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Old school cameras move out of frame
 British high street electronics chain is to stop selling 35mm cameras. RELATEDQUICKVOTESPARK
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSLONDON, England -- First it was the video recorder, now it seems the 35mm camera is heading for extinction on high street shop shelves, to make way for more popular digital models. British high street chain Dixons has announced it will stop selling the cameras and will also phase out film from its stores. The chain -- which once stocked only film cameras -- says the move is due to increasing popularity in digital cameras and when current batches of 35mm cameras run out, they will not be replaced. In November last year Dixons announced it would stop selling video recorders. Dixons marketing director Bryan Magrath said the move to stop selling 35mm cameras was more sentimental for the company because they were the first products sold there. "Film processing has been a part of our lives for several decades. Time and technology move on though, and digital cameras are now the rule rather than the exception." In 1989 sales of the 35mm peaked at 2.9 million in the UK. But since digital cameras were introduced in 1990, the quality of prints have improved and prices have become economical. In a recent test, 93 percent of 100 customers could not tell the difference of 35mm prints to those from digital cameras. "Statistically, this tells us that there is no real difference in quality between digital and film," Magrath said. "The digital camera, which delivers huge benefits due to its memory, speed, image quality and transferability of images, is a big winner with the millions of customers that shop with us every year." This year sales of the digital cameras outstripped the 35mm 15 to one. But the company will continue to stock a small range at its airport branches, Britain's Press Association reported. A spokesman told PA: "There are a lot of professional photographers who buy cameras from duty-free stores so we are primarily catering to them in this case. "There's a hot debate among them over which type of camera is better and that will continue. As a result there will always be a market for the 35mm but it is an increasingly niche one." 
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