{dateline, Scranton, Pa.}.. Jay Walters saw how much photography had changed when he tried to sell camera bags and photo albums at a recent flea market.
 
"I was selling stuff for 10 cents on the dollar," said Mr. Walters, 59, of Clarks Summit.
 
The explosion of digital photography squeezed out the many locally owned stores that used to sell cameras and equipment and made regular business selling and developing film.
 
The last survivor was Mr. Walters' Prestwood Photo Service on Sanderson Avenue, which was founded in 1936 by his grandfather, Wallace Prestwood, and closed 15 months ago.
 
"We were the first camera store in Northeastern Pennsylvania when we started and we were the last one to go," said Mr. Walters. "There's no other camera stores" locally owned and specializing in photo equipment and supplies.
 
"It's just one of those passings of businesses that were part of old Scranton," said John Cognetti, president of Hinerfeld Commercial Real Estate, which is seeking $600,000 for the 18,000-square-foot building.
 
Prestwood was a victim of Internet competition and digital photography.
 
"The photo industry has changed drastically from 2003," said Rich Banick, who operates a photo studio in Dunmore. "Digital really took a grip, and people just stopped buying film."
 
Digital cameras, which entered the mass market in mid-2003, capture images electronically that can be displayed, printed, stored and transmitted by computer. Their popularity spread so quickly that Kodak halted production of film cameras in 2004.
 
Mr. Walters, who joined the business in 1965 and succeeded his recently deceased father, William, as president in 1985, considered converting to all-digital equipment and processing before closing. He said the conversion would have cost more than $1 million.
 
"That was the writing on the wall," he said.
 
Prestwood became widely known for its mobile photo studios in vans that visited regional schools from 1956 to 1984 for portraits of students from kindergarten through senior year. At its height, Mr. Walters said, Prestwood employed 65 people and took 5,000 photos annually of just seniors.
 
"We were working two shifts a day, six days a week," said Mr. Walters, who ran the business the last 15 years with his son, Bill.
 
The laboratory area of the business still contains stainless steel photo processing equipment that Mr. Walters plans to sell for scrap because it has no commercial use.
 
"It's no good to anybody, not even in the Third World," he said.