Digital storage has already transformed the music industry, book and newspaper publishing, and has forever altered the way we take photographs. In 2005, iTunes Store, a popular music application that allows users to purchase and download their favorite songs onto their computers, sold its 500-millionth song.

Likewise in the photography industry, USATODAY reports that UK retailer Dixons will no longer sell 35mm cameras due to the surge in popularity of their digital equivalents. Dixons reports that sales of digital cameras are outstripping sales of 35mm cameras by 15 to 1. Such changes are beginning to make their way into the United States as well. Many once-convenient photo suppliers now carry less 35mm equipment than just a year ago.

Professional photographers are at the forefront of the change. “Film is all gone,” said Stephen Nowers, Mat-Su bureau photographer for the Anchorage Daily News. He prefers his Nikon D200 digital camera to any other, not only because of its convenience but also because it was a company wide-decision to go digital. “I don’t know anyone who associates with film,” he said.

Yet, despite the new digital trend, some photographers still hold true to the traditional film medium. So which medium does one choose, and why?

For starters, it is important to consider the pros and cons of both digital and traditional photography. It is also important to pay attention to the changes in the photography industry because such shifts can drive prices up or down. Kodak announced in January 2004 that they would no longer sell Kodak-branded film cameras in developed countries. In January 2006, Nikon followed with the announcement that they would stop the production of all but two models of their film cameras. Only the low-end Nikon FX10 and the high-end Nikon F6 will continue to be manufactured, according to Wikipedia.

Jim Frei, beginning photography instructor of Matanuska-Susitna College in Wasilla, rebukes these changes: “Film is not dead. There have been many technological changes over the years; photographers adapt and move on. This is just another one of those changes.”

Frei uses a medium-format Sinar 4x5, “It allows for good quality images.” Traditional photography still offers the best in quality, especially in large-sized photographs.

Over the years, digital photography has made progress in improving picture quality through expanding the camera’s megapixel count. A megapixel is 1-million pixels, and is used to express the number of sensor elements of digital cameras. This means that the more megapixels a camera has, the better quality the images it produces. However, even the highest megapixel-count on available digital cameras today fall short of the quality produced by traditional cameras.

Thirty-three out of 40 photographers polled through an online arts website said digital was their preferred medium.

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