I don't disagree that most compacts are designed to last 2-3 years.
Then again, toward the end of the compact film camera market, they also
were designed with the same lifespan.
Not only has the cost of production of these cameras become "cheap" but
so has the environmental impact of the technology. Soon, most, if not
all of the displays will be OLED, a pretty safe technology, which
doesn't even require backlighting. The impact of the small electronics,
will also be minimal (compared to laptops and desktop computers or
printers). The batteries are recyclable. The main components will be
the cases, which will be recyclable plastic as well. The lenses may
well be reusable.
I'm not keen on "throw away" products, but the footprint digital has,
relative to film, is much smaller. Now that pretty much everyone in the
developed world has a computer anyway, the cameras are a minor adjunct
in terms of cost and footprint.
When one considers how many "frames" in a shoot are of no value and now
can just be erased that in itself if a huge savings of materials. Then
consider previewing on a computer, fixing defects with software, and
then sending images on via email to again be viewed on an OLED/LCD screen.
Are digitals without an environmental footprint? Hardly. But relative
to film and processing, and silver image prints, the changeover has
reduced the demands on the planetary resources considerably.
Art
Tony Sleep wrote:
>On 10/06/2007 Arthur Entlich wrote:
>
>
>>However, the evolution in digital is rapidly reaching the
>>point where the current technology is more than adequate for most
>>people
>>until that camera fails to work.
>>
>>
>
>I read this week that the leading 8 mfrs of digital cameras expect to sell
>89m cameras during 2007, up 18% on the previous year.
>
>Few digital compacts seem to be engineered to last more than 2-3 years,
>Even with recycling that's a lot of landfill.
>
>It's only a matter of time before we see $20 disposable digicams with
>built in memory, battery and cheap CMOS sensor. The surviving
>photofinishing trade will love them, as they'll be designed as drop-off
>and get back prints (chosen at a console) and a DVD.
>
>So I think that's a perfect excuse to buy a Leica M8 and save the planet :)
>
>--
>Regards
>
>Tony Sleep
>
>
>
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe by mail to listserver@halftone.co.uk, with 'unsubscribe
filmscanners'
or 'unsubscribe filmscanners_digest' (as appropriate) in the message title or
body
