Kodak says film & services sinking faster than expected.

[synthnut]

...and you know what the resolution of most of these digital mini labs is...
between 300 and 600dpi !!!
The new Sony UP-DR150 dye sub printer for digital prints for photo shops is a mere 334dpi.
If I'm not completely doolally, then thats about 4m/p at 5x7
It makes a mockery of all the resolution talk when the final output is at such low res.
Just another case of "good enough" quality versus cost/profit.
I use both film and digital for their respective merits and think there is a place in the future for both to continue: IF the likes of Kodak don't throw out the baby with the bath water as they say just for a quick fix.
If Kodaks analysts are as slow as it looks, then they may well be jumping into the digital realm at just the wrong point if they think it will be their saviour.
Hey ho...

Keep shooting the "reel" stuff!

Ben

[namke]

Perhaps interesting, perhaps inflammatory. I offer no opinion, just a web reference:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4705255.stm

john..

[mercyboy]

...It makes a mockery of all the resolution talk when the final output is at such low res.

I'd look at that a different way....if you find a digital camera with resolution too high to be reflected in the output device, life is good. Output devices are no exception to technological evolution, and they'll catch up to and surpass that high res image file. So resolution talk does matter. I don't think the image source and output device will ever be in total sync. Let them cat-and-mouse the way processor chips and operating systems/applications do...each taking advantage of and challenged by the other right up the ladder of progress.

I shoot only HDV now, even though nobody can actually view it! I downconvert to SD for that. But I've got the original tapes, and soon enough I'll recapture them, re-edit and let the future audience enjoy the extra glory. Same thing if your still camera outperforms your printer.

[steve hyde]

Here in Seattle we are seeing local camera shops and pro labs making a rather dramatic push for digital. One of the prolabs that I have used for years just closed the doors on consummer and fine-art film photography. The place used to be one of the best for E6 processing with a two hour turn around, now they have vowed to only serve the digital needs of big clientel like Boeing, Microsoft, Adobe and other large corporations in my neighborhood. Most of my friends who are photojournalists have switched to digital. Now that the doors are closing on "small-time" film photographers, I imagine others that have been on the fence about buying a digital camera will make that leap now.

The biggest pro camera shop in Seattle is also in transition. They have downsized the amount of film materials that they stock on the shelf and have moved all of the film-related materials into a secondary building. The curtain seems to be closing on film in many ways, but it will be decades before film products are no longer available. Film products will probably always remain available.

[Skylab001]

all I can say about digital(still photography that is)......try getting a true black and white print.

Even with a separate printer for B/W (canon 9900 setup with all black gamut inks) I still get slight tonal variations when the ink set is supposed to be neutral.

give me a roll of Tri-X and a true silver halide print anyday over digital.