What's the question?

"Why?"

Because I like them. They have a total spontaneity that other technologies can't match. They're made for snaps that go up on corkboards, or fridges--and honestly, the pictures seem to be more representative to me.

I see your point - but you can't get the same spontaneity with, say, a digital camera and a portable picture printer (like this [link] Of course, with the digital camera and portable printer, that's two things to carry....

I think Polaroids make a great first camera for kids because they get to see the results very quickly.

It's really useful to have something where you can see the image quickly.

I think Polaroids make a great first camera for kids because they get to see the results very quickly.

This, and I think the same kind spontaneous feeling is why camera phones got so huge so quickly. But you can't watch the picture emerging out of the murky pre-developed plate the way you can with a polaroid, and that's a kind of childhood magic.

I ran across my film SLR while cleaning a few weeks back, and realized that while I haven't used it in ~15 years, I've always brought it along with me because I'd want to have a decent camera rather than a point/shoot at some point; this time, it struck me that I just don't have a place for film in my life any more. I'm always in that market that wants better than a low-end camera, but not serious enough to get, well, serious. And the okay but not great SLR doesn't have a place in the way that a good film camera still would.

Digital SLRs are great, they have physically larger CCDs than non-SLR Digital cameras and this seems to really help image quality even at the same number of megapixels.

I think I need a big honkin' digital SLR, and a second digital camera that has lots of features but can be easily carried in a pocket.

Then I feel lame for needing two digital cameras. But I figure this place would be a good place to confess this.

Then I feel lame for needing two digital cameras.

That just proves you're not ready.

I have a film SLR with a broken spring (the mirror won't flip back up after taking a picture) that I've put off getting fixed for years because my digital PHD camera is so small and handy.

A just bought a second digital camera for just this reason. I went with cheap and small (Fuji A345), rather than full-featured and small but pretty much the same thing. I feel I mitigated any potential lameness since I used gift certificates, however I don't see the lameness.