Creatives Eyeing Digital Cameras vs. Scanners

In some ways, the above-mentioned trend of migration from scanner to digital camera mirrors what has been seen on the content creation side of the business. Since the TrendWatch Winter 1998/1999 Printing surveys, creative professionals' planned investments in both digital cameras and desktop color scanners have been increasing, although scanners have moved up more slowly. For example, in Winter 1998/1999, 26% of creatives planned to invest in digital cameras, while 27% planned to invest in color scanners.

In contrast, the most recent TrendWatch Design & Production Survey (Winter 2000/2001) shows that 36% of creatives planned to buy digital cameras, while 31% planned to buy color scanners.

Commercial photographers are the biggest consumers of both types of input devices: a total of 43% planned to buy a scanner, while 53% planned to buy a digital camera. More and more photographers are adopting the digital darkroom work mode, if not entirely then at least in part. Even those who still do their actual work with film often use digital cameras in lieu of Polaroids to check lighting, framing, and so on. As for scanners, photographers often have need to digitize legacy photos for posting on a Web site, or other digital use.

But are digital cameras superseding scanners for prepress work? In some ways, yes. For example, at one time in the graphic arts trade press, journalists would have taken film cameras along to an event, conference, or trade show. Pictures would have been snapped, film developed, and slides or prints then handed to a production department, which would in turn scan and import them into a page layout or post on the Web. Today, this process is almost all handled digitally. A digital camera is toted along, pictures are taken, and JPEGs are either e-mailed to the production department or a flash storage card is handed over and images downloaded.

Although scanners will still be around for a long time to come, as there are always items that will need to be scanned, it seems likely that their investment rates will slow even further, especially as future generations of scanners become a case of diminishing returns. This latter point may eventually happen with digital cameras as well, especially now that camera vendors have reached what is generally believed to be the largest possible "megapixellage" (three to four megapixels) these cameras are capable of affording.