on 10/11/02 8:55 AM, William Clark at wclark@xxxxxxx wrote:
> This is even going to be more of an issue for digital users. People like
> myself have no need to upgrade cameras ever couple of years (photography is
> fun, but no that fun for me). So what happens if I (like a "regular" user)
> has a problem in a couple of years? Who services them? Who has the parts?
> Film is much better in this sense. Lots of people can fix them no matter
> how old. This is a major problem with digital.
>
> -Bill
>
With digital, its not just parts (mechanical or electronic)... its
-software- too. What happens when the firmware needs to be updated, or a
chip gets corrupted...? What happens when your manufacturer stops updating
its drivers, and you have to upgrade your computer's OS...? Microsoft will
have you on a treadmill of upgrades every year or so... Apple is not any
better. If you're Linux you get to write your own drivers... <g> What if
Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, et. al. decide that they're not going to
include that 5-6 year old digicam in the new-OS driver updates?
Then there are the media formats... I have a servicable Konica Q-EZ digicam
(won it in a contest...) its only 640 x 480, but my nephew could use it.
Except that Konica doesn't support the camera any more, so no drivers, and
it uses MMC format digital media, a 'standard' that didn't catch on promoted
by Intel in 1997. Guess how hard it is to find those cards nowdays...!
Eventually all these electronic digicams are going to be like 828 or 620
roll film cameras, nice on the shelf but you can't reasonably use them due
to lack of media.
--
Jim Brokaw
OM-1's, -2's, -4's, (no -3's yet) and no OM-oney...
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