A deeper grave for the film camera

I’ve done my part this summer to secure the demise of the film camera.

In the last month, I’ve taken pictures with three digital cameras and two mobile phones.

I’ve displayed photos at an online gallery, on two computers, on an iPhone and shipped images to pals via e-mail.

I bought prints from an online service, sent copies directly to Grandma and even made a few on a home printer to carry around in my pocket, just for old time’s sake. (It’s charming when people ask if you have pictures and you don’t have to whip out a phone.)

I’ve started planning a new photo book — maybe two — and will soon send out cards to family and friends featuring a cute image of the kids. I’ll skip the customized mug and mouse pad ... for now.

Film? What’s the point?

Heck, even my dentist uses a digital camera to provide the victim, uh, client, with on-the-spot before-and-after shots of the grisly work that was done.

Familiar story

The demise of film is not a new story; its waning relevance, particularly for everyday snapshots, has been well-documented. But the trend continues to accelerate, and, frankly, for good reason.

The options of what one can do with a digital image are only limited by your imagination, while the number of gadgets that can take those images are often just an arm’s length away. The biggest issue people have is an overload of great shots and not enough available space on desks, shelves and walls to display them. (Unless you get a nice digital frame, of course.)

As always, the numbers provide compelling evidence. From May 2006 to May 2007, the volume of prints made from digital cameras grew by 34 percent. The most stellar growth for that period came from online photo services, where print orders soared by 80 percent, according to the Photo Marketing Association International.

That increase is because of a number of factors, including the growth of high-speed Web access, which makes uploading images to online printers such as Shutterfly, Walgreens or Kodakgallery.com (formerly Ofoto) a breeze. Plus, those outfits and others offer an increasingly wide array of products, from holiday cards to personalized stamps, that just scream for an adorable image of your kid.

Sales factor

Camera sales tell the story, too. Film camera sales fell by 49 percent in May, compared with the year-earlier period, while digital camera sales increased by 5 percent, PMAI data show. That increase doesn’t sound like much, but consider that 9 out of 10 of digital cameras sold offered more than 6 megapixels of resolution. Just a few years ago, 4 or 5 megapixels were standard. Now, many affordably priced point-and-shoots offer 8 or even 10 megapixels. Hence, consumers are upgrading.

Also, those digital camera sales don’t include new mobile phone buyers. Do you know who sells the most digital cameras in the world? Nokia, the phonemaker.

Phones, though, offer mixed imaging quality even if they are handy.

With the iPhone’s meager 2-megapixel camera, for instance, images tend to have a greenish tint. Hence, e-mailing a photo of a new baby taken with the iPhone can prompt questions like, “Is everything all right?” But the photos I took on a year-old Sony Ericsson 3.2-megapixel camera phone, which uses Sony’s Cybershot optics, look great on prints and when displayed on the iPhone.

Best of the fun

The most fun I had with a camera this summer was when I used a friend’s Pentax Optio point-and-shoot while we are on a camping trip with the kids. From all appearances, even on close inspection, it looks like every other digital camera.

Take a look at it under water.

Yup, this camera swims, and it doesn’t need a special waterproof case. Throw it in the beach bag, drop it in the sand, rinse it off in Lake Michigan, then snap away. I loved this camera because I had no limitations of where I could take a picture. It’s on the short list of tech gadgets I need.

The Optio is durable, too. My buddy’s camera is a two-year old model that has been put through the ringer on weeklong kayak excursions across the Great Lakes and day trips to the beach. Out of the water, it takes pictures on par with good point-and-shoots; in the water, well, it has about as much competition as gold-medal swimmer Michael Phelps.

The newest Optio model has 7.1-megapixel, a 2.5-inch LCD screen and can go 10 feet deep. The cost: $299. If you’ve always wanted to take a picture while tumbling down one of those giant slides in some water park, you need one of these.

It was the perfect companion to my Canon Digital Rebel SLR, a 10-megapixel beauty that is wonderful for portraits and capturing a candid moment. The great advantage of these cameras — I also like the SLRs from Nikon — over point-and-shoots is there is no shutter lag. Where with point-and-shoots you often have to anticipate a shot to avoid missing great facial expressions, with SLRs you just shoot when that winning smile emerges.

Needless to say, I love digital photography. But it’s not just because the cameras keep improving , but more because of how flexible the medium has become for sharing pictures. Within three feet of where I’m writing this, there are a half-dozen prints on my office wall, a few in frames, about 100 on the phone attached to my belt and thousands stored on my iPod.

And if I stopped typing for five minutes to chat on the phone, my screen saver will show a funny image from that recent camping trip.

I have photos everywhere, I can show them off in numerous ways, and they are a short reach away.

That’s not memories stuffed in a shoebox; that’s life in the digital age. And it never fails to produce a smile when needed.

XEric Benderoff writes about technology for the Chicago Tribune. Contact him at ebenderofftribune.com.

© 2007 Chicago Tribune