Here are a couple additional thoughts to the discussion:
Digital will eventually replace film for the majority of images
taken. In the next five years? Doubt it as that was predicted
five years ago. I do look at the cinima industry as an example
of this. It was predicted that video would completely replace
film by 1980, then it was 1990, then it was 2000. Guess what,
feature films are STILL predominantly filmed on film stock.
They do use video for the daylies, but the actual production is
on film. Video has taken over for most television shows, It is
predicted that feature films will be completely digital
start-to-finish in another ten years. HDTV has actually
precipitated the roll-over towards digital. It will be at least
five years before movie theatres will have quality digital
projection systems that rival film projection.
The "digital evolution" in still photography has been a
bottom-up marketing development instead of top-down. Whenever
product development is aimed at the masses instead of the
professional application we will have this "obsolete before
production run" scenario. Just like the early days of autofocus
cameras where Canon had their EOS dejour. It took almost ten
years before we stabalized with quality autofocus cameras where
you can buy one today and know that it will still be current
tomorrow. There is still no digital SYTEM camera on the market.
PERIOD!
This is really a stupid situation we are in yet. Canon and
Nikon both have digital bodies for 35mm lenses, but they are
strictly temporary products until better technology/chips come
along. And then your fancy Nikon/EOS digital immediately
becomes yesterday's technology and barely "usable." For
comparison, how many of us are still using 386 computers? 486?
PENTIUM? (not to be left out: MAC II).
Kodak, Fuji, and Agfa have done a marvelous job in film
improvement in recent years. They know that without
improvements their days are numbered as digital is moving closer
and closer to replacing film.
Video replaced Super-8, but it still hasn't completely replaced
35mm/70mm cinamaphotography. It will, but not quite yet.
Digital is replacing consumer-grade formats and won't replace
medium/large formats for some time yet. Video found a home in
news gathering. Digital has found a home in news gathering.
I know that eventually I will go digital too. Probably the
direction I'll head is medium format where I can have 645 film
backs and a digital back. Technology is still evolving, but
that looks like a good direction to migrate as the technology
won't be so quick to obsolete.
For what it's worth, the IS-3 is a ten year old design, yet it
is still as relevent today as it was when it was designed. How
many two year old digital cameras can claim that?
KN
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