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/cameras.disposables.reut/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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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...

 

Already been done a few years ago.

 

Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:

Hey Thomas,
Or canoeing! Several years ago we went canoeing with friends and I brought
along a underwater disposable. Took a shot of fellow canoeists from a
few inches under water and it came out beautiful!

Dick R.

 

Now, that is not disposable is it? Reusable, yes.

 

I am hoping to do some kayaking up on Lake Superior next summer and that will
be a great opportunity to take some pictures without fear! I love it!

 

It is a very old idea.....Kodak did it with a "Box Brownie" back in the
30's, I believe......

 

I thought all digital cameras were disposable. Arf arf!

 

So?

Are we beholden to a corporation to hold up their flawed business
model?

I buy it, it is *mine*. If I can make it do the things the seller
didn't intend me to do, tough luck. They shouldn't have sold such an
article in the first place then.

Any business model that *depends* on people not using their bought
property to the max is dumb.

Mart

 

Exactly. And that's why such a business model will fail in our
modern times. And that's why the cost of manufacturing a
disposable digital camera really has to be lower than the
selling price in order to be profitable, so it'll take a while
to get there.

 

It has already been done! There are hacks for these "disposable" digitals
that have been posted on the web weeks after these cameras were introduced.
I would have picked up one of these disposables, but the image quality is
still lacking. I think once these cameras hit 8MP and use Nikon optics they
will be a hacker's bargain at $20.






Rita

 

Of course, you are wrongly assuming that a high percentage of people will
"hack" these things and ultimately lower profits for the manufacturer.
There will always be a majority of people that will use them as designed and
turn them in. The best part, there are no consumables (film) that need to
be replaced each time other than a battery. These will work and have a
captive audience like the cell phone has created. The only threat to the
disposable digital is the higher quality cheap P&S.






Rita