So Dixons are not going to sell 35mm film cameras any more, writes Guardian picture editor Roger Tooth. Most people want a shiny new 21st century digital camera.
National newspaper photographers have been using digital cameras for years - managements found the cost savings of making darkroom technicians redundant easily outweighed the huge expense of buying the first usable digital equipment.
The first cameras the Guardian bought were around £11,000 each. The latest model being bought by the paper is still a not inconsiderable £4,500, but the quality is as good as - if not better than - film, and the images are instantly available.
However, for the average person and their holiday/wedding/family snaps, the 35mm film has always seemed the cheapest and most convenient solution. It was never foolproof, as most people have found when prints have been returned from being developed with "overexposed" or "out of focus" stickers on them. But you could hand round your snaps, showing your friends and family your latest exploits.
The problem those who bought the first amateur digital cameras were faced with was how they were going to show their photographs to others. Long nights were probably spent with Photoshop and unsatisfactory home laser printers, producing a few horrid prints on typing paper.
In the end, Kodak and others recognised this, enabling camera owners to take camera memory cards into Boots and other labs, quickly getting your snaps back.
The highs and lows of the average person's photographic skills were back in the hands of their friends and relations, albeit with that advantage of the digital camera - instant editing. That is, of course, if you can work out how the things works - they're far too complex, as is the case with all new technology.
I couldn't really see much advantage of digital cameras over film - until I got a laptop. Then the advantages began to become obvious. Shoot your pictures, quickly download them to your laptop, and put your loved ones through an instant slide show - and you can do all this with music (Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring in my Mac's case). No more waiting for prints, no more expense, just a vivid backlit image to amaze people.
