Non-Pundit Predictions

[Robert Roaldi]

All those non-photographically inclined mom & pop consumers who used to use P&S film cameras and get reasonable pictures now and then will switch to digicam P&S's and will never be able to print a decent picture on their home inkjet. And they will add to their collection of dresser drawer cameras that never get used.

And thus they won't have nice photos in shoe boxes for their descendants to find.  

[BJL]

All those non-photographically inclined mom & pop consumers ... will never be able to print a decent picture on their home inkjet.

Don't Panic: they won't need or want to spend all that time printing their own photos, any more than they do now. They will either get prints the old fashioned way, done at the supermarket while they are shopping; or for the more modern, a CD transfer that every future home's video playing device will be able to display on the TV ...  Shoe boxes will still be full, of either prints or CD's.

[ricwis]

Just for fun, it would be great to see what the common folks predict for the future.  This seems to be domain of the pundits who tells us what they see happening based on their inside knowledge and connections plus writing about a particular area of interest during a given year.  But what do the rest of us think?  Here is my go at it.

1.  The Kodak Pro14N will be the Edsel of DSLR cameras. (If you don't know what an Edsel is, ask your dad.)
2.  Most amateur users will settle in at 6 Megapixels, at least for the near future.
3.  Most pros will like and pay for the full frame sensors.
4.  The 1.6 or 1.5 multiplication factor will continue to lose its stigma.
5.  Nikon will introduce a new DSLR at some time in the future.
6.  Dye Sublimation printing technology will continue to improve and cost will continue to drop.
7.  LCD monitors will continue to improve and drop in cost and become more popular for photo work.

Now I should start to think about a wish list for things to come.

[Marshal]

ricwis:

All your predictions are pretty safe, but I wish we could get some better info on #5.