just curious as to what need is still met with film? Film is so off my radar now and would like to know what area/ situation in which traditional film would be the preferred medium??
Well, here's one need; niche-y perhaps, but no less important because of that. Film gives you more spectral flexibility than a digital sensor with factory-fixed filtration (such as in the S2, or any DSLR or EVIL).
I shot the example below on MF film (Kodak E200). The only way to get the red colour of the nebulae (at 656 nm wavelength) from a digital camera is to hack into the camera hardware: remove the IR-blocking filter altogether or replace it with a broader-bandpass one. This costs money (unless you're brave enough to do it yourself), violates the warranty, puts you in dubious territory regarding insurance cover, hits the resale value, and condemns you to setting unconventional custom white balances for all your daytime photography. Would you be willing to do this with the likes of an S2?!
Or, you could let the camera be, and load it with a €4 roll of E200...
Ray