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In case your missed it Nikon made a huge announcement on January 11th:
In essence Nikon is ceasing production of all 35MM film cameras with the exception of the top of the line F6 and the fully manual FM10 in order to concentrate on the digital camera market. The news isn't really all that surprising, the writing has been on the wall the last few years, but it has sent shockwaves through the photography world anyway.
Personally I am conflicted about the downfall of film. I first got serious about photography when I was 12 and my parents bought me a Chinon CP7m for my birthday (I still have that camera by the way). It is hard to describe just how cool it was to stand in a darkroom for the first time and watch an image materialize on paper while agitating a tray full of developer. Working in a darkroom is satisfying in so many ways, its one part science and one part magic. I haven't been in a darkroom for a few years but I still dream of having a home darkroom one day.
On the flip side, I first started toying with digital imaging in 1993. Back then I had access to Apple Quadra 650's with 8 - 16 MB of RAM and Photoshop 2.5 in the computer lab at James Madison University. I didn't have a digital camera of course, or even a film scanner, so I was making prints in the darkroom and scanning the prints for manipulation. Today I shoot all digital with my Digital Rebel. I haven't shot a single roll of file in two years (although I have a stock of Kodak HIE in the fridge).
I love digital photography and can't imagine going back to shooting just film. I do however lament what I see as the coming death of film though. There is something about silver nitrate and the smell of chemicals in a darkroom, the slaving away to create just the perfect print of a negative that you don't get through Photoshop. A good print takes on some of the soul of the photographer that made it, breathed life into the image so to speak.
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