Whilst I agree that Digital technology has plenty of potential for improvement, is has nonetheless already reached a very impressive standard, nearing that of film quality (and I would argue that the differences between the image resulting from each are just that, differences; not necessarily inferior or superior) Even the film industry who demand the highest quality in image recording, show films at most modern cinemas using Digital projectors, which although the reverse process of Digital photography, amounts to the same thing. Putting a time scale on this is very hard, but the end of film is nigh. The only people who will continue using it are those that refused to buy CDs and carried on with Vinyl and those who preferred long division with pen and paper than to use a calculator. The fact that Kodak must have invested the largest sum of money for decades on their DSLR, indicates the inevitable demise of film, and their interest in replacing the resulting revenue loss. I guess I'm not a purist photographer. I enjoy taking good pictures and showing them off, and I enjoy having greater involvement than simply pushing a button. I have owned an SLR camera of one type or another since I was 12 (25 years ago), and understand much of theory in picture taking. But ultimately you learn the most from shooting and seeing what comes out. This learning curve (which never really ends) is expensive and time consuming with film, and in some cases results in failing to capture an unrepeatable event. Maybe this is considered by some as good character building stuff, which makes a good photographer – I don’t. I have triplet 2 year old sons, and trying to capture them in a picture worthy of showing off takes a lot of shots. You simply don’t get the chance to cogitate over exposure, depth of field, composition etc. If you have ever seen a professional photographer take candid pictures of children, he will get through several rolls of film in one session. But he can afford to; his client is paying. I do not want to pay £50 for 4 lots of processing and printing and discover a week later that I have 5 really good shots. Digital photography has arrived and it opens up photography to the masses by allowing experimentation and learning quickly and cheaply.