Question by Diverging Point: Digital cameras have only been around for maybe 6 or 7 years, so why do people think film is “old school”?
I’m curious.
People seem to think that digital cameras have been around forever. But they’re actually still a relatively new thing. I don’t know anyone who had a digital camera before 2002. Maybe 2001 at the very earliest. And they were horrible then. It seemed like they didn’t really start to catch on until around maybe 2003, and they still weren’t as good as film.
I realize that digital camera prototypes were probably around a lot earlier that that. But I mean consumer level digital cameras. They didn’t really become popular until at least 5 years ago.
I also realize that emo kids with a digital point and shoot camera probably don’t know that a world existed before MySpace and Flickr. So they probably can’t think of a time before 4 years ago. But still, why do people think that digital cameras have been around forever…and that film is so “ancient” ?
I really am curious about that.
We’re not talking about 20 years ago…we’re talking about 5 or 6 years ago.
Also, everyone assumes that young people have never used film. If someone is at least 18 years old, then they have no excuse for never using film. I’m sure that at some point, they took pictures when they were kids. So let’s do the math. Before about 2002 (maybe even 2003), most pictures were still taken on film. So if someone is at least 18 or 19, then at some point they should have used film. I think everyone has taken snapshots with their friends when they were kids. So they never used a camera when they were 12 or 13? Give me a break. I first started taking pictures when I was about 8 or 9 years old.
Computers have been around for my entire life, and the internet has been around for most of my life. I grew up with technology. But I still like to use completely manual film cameras that are MUCH older than me. So what’s anyone else’s excuse?
If you put it in context, the amount of time digital cameras have been popular is nothing. So why do people act as if they’ve been around forever?
And why is film considered “old school” when we’re talking about such a short time ago – 5 or 6 years ago. And they definitely were NOT around 10 years ago. I know for a fact that I never heard the term “digital camera” in the late 90s. A webcam, maybe…but not a digital camera.
Let’s think about it like this. Bush has actually been president longer than digital cameras were popular. oooh…isn’t that funny?
Just wondering.
Mr. Goodkat…I said CONSUMER LEVEL digital cameras. That means you could walk into a Best Buy, or Target, or Walmart, and buy a decent digital camera for less than $ 200. I said in the beginning of my question that I wasn’t talking about early prototypes. I meant mainstream, consumer cameras. And digital camers were definitely NOT in wide use in 1990! You’ve got to be kidding me. Electronic storage wasn’t even caught up…the first digital cameras were using 3.5 inch disks! Maybe for news media they might have started using early digital cameras, but not the general public. Not for many years later.
Whether you agree with it or not, most pictures taken in the 1990s (and later)were still taken with film.
Ok, fair enough…you’re right that they were available earlier. But like you said, the pictures sucked. I think it wasn’t until they digital cameras got to around 3 megapixels that they actually started to take somewhat decent pictures. And also not until sensor and lens quality improved. So still, you have to admit that digital cameras are a relatively new thing…and definitely a new thing with the general public. I know it’s just anecdotal evidence, but I know most of my friends didn’t have a digital camera before around 2002. Most people were still using film, and you could still find film drop-off boxes in grocery stores! So film was still more popular back then. And that was only 6 years ago!
But yeah, in a lot of cases, film is a lot better. Especially for traditional black and white photos and landscape photos. I develop my own film and a real optical print is so much better than digital.
Best answer:
Answer by Mr. Goodkat
I had a digital camera in 1999.
And isnt it rather presumptious to assume that since you “never heard the term ‘digital camera’ in the late 90’s”, that they did not exist? They have been available since 1990, but around since years before that.
I wonder where I got that digital camera I used in 1999. It was a little cheapo model, and the pics sucked. But it was digital.
Yes, I think I can agree, to a point anyway. But digital cameras make it easy, and many of the 18-19 year olds alive today (many, not all) want things easy, handed to them, and would not have bothered with a film camera, since you had to have the film developed, buy film, etc.
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