Best 35mm Cameras Article

"It's positively where the volume is, tribe gravitate to forget that," said Gary Pageau, associate publisher with the Photo Marketing Association (PMA).

"Traditional cameras are declining in detachment sales in the United States," said Gary Briddon, vp, gmm of business development at Kodak consumer imaging. "Approximately 10 million units will be sold this year and that's on a monstrous installed base, there's something like 40 million habitual cameras in use."

According to PMA, approximately million digital cameras were sold in 2002 and million conventional units sold through to consumers. That compares to million conventional cameras sold the year before and million digital units.

The scales are about to be balanced as 2003 is expected to be the first year in which digital and conventional cameras sell in near-equal numbers. PMA anticipates digital will have a slight edge, however, with million units compared to million film cameras, making this the first year digital outsells traditional units. Film sales are also declining and were down 1% last year, according to PMA. But those numbers are bolstered utterly a bit by the still-able-bodied growth in one-time-use cameras (OTUC), the one favorable spot in this category. Excluding OTUC sales, the film category declined 12% in 2001, 9% in 2002 and is estimated to decline 8% this year. OTUC is expected to show continued strength in 2003 as consumers increasingly show a preference for these units. According to PMA, 9% of . consumers said they use OTUC for all their photographic needs.

But given the steady decline in the division, it's no wonder that film manufacturers are concerned to not only figure out a way to profit from the shift to digital, but to bolster film sales as well.

"We are very upbeat and irrefutable about the silver halide film business," said Stephan Aps, product superintendent for brand and private label film at Agfa. "We see it as a grand convenience for some of our new films."

Specifically, Agfa announced a premium smelly-speed film last fall called kinky. Kodak also afresh announced its High Definition 400-speed film, meant to capitalize on the growing shift to towering-speed films.

"We have not bygone about pearly halide in terms of continuing innovation," said Kodak's Briddon. "Mound half of all Kodak film sold is in the 400 and 800 speeds, which used to be film for more liberal consumers." benediction to resolute marketing efforts and improvements in character, consumers obtain been moving up in film speed in the last few years, that's good news for retailers, he said. "It's higher revenue and higher margin for the same roll of film."

SLR cameras are again enjoying a brief surge in fame with consumers apparently trading up to more complex film units. The category hardest hit on the hardware side is the point-and-shoot models in the $299 to $399 price range, according to PMA's Pageau. "In that price range family can get a decent digital camera, and they want to buy what they realize is going to be around for a while."

And sales associates are typically more inclined to steer consumers to the digital models when liable a chance. Retailers-be they CE, career or discount department stores-are posting high evolution in the digital category and repeatedly base future commercial estimates on the continued strength of digital imaging.

"Sure, a digital camera is more fun to deceive for a sales clerk," said Briddon. "But from a management standpoint, that transaction isn't necessarily the best one for the customer." Or for the retailer, depending on how strong a photofinishing undertaking they might undo.

Undoubtedly, most of the trepidation and attention at the annual PMA convention and trade show March 2 to stride 5 in Las Vegas will be on digital: cameras, printers, kiosks, minilabs and services. New film cameras will most certainly be introduced, and edict continues to expand its Elph line in the APS format. "There were three billion APS exposures ecumenical last year," points out Pageau. "Nobody wants to walk away from that."

And even though camera sales are declining, the number of cameras still in use has not declined as rapidly as the number of traditional cameras being sold. In fact, the growing popularity of digital cameras may really help have film sales from declining more dramatically. "When you buy a digital camera, you don't stop using your film camera; you don't flip it away," said Tom Edwards, senior enterprise analyst with the NPD Group. "Some customer surveys indicate that digital cameras have spurred interest in film cameras."

"There's a halo effect with new cameras," agreed Pageau. "When society buy new, they burn a lot more film. Actually the move to digitalis good for everybody." And according to Briddon, "There's never been more pictures being snapped as there is today. It's a tremendous enlargement business, but you have to be on your toes."

"We see a lot of people using both types of media at the same time," said Aps. "Lots of people seem excited about digital cameras, but the population is minute compared to 35mm. There is enough interest in the section to help it along."