JimMullinaux Loc: Austin, Texas

The initial alert about the future of film came during middle the last century, when the major mining companies warned first the film manufacturers, then the camera manufacturers, that the supply of silver nitrate would not be able to keep up with increasing consumer demand due to the rapid growth of popular photography. Alternatives would be necessary. Some electronics companies were already working on electronic imaging techniques. After computers became a home commodity, electronic imaging was a natural tie-in. The use of film will not die out, but it will become more of a photographic niche, if it isn't already.

Electronic imaging is still very much in its infancy. In the forseeable future is 3D imaging without the need for polarizing glasses and halographic imaging. Beyond that is anyone's guess. We've already seen tantalizing hints in Star Wars and Harry Potter, techniques already on the electronic drawing boards of companies like Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Hitachi, etc. The diminishing of film was a necessity, not an arbitrary decision.

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

Nice thought - but by that analogy we should all learn Latin before learning to speak English ?? :?: The techno age is moving forward so fast it's all anyone can do to just keep current. There will always be room for a few historian experts who keep the old ways alive - but to suggest that everyone should have to learn film before they learn digital would not help most of those currently using digital.
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I dumped all my Kodak stock in the late '90s when they simply could not embrace the future.

Mpeter45 Loc: Springfield, Illinois

Photography is about light (it actually means writing with light) and learning BxW taught me to really see light. Great pictures have great lighting. Knowing how to see or create light leads making great photos.
Those are the things us old film shooters learned.

rowandjr Loc: New Jersey

I thought that digital would become what it is but my goodness not this fast. I really miss film just the cost holds me back.

rowandjr Loc: New Jersey

Martin is correct its all about light and we worked at a much slower pace to get it right.

picturedude Loc: Yosemite natl. park, Ca.

I am a tram driver in the Mariposa grove of giant Sequoias in Yosemite. Our tram road is extremely bumpy. A couple years ago while at the first 10 minute stop I was sitting in my cab about to get out when one of my female passengers came up to me telling me that she was getting very upset with me cuz she took the ride to take pictures, and not an amusement park ride. She kept on and on about it even telling me I must not know anything about photography. She then said that they would be walking the rest of the way. On my next tour I was stopped at one of the trees when I see her and her hubby come up and she started in again. I handed her one of my post cards and told her I had shot that my first season there. Her mouth finally closed and then she said "You took this picture"? I replied "That's why my name is on the back. I then told her I'm a trained forensic photographer/ legal videographer and that I could take pictures of her dead body if I had to. I also told her I could videotape her autopsy. Her face turned red, and they walked away. Her timid husband followed her laughing his butt off. When I returned to the boarding area I told my boss what had happened in case she complained. My boss laughed her ass off and told me I had nothing to fear, I did nothing wrong.

Tea8 Loc: Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.

Haha, dont you just love people like that? ;) Kidding of course. I don't blame you for telling her like you did. It's crazy the way some people act. Anyway, sorry for sidetracking the converstaion.

Iowegan

Yeah, I kind of figured this would happen, honestly.
Near 40 years ago, I worked on radar jamming equipment in the USAF.
The unit I worked on was truly revolutionary for the time, it was about 90% digital in operation.
In the few years I was in that profession, I saw that system morph no less than 3 times. Each time, it was literally an order of magnitude better.

Following this thread then, it stands to reason, the digital implementation would follow the same progress as computers and cell phones. It wasn't that long ago, a cellphone would dial numbers, and a super neat feature was being able to store specific information with a contact. Today???

Cameras are almost obsolete when they hit the streets now.
Phase One has a digital back that's what, 80MP?

How long before that is on a prosumer, or consumer grade SLR? I'm guessing, within 3 years.
Nikon has the D800 @36MP, a D3200 @ 24MP, right now!

Canon is doing the same, same for Leica, Sony, etc..

And right now, cost is the biggest inhibitor, but mass sales are pushing that lower and lower.

A current computer has a multi-core processor, each core having several hundred million transistors each. Some computers have multiple, multi-core processors, w/32-128GB of mainline memory to allow those processors to function at capacity..

The one constant is, there is no constant.
Enjoy the ride, and wonder at what we've been able to do.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

I was happy when they invented cameras that I didn't have to unfold and unfold AND when the changed that old German camera so I didn't have to trim the film leader anymore.

oldmalky Loc: West Midlands,England.

Always liked taking pics but with film could never afford it.So for me digital was the great thing of the 20th century but the speed it is going forward is fantastic.

pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"

That's more what I was I getting at. I think the experiance with B/W and the old fashion darkroom made me more aware of light and how to "paint" with it. I have some old barns about 30 miles from home that I pass about once a week. I know I can get a great shot but something kept getting my attention about the shot I want to take. It was the light was not right at that time of day. Plus a foggy morning would be fantastic. I'm just never in the right place at the right time. :roll: And if I were I probably left my camera bag at home. :lol:

Wahawk Loc: NE IA

:thumbup: :lol: :thumbup: :lol: :thumbup: :lol:

pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"

I wish I'd been there. :thumbup: I forwarded this story to a few friends who aren't into photography but will appreciate the humor. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

drjuice

Yup, I actually did think so. My first experience with digital was in a local camera shop and that persuaded me. That I could use my pictures immediately in presentations was the persuader. I still wish I could have had that when I was teaching geography back in the 1970s, but, of course, we didn't have anyway to get them into the form of slides which would have been required back then!

In 1990, with my first really fat paycheck from a new job, I invested in a Canon digital camera (I think called a Cybershot) that came with little tiny magnetic disks about 1/4 the size of 3.5" computer disks. About three months later, I used that on my first trip to Brazil and printed them out on a very nice computer color printer at work. I used that whole lashup for about 4 years in situations where I didn't mind traveling without my Maxxams in hand. Then I got a Kodak digital that required me to hook it up directly to the first computer I owned that had USB ports.

When I bought my first notebook computer toward the end of the 1990s, for my next camera I went with a Sony digital because they came with the tiny Memory Stick ProDuo which I could take out and plug directly into my computer. Then, Sony began to get serious with their DSLRs (alpha700 was the first serious one in my view) and the rest is history. I still WAY like the MSPD. I have two 16GB and two 8GB spares. I make my archival DVDs every night when I'm out in the field, so that every day I can shoot nearly 50GB of new material. That's not been enough storage for me only once in five years with the DSLRs.

IJS....

v

pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"

There's no place like: 34N 8' 25.7", 117W 57' 43.2" if you can't be at: 48N 7' 4.11" 122W 45' 52.3"

What's a good program to figure out these locations. I'm too lazy to figure it out on my own. :lol: