Dixons winds up sales of 35mm cameras

[Mr T.]

Dixons winds up sales of 35mm cameras
By Richard Alleyne
(Filed: 08/08/2005)

The death of traditional film photography moved a step closer yesterday when a big high street retailer announced that it was phasing out 35mm cameras, citing a lack of demand.

Dixons, the market leader, said sales of film cameras had slumped following the arrival of digital technology. Once its current stocks ran out, they would not be replaced.


Sales of digital cameras now outstrip traditional ones 15-1

The company, founded as a photographic studio in Southend in 1937, said the decision was a particularly sad one as the retail chain had been built on the growth of home photography which, until the last decade, had been dominated by 35mm film.

But, like the typewriter, the gramophone and the video recorder, photography is succumbing to the digital revolution.

Millions of consumers have turned their backs on rolls of film in favour of the ease of use and instant results of digital cameras.

Bryan Magrath, the company's marketing director, said: "Last year we pulled the plug on video recorders, but today's announcement is, in many ways, a more sentimental event.

"35mm cameras were the first products we ever sold and film processing has been a part of our lives for several decades. Time and technology move on, though, and digital cameras are now the rule rather than the exception.

"We have decided that the time is now right to take 35mm cameras out of the frame."

The decision highlights the digital boom that has swept through the world of photography in the past few years.

In 1989, sales of 35mm films in Britain peaked at 2.9 million, but since digital cameras were introduced in 1990, the quality of digital prints has improved and prices have fallen. Sales of digital cameras now outstrip traditional film cameras by a margin of 15 to one.

Kodak recently abandoned the production of film cameras in Europe and America as well as black-and-white film.

A recent survey by Dixons indicated that 93 per cent of its customers could not tell the difference between 35mm prints and those taken on modern digital cameras.

All but the most technophobic and nostalgic photographers and a handful of professionals appear to favour the new format - not least because it allows them to view their pictures before making hard copies.

Mr Magrath said: "Statistically, there is no real difference in quality between digital and film.

"The digital camera, which delivers huge benefits due to its memory, speed, image quality and transferability of images, is a big winner with the millions of customers who shop with us every year."

However, the company will continue to stock a small range of film at its airport branches for the professional photographer market. A spokesman said: "There are a lot of professional photographers who buy cameras from duty-free stores so we are primarily catering for them in this case."

After 40 years of shooting film, Lord Lichfield, 66, the society photographer, switched entirely to digital cameras six years ago with great enthusiasm.

"I think that digital cameras are now better than their film equivalent," he said. "It is certainly a cheaper system.

"I save as much as £100,000 in film and processing costs every year. Of course there are still people who say it is just not good enough. They are just dinosaurs. I have a few friends who are refusing to switch over, and they are really losing out.

"It used to be that magazines and advertising clients refused to take digital pictures - now they are demanding it."

He added: "I am sad that film will go because it was the way I grew up and in many ways it's a purer art form, but digital is the way forward."

[rahughes]

I think this subject has been over-exposed. Lets try to not be too negative, and just see what develops....

[Mr T.]

Originally Posted by rahughes

I think this subject has been over-exposed. Lets try to not be too negative, and just see what develops....

[drum-cymbal] ddddrrrrummm-tterrrsh!