Film vs Dig.

[Swimjim]

Since I bought my Cannon, my Nikonos II's have been gathering dust.  The advantages of a Nikonos over digital is indestructibility,  can go deeper and even you miss that eye lash on the o-ring and experience a flood, you can dry it out and your back in business. 
    The advantages of digital as previously mentioned are just too overwhelming and have greatly changed the photography industry as a whole.  I read somewhere that three major camera manufacturers were no longer going to make cameras.  I forget all three, but Minolta was one of them.  I have alot of their gear and have been using it since the early seventies.
    From a novice standpoint though, you can't take too many photo's and digital allows you to do that in spades.  Seeing your results right now greatly reduces the learning curve.  The on board electronics lets you forget about exposure to some extent so you can concentrate on composition.  Do yourself a favor and read up on "making" photographs.
      With my Cannon I can do video too.  It allows me to do three minute clips which I can baste together afterwards with the computer.  This winter, when the snow is blowing, I'll be able to take a tour of the Northerner, the Byron, the Niagara and the McMillian and Pitz dredge to name a few. 
      So, I would go ahead and invest in digital.  I would be willing to bet that ten years from now film cameras will be extinct.

Jim