disposable film cameras to the rescue

It looks like disposable film cameras will be here for quite some time:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/06/12/c...eut/index.html

nathantw wrote:
It looks like disposable film cameras will be here for quite some time:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/06/12/c...eut/index.html

Glad they are, I have two on my desk at the moment!

ercial wrote:

nathantw wrote:
It looks like disposable film cameras will be here for quite some time:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/06/12/c...eut/index.html

Glad they are, I have two on my desk at the moment!

They will be around for a while and then disappear almost overnight. When a
2mp camera that takes AA batteries gets down to $1 to manufacture,
people will buy them instead.

There already have been "disposable" (one use) digital cameras sold, but
they are too expensive. Once the cost goes below film, and the infrastructure
to get them "processed" is there, the film disposables will go away.

I know that film cameras, even disposable ones, are better than a 2mp
digital camera, but for most people's usage (4x6 and 8x10 prints) they
are acceptable. The rapid spread of camera phones with their low resolution,
will also "lower the bar".

With the spread of digital printing machines and one hour labs that
print digital to regular photographic prints, the older optical printing
machines will be phased out. Negatives at a one hour lab will be scanned
and printed instead.

This changed occured almost unnoticed over ten years ago for high volume
document photocopying, and now everyone I know that does low volume
document copying uses a "multifunction" machine that scans and prints
the copies.

What worries me is that the disposable market keeps film alive. As soon
as it goes, film will "go away" like home movies. Yes, you can still buy
Super 8 film and get it processed, but not at the corner drugstore.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
What worries me is that the disposable market keeps film alive. As soon

Why does it worry you, do you own stock in digital photography?

nathantw wrote:

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
What worries me is that the disposable market keeps film alive. As soon

Why does it worry you, do you own stock in digital photography?

No, I'm one of those "old guys" that want to continue to use monchomatic
film for a long time. I don't want to be stuck with one brand's (Kodak)
chromogenic film, or having to have people bring me "boutique" brand
film from the U.S.

The camera store that three years ago was Jerusalem's number one darkroom
supply store no longer has reloadable cassettes. I haven't been there in
a while, I wonder what else they have dropped.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

ercial wrote:

nathantw wrote:
It looks like disposable film cameras will be here for quite some time:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/06/12/c...eut/index.html

Glad they are, I have two on my desk at the moment!


They are great for conditions where you don't want to risk your more expensive
equipment (i.e. tubing down a river).

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
ercial wrote:

nathantw wrote:
It looks like disposable film cameras will be here for quite some time:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/06/12/c...eut/index.html

Glad they are, I have two on my desk at the moment!

They will be around for a while and then disappear almost overnight. When a
2mp camera that takes AA batteries gets down to $1 to manufacture,
people will buy them instead.

There already have been "disposable" (one use) digital cameras sold, but
they are too expensive. Once the cost goes below film, and the infrastructure
to get them "processed" is there, the film disposables will go away.


It will be a sad day indeed. Those sensors have expensive metals in them and
they are not particularily friendly to the environment to be thrown out "willy
nilly" as disposable. Until somebody develops an organic sensor, I don't
expect to hear about disposable digitals anytime soon.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:

There already have been "disposable" (one use) digital cameras sold, but
they are too expensive. Once the cost goes below film, and the infrastructure
to get them "processed" is there, the film disposables will go away.


It will be a sad day indeed. Those sensors have expensive metals in them and
they are not particularily friendly to the environment to be thrown out "willy
nilly" as disposable. Until somebody develops an organic sensor, I don't
expect to hear about disposable digitals anytime soon.

"Disposable" digitals are reusable in their entirety: The buyer turns
in the whole camera to get prints and/or a CD of the images. Then the
camera's memory is erased and it is re-sold. More environmentally
friendly than disposable film cameras.


--
Mark Roberts Photography & Multimedia
www.robertstech.com
412-687-2835

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
No, I'm one of those "old guys" that want to continue to use monchomatic
film for a long time. I don't want to be stuck with one brand's (Kodak)
chromogenic film, or having to have people bring me "boutique" brand
film from the U.S.

Ah, I see. Kind of like what's going on with B/W enlarging paper. It's
getting to a point where the only stuff available will be from Hungary,
Croatia, Japan or Britain.

Mark Roberts writes:

"Disposable" digitals are reusable in their entirety: The buyer turns
in the whole camera to get prints and/or a CD of the images. Then the
camera's memory is erased and it is re-sold. More environmentally
friendly than disposable film cameras.

That's be nice. And the camera would be very cheap to buy, maybe cheaper
than it costs to make: after all, it can be sold many times.

Then someone nasty will get into his head that he will NOT return the
camera to the store after all. Instead, he will figure out a way to
"hack" it so he can get the contents out of the camera all by himself.
Next thing you know, he will post his method on the Internet, maybe
onto this newsgroup, and gadgety geeks everywhere will rush to buy
this camera, which is manufactured at a loss now...