Film cameras will last far longer than electronic cameras

On 11/22/19 7:10 PM, RichA wrote:
From what i've seen electronic cameras fail outright or show performance-damaging problems in 7-10 years. Film cameras, especially manual ones keep going for 25, 50, 75 years. Some of the simplest ones from the 1800's like view cameras are still working. Failures of certain kinds in electronic cameras more than 5 years old may not be fixable and it's only the rapid advance of technology and rapid decline in value of old digitals that makes this acceptable. Now that camera companies are suffering, it's likely advancing technology will slow, meaning cameras, like in the 1970's, will have to last longer. People don't mind tossing a camera that has outlived its technological life, but they might mind if it hasn't.


Out of 625 35mm SLR cameras manufactured between 1964 and 69, I have 110
that I have tested with film and are within one stop of being accurate.

The remaining functional cameras have been shutter tested. About 100
show within one stop with the tester. About 250 are within one stop
except for the shortest and longest shutter speeds. (Usually, the
fastest and slowest speeds on mechanical cameras will go bad first.) 60
of them have two speeds on each end more than one stop out. 50 of them
have additional random shutter speed issues.
Finally, about 60 of them, less than 10% of these 50+ year old cameras,
have issues making them non-functional.

Older digital cameras will have image sensors that have been surpassed
by modern ones. Film cameras can use any "image sensor" (film) on the
current market; they aren't limited to what was available at the time of
manufacture.

--
Ken Hart