This year, digital cameras will outsell film models for the first time. Is the time right for you to go digital?
By DAVE GUSSOW
Published May 26, 2003
[Times photo illustration: Sherman Zent]
Even professional photographers wonder about switching from film to digital cameras. Scott Kelby hears it frequently at seminars and trade shows.
"A lot of these guys are great photographers, craftsmen at what they do," said Kelby, editor in chief of Photoshop User magazine in Oldsmar, which is dedicated to the leading professional software for photo editing. "But they don't know Photoshop, they don't know digital."
But their resistance is fading, Kelby says, and more people, professionals and consumers alike, are going digital.
This year, digital cameras will outsell film models for the first time. Camera companies are offering more models, more features and more pixels - the tiny dots that make up a digital image - for the buck. Software to edit and share digital photos is flooding the market. Retailers and inkjet printer manufacturers are battling to attract consumers who want to make prints of their digital photos.
More choices often translate into consumer confusion, and the digital photo market is no exception. However, the industry has made great strides in making it easier for consumers to make the switch from film.
"Any consumer can pick up any digital camera, push the button and get a picture," said Alan Stafford, senior editor at PC World magazine. "I think that makes them pretty accessible to almost anybody."
Instead of focusing just on the number of pixels (the resolution), camera companies are improving other features, Stafford says. Those include faster operation, including autofocus, as well as longer lenses, bigger and brighter LCD screens and improved capabilities for shooting in low light.
Still, consumers need to do some homework before they buy.
"People need to read reviews and handle (the cameras) in stores," Stafford said. "It's hard for them to judge image quality on their own. They can't take it for a test drive."
The $200 to $400 price range is the hot spot, according to IDC, a technology research company, accounting for much of the growing market in simple point-and-shoot cameras. Most cameras in this range have been 2-megapixel cameras that are best for online images and small prints, but the same price will now buy 3- and 4-megapixel models that can produce better quality and larger prints.
Although tiny cameras are fashionable, they may not prove convenient when users try to work their diminutive controls. Nikon combines the on/off switch with the zoom button on its Coolpix 5700, for example, making it easy to accidentally turn the camera off when you want to zoom in for a closeup.
With all the controls that have to be packed into a digital camera, organization can be crucial. If users have to dig several layers into software to change a regularly used camera setting, that's too much, Stafford says.
Still, Stafford thinks newcomers to digital photography can consider the entire spectrum of cameras and not just point-and-shoot models.
"I don't see a big difference in usability," he said. "Almost any sophisticated camera can be set to full automatic, push a button and get a picture."
Except for the highest-end professional digital cameras, most consumer models come with built-in lenses. But digital SLRs that allow a user to change lenses are becoming more common and more affordable. A year ago, a digital SLR, or single lens reflex, camera cost about $2,500, not including hundreds more for the lens. Now it's down to $1,500 and could go to $1,000 by year-end, according to IDC.
One of the main hangups for digital photography has been consumer frustration with getting the photos from the camera to a computer. "I think that's what scares them," said Kelby, the magazine editor. "It's not the camera. It's the trip."
But software is better and printers have been designed to work straight from a camera's memory card.
Still, film isn't obsolete.
"It's a bulletproof method," said Chris Chute, an IDC analyst. "It's cheap, the quality is good. What more can you ask for?"
And one category of film continues to grow: one-time use cameras.
"They'd rather use a disposable than spend $200 on a camera," Chute said.
In fact, Kodak has come up with a gimmick to lure those who want a film-digital combo. The Kodak PlusDigital ($10-$12, plus $7 or so for processing) is a one-time use film camera that includes a Picture CD with the processing.
