Hey B-P-M, it is cheaper! Lets say you take 20,000 images witht he D1x and you buy 2 1gig cards with it, and you take the same amount with an F5 SLR. Lets do the math... D1x - $3800 (body only) 2 1gig cards - $600 ($299.95 each out of this months PC Photo) Total before enlagerements or paper $4400 Nikon F5 - $1800 (body only) 833 rols of 24 exposure film - $1666 ($2 per roll) Developing for Slide - $9996 ($12 per roll) Total Before Prints - $13462 20,000 shots is half the expected life of either of these cameras. So which is cheaper? I haven't even gotten into the lenses, tiem in the lab for film vs time in PhotoShop. This is just body cost and original processing only.