Interesting factoid in business section of today's NY Times.

Of all vendors of digital cameras in the US Polaroid is the only one turning a profit on the lines. Polaroid is looking to its future. It has always sold its cameras at cost to get the profitable film/paper market. If digital replaces film it loses it's entire market. So its looking downstream to the day when cell phones and Palm Pilots and kids' toys will capture images and they will all want Polaroid's photo-quality wireless printers and papers to print out the images.

Kodak and Fuji have long had profitable film and paper markets and similarly see that as a future to get market share of.

I guess the point for the consumer is all seem to be lookning for much bigger future markets to turn a profit. The competition should see increasing quality... the larger markets better ecomomies of scale and continually falling device prices.

Reply to post by Scott Cullen, on March 27, 2000 at 15:46:48:

I surely hope so. I wanted a computer two years before I got one. I've wanted a quality digital camera for two years now. It must be good enough for transfer to photo, or it won't really replace the other cameras.

Reply to post by Mark Goodwin, on March 27, 2000 at 15:46:48:

Fuji has announced a new camera out soon that will provide over 4 megapixels resolution. Other cameras out now have passed the 3 mpx level. However at 24 or 32 bits per pixel, these cameras create huge image files- up to or over 10 megabytes. Make sure your computer can handle what the camera puts out.

Reply to post by Russ Carlson, on March 27, 2000 at 21:51:36:

Do you know of a service that stores your image files for you?
I heard it mentioned the other day, but I don't recall the details.

Reply to post by Mark Goodwin, on March 28, 2000 at 21:34:23:

I think Kodak offers that service on-line as an option for processing of regular film. I don't know if they also offer the service with their digital camera lines.

Reply to post by Mark Goodwin, on March 28, 2000 at 21:34:23:

PhotoWorks (formerly Seattle Filmworks) does that. You can send them any type or format- film or electoronic, and they will print or archive to CD for you. Here is a short excerpt from a recent post from them:

"We recently released our PhotoWorks Uploader software, which allows digital camera owners to turn their images into photographic quality prints. To find out about this exciting new service and how to get your first 24 prints FREE, click on http://www.photoworks.com/uploader."

Reply to post by Scott Cullen, on March 27, 2000 at 15:46:48:


Here's a good set of information with updated comments to 2000.

Reply to post by Wulkowicz, on March 27, 2000 at 15:46:48:

Great link Bob.

Author already OBE (overtaken by events). He contrasts the two markets perceivd by the makers: point and shhot consumers and "money's no object" pros with the jump in $ from under $1k on the one end to over $10k on the other. The Nikon Ds and Es which are already a few years old and the newer Fuji which all take most all Nikkor F mount lenses are down around $5k (admittedly with no lenses, but you probably buy one of these becasue you have lenses already).

Interesting hyperlink to the pros and cons of the old manual SLRs, As the ne plus ultra example he profiles the Nikon F2A often regarded as "the best camera Nikon ever made." I bought mine in 1980 with two very good Nikkor lenses and it was about $1k. Still going strong and still some of the best lenses ever made... article suggests it will be just as good for another 10-20 years. So comparing that investment, $4-5K today for a top of the line digital SLR body does not seem so outrageous. I don't have enogh current need to make teh investment but prices can only continue to drop.

Scott