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.

I have a film SLR, last used on my Kenya trip in September, a digital SLR last really used in Catalina at Thanksgiving, and a pocket sized digital last used yesterday in a vain attempt to get a picture of this huge bird by the parking structure at work.

Until I can work the digital SLR like the film SLR, there's no competition. And that may not ever happen, although they're about equivalent.

So all three cameras have their role.

I want a polaroid to live in my apartment, to come out for occasions to make people laugh, or to record something quickly and physically without needing to get photo paper into the printer.

Hell, I'm amused by the idea of snapping all my visitors and pinning up their pictures somewhere. It tickles me.

however I don't see the lameness.

Sometimes I feel like I own too much crap. Mostly computer stuff and cars, I guess....