# Will digital camera prices ever drop? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2002, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-digital-camera-prices-ever-drop/141925 "2002-12-11T03:10:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-digital-camera-prices-ever-drop/141925/21 "2002-12-11T09:11:43Z")
This is reminiscent of a recent thread in which a person asked why it took so long for the internet to gain wide acceptance when, in fact, the technological and social progress had been incredibly fast. Ten years ago, you couldn’t even _get_ a digital camera (at least, not one of any real quality), unless you were prepared to drop incredible bucks. Now you can get them pretty casually for the same price as a high-end film camera. That sounds like pretty incredible progress to me in quality and pricing. The speed of improvement and acceptance is at least comparable to that of cellphones. What may make it _seem_ like prices aren’t dropping is that $400-$500 (or so) is being set as the “comfort level” for a fancy-schmancy top-of-the-line model. The $500 camera today, though, is an immense technical improvement over the $500 camera of 1997. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-digital-camera-prices-ever-drop/141925/22 "2002-12-11T09:14:26Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m sure it will make a very fine 11 x 14, but for 100 bucks I can buy a film camera that will make an even better one. I’m sure it can. But it’s far more convenient for me to just plug a memory stick into my computer and have all my photos available to me instantly. I rarely make - or want - physical copies of the photos I take… and on the rare occasions that I do, a 3.3 megapixel camera happens to make quite decent 8x10s. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-digital-camera-prices-ever-drop/141925/23 "2002-12-11T11:34:15Z")
No advantage to digital? How bout automatic white-balancing? If you ever have to deal with flourescent, tungsten and mixed-lighting (e.g. tungsten-daylight) on a regular basis, you know how annoying it can be to get natural colors, especially if you don’t have a colormeter handy. The better digitals are especially amazing at providing natural results in fluorescent lighting, and I dare say digitals have much nicer contrast and produce punchier pictures in low-light situations. How 'bout, if you use external lights, the digital equivalent of having a Polaroid back on the back of camera at all times? With fractal imaging software, you can produce some pretty _damn_ amazing enlargements. Last year I saw a print of a file on a Nikon D1X (5.47 megapixels) blown up to, oh, about three feet by two and, from a professional standpoint, it looked bloody amazing. Not film quality of course, but beyond simply “acceptable.” **andyrose** - A lot of pros do still use film, but it depends on the industry. Photojournalism has gone pretty much 100% digital. It’s almost impossible to compete without a digital. Too slow. Too much hassle. ---
**Author:** ![kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f9ae1b/32.png) [@kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirk)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-digital-camera-prices-ever-drop/141925/24 "2002-12-11T12:18:21Z")
Just yesterday I was watching an interview with a professional photographer who has switched to mainly digital photography. He said used to shoot over 1,000 rolls of film a year and it would cost about $20 per roll for the film and developing and he would only get a few good shots from each roll. Now he shoots only a few 100 rolls per year. He’s saving tens of thousands of dollars a year. So that $4,000 for a digital pro camera is cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Spacegirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Spacegirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spacegirl)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-digital-camera-prices-ever-drop/141925/25 "2002-12-12T06:07:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ferret Herder \* > \*\*My husband and I recently upgraded from a 2 mp cam to a 4 mp. With the 2 mp camera, you could tell that it was digital if you tried to make an 8x10" print, as it was slightly blurred. The 4 mp camera makes even great 8x10" photos. > \*\* I agree with you there. I don’t ever make 8x10 photos, so that isn’t really an issue for me. I just print out 4x6 photos, and they turn out lovely. My boyfriend has a 5mp camera, so if I ever wanted to make 8x10s I can just use his. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-digital-camera-prices-ever-drop/141925/26 "2002-12-12T11:29:12Z")
Expect digital cameras to get even WAY better in the not-too-distant future. Ahh, the march of progress: > [@](#): > > Foveon, Inc., in Santa Clara, California, revealed a clever alternative that can help camera companies make better products and be more honest about their pixel counts, a new sensor called the X3. > > Instead of putting colors in a side-by-side mosaic on a silicon chip, the X3 stacks them. It takes advantage of a natural property of silicon crystals, that longer wavelengths of light penetrate deeper. At each dot position, the X3 sensor detects three colors: blue near its surface, green deeper down, and red still deeper. [http://www.hardwarebible.com/columns/2002/14FEB02.htm](http://www.hardwarebible.com/columns/2002/14FEB02.htm) for the full story. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-digital-camera-prices-ever-drop/141925/27 "2002-12-12T11:30:51Z")
Ok, so that story’s a little old now. I don’t think this technique’s trickled throughout the industry yet, a la aspartame through the soda industry. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-digital-camera-prices-ever-drop/141925/28 "2002-12-12T11:46:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by aggiej \* > i don’t think so! with film you shoot 36 frames and wait a week to see which of those 36 are worth anything. my 4 mp canon g2 allows me to take pictures and immediately evaluate them. then i can fix 'em on photoshop and i’ve got lot’s of great looking pictures. i bet most people can’t tell the difference between a print from 35mm film and a print from a 4 mp digicam. You are just not going to use a digital camera to shoot a picture that will be enlarged to poster size. You also don’t need to wait a week to see the pictures here, it takes an hour for the film to be developed. If you want a more professional job (say with slides) it’ll be a day. BTW, have you seen how a professional photographer taking pictures? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-digital-camera-prices-ever-drop/141925/29 "2002-12-12T12:59:04Z")
**Cardinal** , the [Sigma SD9](http://www.sigmaphoto.com/Html/news/news_sd9_fs.htm) uses a Foveon X3 sensor and is already available here in Japan. I looks like it’s not available in the US yet, but Amazon has it listed for $1710 which is close to the street price in Japan. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-digital-camera-prices-ever-drop/141925/30 "2002-12-12T13:10:23Z")
Here’s another advantage to digital cameras: My oldest daughter is interested in photography. If she uses her film-based Nikon 35mm to shoot a roll, the film has to be developed (and because she’s just learning, most of the shots aren’t very good) at a cost of about $4.00. By the time the pics come back, we can’t remember the exact circumstances under which she took the pics so that we can advise on what to change to fix the problem. With a digital, she can view the pics immediately, having a much better chance of figuring out exactly what she is doing right and wrong. As to the OP, Wal-Mart, right now, is offering a 2mp digital WITH a color printer for $150.00!! You can’t tell me that isn’t a huge drop in price over the past 5years. ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-digital-camera-prices-ever-drop/141925/31 "2002-12-12T13:21:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DougC \* > \*\*- - - Also note: the reason for digital cameras is to take pictures and immediately use them in a digital setting, _not_ to take high-quality pictures. If you want high-quality pictures though, stay with 35mm film. A $50 35mm auto-everything/idiot camera can easily take better pictures than a $250 digital camera can. > ~ \*\* 2 Mega Pixels is a pretty good match for 35mm film. A $50 35mm camera will not take a high fraction of quality pictures, and is nearly a waste of time. A good digital camera can take very good quality pictures. Also, in case you missed it, you can drop your digital pics on to a CD-R now and take that “for developing” to alot of labs today. You can do that at Wal-mart today and walk out with real prints that I promise you could not tell what type of camera took them. This allows you to snap, snap, snap away. No film to buy, no film to develop, and you get see the results on a monitor right away. As you find images that are worth printing, burn to a disc, and get them printed. ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-digital-camera-prices-ever-drop/141925/32 "2002-12-12T13:25:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Urban Ranger \* > \*\*You are just not going to use a digital camera to shoot a picture that will be enlarged to poster size. You also don’t need to wait a week to see the pictures here, it takes an hour for the film to be developed. If you want a more professional job (say with slides) it’ll be a day. > > BTW, have you seen how a professional photographer taking pictures? \*\* The better digital cameras are approaching medium format film in their quality. Professional photographers are switching to digital left and right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-digital-camera-prices-ever-drop/141925.md?page=1)