In 2002, 78 billion digital images still trail 100 billion on film
According to IDC, in this News.com story, consumers continue to use film as much as ever even as sales of digital cameras rise:
The company's "2002 Image Bible" estimates that worldwide this year, 78 billion digital images will be captured and shared via cameras, scanners and mobile devices. About 25 billion of those images will be printed.
That compares with more than 100 billion images captured on film being printed, a number that has remained stable for several years.
IDC analyst Chris Chute said the upshot is that consumers are using digital cameras for immediate gratification and for e-mailing snapshots to grandma. But they turn to film for images they want to preserve on paper. A total of 77 percent of digital camera owners still use film, and more than half use film cameras more often than digital, according to the IDC report.