DECATUR - Digital cameras have become the weapon of choice for proud mothers at birthday parties and zealous tourists at the zoo. Many who love pictures also love the convenience that allows you to see the final product instantly and the ability to delete bad photos to your heart's content.

But Kerry Jones of Decatur is giving up the conveniences and holding on to his 35 mm film camera, even though he knows he's part of a fading minority. He likes the permanence of film.

"Knowing it's exactly what your eye caught, it kind of gets to you," Jones said. When using film, "you really can't do a whole lot with the picture once you take it," as opposed to the easy manipulation of digital photos.

"I guess it's having something tangible in my hand and having the negative to print it off of," he said. "I just like it."

The 54-year-old estimates that he uses about 20 rolls of film when he goes on vacation.

Jones knows he'll join the trend and move completely to digital photography eventually. He now owns a digital camera and uses it alongside his 35 mm camera but thinks he'll switch to mainly digital when he gets a digital single-lens reflex camera.

"I'm getting close to changing over, but I haven't yet," he said. "When you're used to something, you just don't want to change."

Others like Jones are still holding on to their film cameras. Dee Dee Shafer, head photo specialist at Walgreens at the corner of U.S. 36 and Illinois 121, said most of their business comes from developing film.

"We still have a lot of people who are using regular 35 mm," Shafer said, 50 percent of which she estimates comes from onetime-use disposable cameras.

However, she also points out that many people who use digital can print their photos from home and do not have to come into the store to get their finished product.

Walgreens is trying to reach those digital users by allowing them to upload their photos to Walgreens.com from home and then pick up the prints at the store in as little as an hour.

"It's really nice to do it from the comfort of their home," Shafer said. "It's just really starting to take off."

Unlike Walgreens, most of the customers at Circuit City who are interested in photography are interested in digital.

Dan Cordray, a senior product specialist, estimates that besides disposables, he's personally sold only two film cameras in the 2½ years he's worked at Circuit City.

"They're just dead; no one buys them anymore. They collect dust over there," he said pointing to an aisle off the beaten path of the photo area. Corday estimates the camera display holds about 50 different models of cameras - all of which are digital.

Eastman Kodak is one company that has influenced the meager marketing of film cameras. According to a news release, it stopped distributing reloadable APS cameras worldwide and reloadable 35 mm cameras in the United States, Canada and Western Europe in 2004.

Kodak is still distributing film, and Circuit City is still stocking their shelves with it, although Cordray says it is not a big seller.

The shift in photography manufacturing companies is helping consumers keep up with technology, but it is causing problems for photographers who still want to use film.

Alida Duff has seen how the market change has affected photographers. She is a graphic designer for the Millikin University art department and will be teaching photography at Richland Community College in the fall. She said people who use a specific film that is no longer being manufactured are beginning to switch to digital.

"I believe film photography will be around as long as the manufacturers of development chemicals, papers and film are still able to make some profit," Duff said. But with improving technology and comparable quality of film and digital photos, she thinks the use of film could be in its last days.

"It could only be a matter of a few years before we see the end of traditional darkroom practices as we know it," she said.

But Duff still has hope for the darkroom and those photographers who view their craft as a fine art.

"Photographers who still recognize the handcrafted art in darkroom photography are maintaining their roots," she said. "There is no replacement for the smell of the developing chemicals and that instant where the image first appears on the paper. When it comes to making a piece of art, I would much rather work in the darkroom than on the computer."

Ashley Rueff can be reached at arueff@herald-review.com or 421-6977.