I haven't examined the digital camera scene in a while now and there has been a lot of activity. Let's dive in …
First of all, it is becoming fairly safe to say that film is dead. The vast majority of professional photographers are now using at least some digital, and it is now almost exclusively digital in such areas as sports and news photography, wedding photography, graduation and sports card photography, and even portraiture. The film photography magazine that I regularly read has become about 75% digital now, and its companion digital photography magazine is getting thinner each month because the parent mag is being forced to go digital itself.
There have been almost no new 35mm cameras announced recently, although there have been some new film products released. Most of the film activity has moved to the medium format size, which was always considered more of a quality (and enlargeable) format.
And, finally, Kodak itself has announced that it is getting out of the film market. They were a leader in digital from the beginning, and now make some excellent digital cameras. The new Kodak pro digital SLR is getting rave reviews.
Three reasons are helping to enable digital photography in the mainstream. The first is that new digital camera sensors are high enough in megapixel count to rival film quality. 4-5 megapixel digital cameras are now common; the latest crop of digital SLR cameras is 6 megapixels, and you can even get some cameras at 8-14 megapixels.
The second factor is speed: newer digital cameras can take many shots before having to pause to copy the photos from internal storage to the storage card. A sports or wedding photographer can't afford to wait too long between shots, or can't afford to miss that one perfect photo.
Third, digital camera lenses are getting much better. As any photographer knows, it's the quality of the glass (i.e. the lens) that makes the photo. Newer digital cameras are designed with lenses from quality lens manufacturers, and the SLR cameras available now can use all of the excellent lenses (both for film and digital) from Canon or Nikon.
As far as brands go, there seem to be more brands entering the marketplace every month. But the industry in general has matured, and most of the recent digital camera reviews are solidly good.
One segment of the market that is very active is prosumer cameras - i.e. cameras aimed at the avid hobbyist or low end professional. Making a big splash in this segment are two cameras, one from Canon and one from Nikon. The Canon Digital Rebel was the first true digital SLR camera for around $1,000. Although the Digital Rebel was definitely not a pro level camera, it was still excellent and came with a good lens. It was a huge seller until …
Nikon waited almost a year to announce its competitor - the Nikon D70. This camera is a bit more expensive than the Canon by about $300. But it is getting better than rave reviews, and the supplied lens is considered better than the Canon one. The only problem with the D70 is that you just can't find one - most retailers are out of stock. I have been lusting after one of these myself and will probably put an order in once they become available.
The advantage of both of these digital SLR cameras is that they use interchangeable lenses, and they can use not only the supplied lens, but also almost any lens in their manufacturer's suite. So, if you have a Canon film SLR, you can probably use the same lenses on the Digital Rebel. The only thing you have to be wary of is the multiplication factor - usually about 1.5x. This means that a 35mm lens that is a wide-to-medium zoom (such as 28-70mm) now becomes 42-105 mid-zoom lens. So, yes, you can use your old lenses, but perhaps not in the same way! This impacts the wide-angle shooter (landscapes, etc.), but the telephoto shooters (sports, birds, etc.) are rejoicing, as their old telephoto lenses are now even more powerful!
Now, to see if that D70 shows up for Father's Day!
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail him at bsc@bobseidel.com).