Melançon Enterprises • a multidivision multinational since 1980

Buying the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Standard Auto Focus Nikkor Lens - with 5 Year U.S.A. Warranty

$129.95

Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5 - 5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR (Vibration Reduction) Zoom Nikkor Lens - with 5 Year U.S.A. Warranty

$534.95

Actually, replace the below with a whole D90 plus the same lens...

Nikon Mfr #INKD9075 SKU: INKD9070

Nikon D90 12.3 Megapixel Digital SLR Camera Body with Nikon 70mm - 300mm f/4-5.6G ED AF-S VR (Vibration Reduction) Lens - U.S.A. Warranty

$1,329.00

For about a year now, my mother can't get pictures developed decently.

This is a process that was perfected, worked great, cheap and available to everyone.

A little competition from digital, and suddenly no one even tries to do a good job at an affordable price of developing film photographs?

I'm not sure what the economic forces are at work here – except that with greater equality of wealth would come a greater emphasis on quality over being inexpensive.