Dpreview interviewed a store manager that claimed:
The younger crowd – under thirty – are really, really being driven in by film. We’re selling every film camera we can get our hands on. People are coming in with film cameras and wanting advice on how to use ’em, and they’re buying film, filters and stuff to create a film kit.
Fujifilm CEO Teiichi Goto recently said, “We have found a new gold mine in the photography industry.” As Fujirumors reports, he is talking about the Instax business. The sales numbers reported in Fuji’s financial reports are staggering. Although the store manager interviewed by Dpreview does not specify whether he is talking about film cameras or Instax cameras, I suspect he is referring to the latter. Instax cameras offer an inherent practical value, that of printing direct images.
Now that artificial intelligence is also capable of creating superb images, the need and value of “authentic” photography will only grow. Sony has no history of chemical film production, so I doubt it will jump on this bandwagon … but I actually would have an idea to get a Sony version of the InstantKon RF70 instant camera.