Disposable Cameras Hold Off Digital

from the point-shoot-throw-away dept

Thu, Jun 15th 2006 9:55am — Carlo Longino

As the large-scale shift from film to digital cameras rolls on, there is one bright (or at least less dark) spot for film -- disposable cameras, which are holding their sales better than traditional film cameras. This reinforces one of the points that make cameraphones so popular: that the best camera at any given point is the one you have with you. If people manage to forget a standalone digital camera, or don't have one at all, it makes sense they'd turn to disposables, particularly if they want to print their photos. Another factor to the attractiveness of disposables is that their low cost translates into a low risk for users. If users are doing an activity where they're concerned about damaging or losing an expensive digital camera or cameraphone, they're likely to use a disposable camera since they're cheap. Another interesting aspect to the disposable market is the low impact digital has made in the space. There are digital disposable cameras available, but they aren't particularly popular and are relatively expensive and low-quality when compared to film. With most photo developers offering customers the ability to get their images on disk or from a web site, the digital/film distinction isn't particularly important to disposable users. While the traditional film camera business is in a pretty steep decline, the disposable film market looks like it will hang on for quite a while yet.

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19 Comments

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Doug, 15 Jun 2006 @ 10:30am

Yep
Well, my only thought. I really don't care.
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Adam Singer, 15 Jun 2006 @ 10:48am

You do care...
Or you wouldn't have taken the time to reply to the thread...
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Jerry, 15 Jun 2006 @ 10:48am

Disposable Digital Cameras
One place I worked previously started selling one time use digital cameras. Although they were not cheap, maybe they are the next wave of 'disposables'. The US seems to love anything that is one time use.
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charlie potatoes, 15 Jun 2006 @ 10:53am

oh i think he cares.. not about the topic but about seeing his name on the screen and showing us how world weary and jaded he happens to be... wait..no.. thats why i'm writing this...never mind. fuck you towel heads
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J.R., 15 Jun 2006 @ 10:55am

One-time digital cameras are kinda silly, at the current level of technology. Then again, one-time use film cameras were kinda silly once upon a time, too. And expensive. So far, one-time full-motion digital cameras seem to have at least some benefit: they're fairly inexpensive, do an okay job of recording an event, and are relatively easy to turn over.

I think for a long time disposable cameras are going to be the mainstay of one-off photography. Most of us just simply haven't the artistic talent to warrant plunging any money into a digital. And those that do... wel... art is costly, isn't it?
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Avitarx, 15 Jun 2006 @ 10:55am

As less film is used it will start to increase the price of these cameras I would think. That would tip the consumers away causing a feedback loop.
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wolff000, 15 Jun 2006 @ 10:55am

Disposable Digitals Can Be Reused
I love the didtal disposables cause they are so easy to hack and reuse. you can even adjust the resolution on quite a few. I used on dispoable for a year and a half before it just fell apart. Google it for more info.
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ET, 15 Jun 2006 @ 11:06am

Film becomes niche
Film in will never completely disappear. What will, inevitably, happen is that the film photography becomes a niche market for people who like to experiment in their darkroom. 35mm film is the most likely to suffer, medium and large format film will be around for quite some time amongst stock photographers.

Disposable film cameras are definitely holding back the march of digitals, but it's only a matter of time before their sales start to slim down also.
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Comboman, 15 Jun 2006 @ 11:15am

Lobby Congress!!
The makers of film and film cameras are seeing their busness model become obsolete. Why aren't they lobbying Congress to have digital cameras made illegal? Every time you take a picture with a digital camera you're stealing from film companies since they would have made money on that picture if digital cameras didn't exist.
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some dude, 15 Jun 2006 @ 11:29am

Re: Lobby Congress!!
That is possibly the most idiotic attempt at sarcasm I have ever read... and way off topic at that.
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Nitekry, 15 Jun 2006 @ 11:34am

Old School
I had the nice digital then the ccd started to get hot spots and any picture that was not full light was worthless.. I have not had a digital last beyond 5000 shots for me yet even my D50 Nikon.

Go old school Pinhole photography is the best.
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Topher3105, 15 Jun 2006 @ 11:37am

Of course
Use disposable digital cameras. Then you take a bunch of garbage pictures, and just throw the whole thing out afterwards.

Honestly, with digital cameras, people take hundreds of pictures any place they go and 90% of the pictures are crap. Same with film cameras except that 90% of the roll they pay for are pictures with over and under exposers and thumbs. That or people take 10 of essentially the same picture.

I can't wait for the day that cameras are smart enough to simply tell the user that the picture they are about to take is garbage and they would be better of leaving the freakin camera at home.
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WTF, 15 Jun 2006 @ 12:12pm

huh
You know what would be cool...if i can be able to take pictures by just blinking and then send that image to a cpu so that it could store it or just store it somwhere in my brain. So i when i go to sleep it would just be like a photo album and those pictures would be just rolling by and then maybe go to that cpu where it also holds those pics and print them or some shit...haha
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Snarf, 15 Jun 2006 @ 9:39pm

Fluff and Cruft... To many useless features... Jus
As a rock climber i use disposable film cameras all the time.
I find the weight, price, ease of use, durability and size to be perfect.
The main reason however is that i can use it with one hand quickly.

That and have you ever seen what an expensive camera looks like after a 300 foot fall?
Warranty probably won't cover it...
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Alan Goodrich, 16 Jun 2006 @ 3:08am

Re: Of course

I can't wait for the day that cameras are smart enough to simply tell the user that the picture they are about to take is garbage and they would be better of leaving the freakin camera at home.

It'll work as good as a spam filter: false positives and false negatives galore.

And I can't wait for the day that web forms are smart enough to simply tell the user that the post they are about to write is garbage and they would be better off leaving the freakin message unposted.
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