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Will we ever see disposable digital cameras?
Tuesday, 18 January, 2005
I used to be quite a Nikon SLR camera fan, but have long since swapped my 35mm gear for a Nikon digital camera.
My question is, the way prices are dropping, will we ever see disposable digital cameras the way we now see disposable 35mm cameras?
Steve Thomassen, Hong Kong,
 Certainly. It's just a matter of time. Except that they won't necessarily be disposable as we know the term. It might be that each time you feel the need to take some pictures, and you don't have the camera with you, you buy an inexpensive camera, which costs virtually no more than the memory inside it. The difference might be that instead of throwing the camera away, you could put it away in a drawer for when you finally get around to using it. A camera such as this could be very tiny - around the size of a cube of sugar. At this size, it would have no flash and no screen, and be little more than a blob on the end of a USB plug. For that matter, they could be video or still cameras.
Or perhaps disposable music players. Imagine a black earpiece. It contains all the recorded music you can imagine. You pay $100 for it and it lets you listen to $100 worth of music (say six months) then it stops working. You chuck it away and buy a new one. Does that idea appeal to you or annoy you?
Disposable film cameras work simply because you have to hand the film (or in this case, the entire camera) to someone for processing anyway, so you may as well let them keep the camera. They're designed to be recycled, but as far as we know, no-one does in Australia.
Who knows what the next couple of generations of camera-like gadgets will be. Soon all mobile phones will have them, so why not calculators or even cans of drink?
Postscript: On a whim I just searched Google for "Disposable digital camera" and found more than 24,000 hits. Paul Zucker
 Reader solutions
readerPosted: 28/05/2008 re: Will we ever see disposable digital cameras? throw that thing away gay JPosted: 27/04/2007 re: Will we ever see disposable digital cameras? they're out already! you can get em pretty cheap for like, 20 dollars or maybe even 15 at drugstores. My friend went to wolf camera and got a disposable camcorder. However, we bought the cameras, then made our own cables to connect to our computers. So basically, we bought cameras for 20 bucks
(Wolf Cameras. Now that's a catalogue I like to get. I suppose you can order one on the 'net. The other one is B&H from memory. -PZ) JoshPosted: 27/01/2005 re: Will we ever see disposable digital cameras? I've used a bluetooth headset to listen to music. It wouldn't actually work with an mp3 file, but it would work with the audio from a mp4 file (video). So you can listen to a music video through it, or convert a mp3 into a mp4 i've been told and just play the song as a video with a blank screen.
Although only mono 'cause it's a single earpiece.
My digital camera cost me $99. And a few months after i bought it, the price dropped to $69. That's a 2megapixel camera with AVI video, 8MB inbuilt memory, usb cable, carry pouch, wrist strap, cd software and manual.
So i'd say it would be feasable to get that price down to $20 with no extra'''s in 5 years.
(All crows are black, therefore the black bird I just saw is a crow. MP3 won't play on your BlueTooth headset therefore it won't play on anyone's. -Paul Zucker) Michael CookPosted: 21/01/2005 re: Will we ever see disposable digital cameras? I think we probably will see disposable cameras. As Peter Caristo mentioned, I hope by disposable they mean recyclable. I hate waste.
As for the "Black earpiece" MP3 player... It sounds fantastic at first but it suggests one earpiece and therefore mono sound. To make it stereo you will obviously need two earpieces plus wires to join them (or perhaps it could be a wireless connection). Either way, this would make it less simple and rugged and it would take away some of the minimalist appeal.
An alternative could be an MP3 playing phone that plays through the wireless Bluetooth earphone(s) when you are not making calls. Then again, it probably already exists! GR1MR33P3RPosted: 21/01/2005 re: Will we ever see disposable digital cameras? Just look to the US. They already have disposable digital cameras. The placed that have them dont even sell the normal disposable cameras anymore. The one know of works like this, You buy take your happy snaps till the memory is full then take it back to get processed, printed, burned, hosted whatever. The camera is all sealed so you can not get the photos yourself. They do not use memory sticks ethier so you dont just crack it open and take out the memory stick to get your photos. They use inbuilt flash memory and have a special (dont know what is called) they you can not get.
Although I was watching a show which said you just crack it open and use the same port the original Palm Pilot cradle uses to connect to the Palm to access your photos. StevenPosted: 20/01/2005 re: Will we ever see disposable digital cameras? No
Disposable camera''s exist for a reason - because film manufacturers want to make the money on developing. (ever heard of a camera company making a disposable? No, its the film companies)
The only way it would be viable is if the effort of downloading/printing was chargable at $20 dollars and the cost of the camera was a few cents - which is only possible because a disposable film camera's aren't much more advanced than a shutter and a hole.
Who is going to pay that kind of money when an alternative exists for unlimited free 'prints' (a home pc and a family website) Greg SmithPosted: 19/01/2005 re: Will we ever see disposable digital cameras? Disposable digital cameras sound fun, but I dont think a disposable mp3 player would be good. My mp3 player is basically my music collection backup - if my hard drive were to die at the same moment that my disposable mp3 player died, it would mean many hours of CD ripping, etc.
I like the idea of software shipping on read-only USB drives rather than CDs or DVDs though :) Andrada TudorPosted: 19/01/2005 re: Will we ever see disposable digital cameras? It certainly gets annoying when you come home after buying the most up to date piece of technology, only to find that five minutes later it is prehistoric, incompatible with a newer model, and no longer fashionable. It seems that they update things faster than we can buy them.
In respect to disposable digital technology, it would make it less of a strain to switch a camera for the latest model, as we would be expected to recycle them frequently. Hoping of course that they would find a way to recycle the cameras efficiently.
I would prefer that they put their research into increasing the quality of the picture in these smaller cameras. If they ever get close to what you see on 35mm prints, then I wouldn't want to dispose of the camera anyway. BlackFireNovaPosted: 19/01/2005 re: Will we ever see disposable digital cameras? Dear Peter:
As with others who responded, I think the more likely scenario is for low cost digital cameras that one would pay a minimum amount for, probably something the size of a memory card, which one would use until full, and then mail or take to a facility who would "process" the photos for you and make them available on a website for download (the fee for this being they get to keep the camera for re-use) or for a fee, making actual prints which would then be mailed to you. AndrewPosted: 19/01/2005 re: Will we ever see disposable digital cameras? Why not an insert for a SLR camera? that replaces the film mechanism? I spent $2000 on a SLR that needs film, I'm willing to spend $200-$300 for an insert but not willing to spend an additional $2000 on a digital replacement. So my SLR is now disposable?
(The problem with that idea is that a sensor to fit the 45mm frame is HUGE. and would cost a bomb. The sensor in many digital cameras is tiny by comparison. -Paul Zucker) JindyPosted: 19/01/2005 re: Will we ever see disposable digital cameras? Dont really like the idea of the disposable digital cameras (except maybe of a can of drink) but the disposable mp3 players sound like an awesome idea! Just like buying CD's but you dont need a stereo to play it.... you just buy your music and start listening. DannyPosted: 19/01/2005 re: Will we ever see disposable digital cameras? disposable camera's or (SUC Single Use Camera's) are recycled i own a processing lab in emerald and we recycle about 100 a month overal in Australia they recycle about 5 million a year which actually helps keep the cost of these units down.
(Thanks Danny. That's good to know. I'd hate to think of all that technology being thrown away. You'll know this, but many readers won't [ what's unusual about the film in a disposable or SU camera?
The film is outside the cassette when you start, and as you use it, the film gets wound back, shot by shot. -Paul Zucker) PatPosted: 19/01/2005 re: Will we ever see disposable digital cameras? I hope not. society of today throws allot of stuff away if we dont change this say goodbuy to buetiful australia michael balazsPosted: 18/01/2005 re: Will we ever see disposable digital cameras? Panasonic already makes a disposable digital camera!
I bought it 2 years ago, for $700.00. It stop working, 6 months ago for no apparent reason.
They charged $88.00 to tell me it would be $780.00 to fix. To buy a similar camera now is $440.00.
From that it is obvious that its disposable.
(Oh Michael. I see you share my sense of irony. I sympathise. -Paul Zucker Peter CaristoPosted: 18/01/2005 re: Will we ever see disposable digital cameras? There was a guy on The New Inventers TV show (ABC) that designed a "disposable" digital camera/video camera. It was about the size of a flash gun and designed for ANY one to use - very simple, with only 2 or 3 buttons. You could shoot stills or short movies. Then you could return the camera to one of the shops that sells it, get the prints or a CD with your pics.
They would then recycle most of the components into making new camers ( I guess the front lens would have to be replaced each time as a minimum.
(That's the funny thing about the word "disposable". What they often mean is exactly the opposite - recyclable. It's like the idea of "public" cars. Instead of us all owning cars, if there were fewer cars, but readily available when we need one. we'd all have a car yet the cost would be way down and so would pollution. Yes, pollution would be down because there would be fewer cars to make, and those cars would be modern and well maintained and efficient. -Paul Zucker)
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