This little tidbit came to mind as an apt analogy of where we are in the so-called digital revolution. Three years ago I shot a picture of my neighbor's granddaughter and showed it to him- first on the primitive LCD monitor of an Olympus D300L, and then on a small print. Yesterday, he knocked on my door and showed me a large, beautiful, dye-sub print he'd made on a Kodak Picture Maker at the local drug store. And so it is with hundreds of thousands of new users every month who board the Digital Express, bound for the new photographic frontier. But there's still some rough terrain to traverse before we reach the promised land.
Digital cameras have to become more user-friendly.
It's already way too late to ask for some kind standardization, but prices are going to have to plummet before film is replaced. Battery power is another hurdle that must be overcome. Even though there are long-lasting NiMH rechargeable AA's like Quest and Kodak, most users find it a pain to replace batteries in the middle of shooting. True, there are longer-lasting packs like the Unity ProPower and others, but digicam manufacturers seem not to recognize their existence when they design cameras. Using a pack usually requires leaving a compartment cover dangling open.