Not even an attempt to talk about the longevity of cameras or other gadgets, but somehow connected I feel.
The biggest manufacturers of Cameras, currently, are Japan and the Republic of Korea. I am talking about consumer products here. Nikon, Canon, Sony, Fuji, Olympus, Samsung and whoever else churning out digital cams with ever ' higher, bigger, better ' specs than the other.
However, I was in Tokyo a couple of years back in April, the Cherry Blossom season there. And an event in itself. I, too, joined the thousands and poured into the parks, gardens etc.
There were all shapes and sizes of cameras there. But what surprised me was the
large ( very large number ) of enthusiasts, professionals, and even young ones merrily using their film cameras.
Recently, I was in Seoul. I posted a snap of the Leica shop there. It so happens that the Leica shop I visited was located in a district known for film cameras. Brisk trade. Lovely lovely cams on display. And most surprising finishing places manned by people ( some were university grads in Photography ) who could discuss at length ( a few in English ) whatever one wanted to know about film, developing, processing, scanning ( in one shop I saw a row of drum scanners ), framing etc. Films galore; Push and Pull was the talk here.
Try that at your local Boots or Walmart or Walgreens. Film is not dead, the other side of the world. It might be in a coma, on life support, but with a pretty fair chance of
continuing, not a hectic life, but a more slower pace meditative life..in tune with that culture.