Apparently, there has been a turn back to large format photography, including 8x10. This is in spite of he besieged mentality has settled over anyone who still shoots film, the slow death of 8x10 monorail, the worries that the classical manufactures not turn out new product, and the fears about commitment by film companies to continue manufacturing film. Has the market seems to have stabilized?

The professional commercial photographers and news photojournalists have shifted to, and will remain with, digital, due to client demands. The commercial world is pretty happy with their 39 megapixel digital backs. It is the serious amateurs (either either retired or have full-time jobs) and fine art photographers have shifted to large format. When going to new locations I use my digital camera as a scouting shot--or “sketch pad” of sorts --- for future 5 x 7 and 8 x10 images.

Large format photography has moved into the same sort of area as wood carving, and print making etc.-- a craft with its own niche and ethos. As Fred R. Conrad at the New York Times reminds us with large format the process is slower as it takes time to set up the camera and to visualize what you want.

In this world you still come across the digital Luddites who have a vested interest in maintaining the exclusive use of "pure" photography for themselves and who suggest emphatically that somehow digital is not the real thing. It's largely a case of the old school hating the new school.