Film Versus Digital, not the quality debate...

[Jeff82]

...but I'm wondering how sales of Digital SLRs compare to those for film SLRs. Sometimes I feel like I'm the last person alive shooting film. Does anyone know what percentage of new higher-end camera sales are film as compared to digital?

--Jeff

[another view]

I don't know for sure and I think at least Nikon tries to keep it pretty quiet. It was big news when they announced that they plan to sell 800,000 of the D70's (worldwide). I would imagine that film SLR sales are still way above DSLR sales though - entry level film SLR's are in the $200 range and entry level DSLR's are $900 and up. Just that fact alone makes me think that. Not everyone with a camera is very interested in the process, even SLR owners. Seems like alot of that crowd buys them because they think that the pictures from an SLR are bound to be better than those from a P&S. Everyone here knows this isn't necessarily how it works, but I know people who are convinced!

And you're not the last person shooting film out there - I'm mostly digital now but not completely. Buyer's market for anything film related, have you checked out how much used darkroom stuff or medium format cameras are going for??

[Charles Hess]

I'm sure film SLRs far outsell DSLRs, simply because of the price factor. What has nearly disappeared though, are the film p&s cameras(except for the disposable kind), which are being crushed by the inexpensive digicams. The medium format market has also taken a hit, with great prices now being had on the used market. Don't worry, there are still plenty of us film shooters out there. Kodak and Fuji have both been marketing new film types, and my local pro shops say their film sales are still pretty brisk.

[Franglais]

...but I'm wondering how sales of Digital SLRs compare to those for film SLRs. Sometimes I feel like I'm the last person alive shooting film. Does anyone know what percentage of new higher-end camera sales are film as compared to digital?

--Jeff

I often ask myself this question and the manufacturers are hardly giving any information away. Looking at the discussion forums it seems like almost everyone has gone digital.

So I figured - people are going to review the material they buy so if we compare the number of reviews for digital vs film SLR's then that should give us an idea of what's actually out there in the field.

Take some closely-related cameras that came out at about the same time :

- Canon EOS 30/33: 269 reviews vs Canon EOS10D: 70 reviews
- Canon EOS 1V: 87 reviews vs Canon 1Ds: 8 reviews
- Nikon F80: 377 reviews vs Nikon D100: 57 reviews

There are other worthwhile digital cameras types but the volume of reviews is still fairly low. I have the impression that there are lots of people buying the low-end digital cameras but the high-end ones are still too expensive for most people.

Charles

[vince]

Jeff,
There's a lot more film photographers than you would think still around... However I would be shocked if the market didn't sell as many digital cameras as SLR's. If your including the cellphones that have digital cams on them, SLR's are outnumbered a ton I bet. Good to hear your still into film. I'm afraid there wont be many around in a few years unless we organize somehow. If anyone finds a good online or offline national camera club that's mostly traditional, let me know!