That noise you hear is the death rattle of film
By Jefferson Graham
USA Today
LOS ANGELES — Mary Pat Dorr is a longtime Southern California wedding and portrait photographer who has refused to switch to digital. She swears by film and the trusty Minolta film cameras she takes to all her jobs.
"I still believe film has better quality," Dorr says. "And I'm not willing to switch."
But how long can she hold out? The entire photography industry is going through a sometimes painful and costly transition to digital. Film sales declined about 30 percent last year, according to the Photo Marketing Association International.
Meanwhile, digital camera sales increased 12.6 percent, to 20.5 million units from 18.2 million the previous year.
Analysts who cover the photo industry say that while film and film cameras won't disappear, they could go the way of vinyl record albums and typewriters.
"In 10 years, we see everything being digital," says Chris Chute, an analyst at market research firm IDC. Film eventually will become a high-end niche product for art photographers and die-hards, he says.
Among the signs:
For years, the photographic community debated the merits of digital vs. film. But that debate has mostly been left behind as pricey new digital cameras offer the same features and high-resolution images as film cameras.
Boston wedding photographer Adriano Batti switched to digital a few years back and couldn't be happier. "Everybody I know uses digital," he says. "At a wedding, with a film camera, I had to replace the film every 24 shots and reload. With digital, I can take 500 shots on one memory card and keep on shooting."
He says he misses the look of film, "but everything is digital today. There's no turning back. This is where everything's going."
Cheap, one-time-use cameras — at $10 or less — are one remaining bright spot for film sales. According to the PMAI, about 217 million were sold in the USA last year, just 1 million less than 2004.
They're a popular backup option when you don't want to bring an expensive camera to the beach or on school field trips, notes Fujifilm vice president of marketing Joe Vaughey. And many consumers use them as their only cameras.
