a.jpg
 
A sample of film stuff that I was talking about

All shot on Velvia 50 iso
 

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bmattock said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kübler-Ross_model

1) Denial
2) Anger
3) Bargaining
4) Depression
5) Acceptance

I would say you're in Stage 1 at the moment. Some here have gone on to Stage 4 and Stage 5 with regard to the death of film, as seen in the Fuji and Kodak 'film death' notices recently posted.

Digital photography is not a fad, and it's not going away.

The comparison to the popular movements towards amateur photography, made possible by roll film and Kodak Brownie cameras ("You push the button, we do the rest") is somewhat valid, but you have to take it to the extreme. Roll-film put the quietus on dry plate photography for all intents and purposes. Yes, it still existed - dry plates were made for the popular market until the 1930's, and were still made until very recently for some medical applications, as I understand it. But the market for dry plates and pro photography was essentially destroyed because flexible-base film was a game-changer.

Digital likewise has put the quietus on film. Yes, it still exists, and you can buy it in a variety of formats. But in a very short period of time, it will be no more. Digital may lose popularity in terms of the sales trends (by the by, various organizations have predicted the 'flattening of the sales curve' for nearly five years now and been wrong every time) and the global recession has indeed resulted in a cut in digital point-and-shoot models (dSLR camera sales continue to climb, amazingly), but digital was a game-changer just like flexible-base film was a game-changer. There is no going back. Even if there is a massive flattening of the sales curve, what will happen is that fewer companies will make fewer models, and release new models less often, and weaker companies will drop out. But it won't mean film comes back again.

The film manufacturing plants that are being shut down are being knocked down, repurposed, and otherwise disposed of. They do not sit idle, waiting for the death-knell of fickle fate to dispose of digital so that the film plants can come roaring back to life again.

It is time for you to move on to the next stage of grief and get over it.
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I can't say I like this but I must say I agree with it. What ever happens will happen.. we may like it we may not. Film has had it's day, some day digital will have it's day and whatever replaces that is will have it's day.
The nice thing is; at this point in time I still have my film and when or if the time comes that I don't, I can still take pictures with something and that is all I want.

Life sucks...then you die!

I just wanna take pictures.
 
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