Michael, does your 8-track and/or cassette player still work? Don't tell me you've upgraded to a CD or MP3 player!

In my experience I'm not really stretching my points, but again that's my own experience. And actually I waited until two years ago to buy a DSLR so I was hardly the first on the block! One of the main reasons I got it was because of the serious decline in quality E6 processing around here. I bought the Fuji S2 because it was the best overall camera for me - the other choice was the Nikon D100 or a used D1. In my opinion, the S2 was the best choice and none of them had a good flash exposure system (the two Nikons had the DX system which didn't seem any better). Now the options are better (two years is a long time for DSLR's), and the D70 does a lot more than the S2 for half the price. That's how digital goes. Sometimes upgrades are necessary - because if a piece of equipment isn't doing the job that you need it to (even if nothing really exists - like the flash technology) then you'll probably go for the upgrade when it comes out. The S2 is just as good as the day I bought it and still delivers great images. It's just not perfect - never was.

The D100 and D70 have better viewfinders than the S2, but not enough to really matter. The S2 gets the job done but in low light it's tough to tell exactly what's going on, and the AF system isn't the greatest on top of that. The D2H is pretty nice in this respect. But then I pick up my F100 and F5 and then even the D2H looks pretty bad. Someday someone will make a DSLR with a nice viewfinder that doesn't cost $5k, and that will definately be a wise upgrade, at least in my case. I know the discontinued D2H was being blown out for $2k but I'm not convinced that's the right camera for me...

If I went completely digital, I'd probably better have a laptop, but I couldn't run Photoshop CS on a 6-year old laptop. And I'd need CS to work with RAW files, at least efficiently. So sometimes upgrades are a fact of life. When one part of the chain is upgraded, sometimes the other "links" aren't as strong.

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Thought of a couple more:

Star trails and other very long exposures, like moonlit landscapes - digital just isn't there yet. 30 seconds or maybe a minute or two looks good, but not three hours. Plus you'd have to carry a bag full of batteries. Gimme a mechanical camera and a roll of Provia 400F anyday...

Shooting in the rain - yeah some of us do it, whether on purpose or not. See the point of the $2k camera built on the $300 body. I'll bring my F5 out and not worry about rain - other than keeping it off the front element (one of the few uses for a UV filter). I can't afford a DSLR that's built like an F5 (well maybe an older one) and their 35mm counterparts are dropping in price every day. (Wanna buy an F100?)

I get tired of sitting at a computer. I do it all day long and some times I don't download my images right away just because I don't feel like it. Standing at the sink developing B&W never bothered me, tedious as it may seem.