Digital photography is not expensive but buying into it is.

With film photography camera and lenses were a moderate investment but these lasted quite long. Even a battery in a film camera would last several years. Cameras and lenses were mechanical and much simpler than today's models. This made them require less expertise to manufacture and also made them incredibly sturdy. A lifespan of a decade for a camera and several decades for lenses was not uncommon.

However, the real cost of film photography is film and development. Each roll of film costs several dollars and gives up to 36 images. Specialized rolls were more expensive and had fewer exposures. Then, if you did not do development yourself, you had to pay for development. Also prints. Even if you did your own, chemicals and papers were recurring costs. And there was the added expensive of creating a wet darkroom. In the end, the hobby was quite costly.

With digital photography, you pay nearly all costs up-front and it comes out much cheaper for anyone who is into the art and shoots regularly. A mid-range DSLR with good lens and memory can easily be obtained for less than $2500. Many entry level ones exist for under $1000. If you were to shoot 10,000 frames before both your camera and lens dies, it would cost you between 2.5¢ to 10¢ per frame. It is far far less than even just the film for each frame. Still most cameras have shutters rated to at least 100,000 frames and lenses last much longer than cameras. Even if you only captured 1000 images, you would have a better deal than with film photography. All digital cameras come with rechargeable batteries, good for 500-1000 shots-per-charge (for DSLRs) and can be charged at least 50-100 times before needing to be replaced. That means you actually will not use up the battery before you have taken full advantage of the better value of digital photography.

Market conditions are forcing the price of digital photography to increase. The loss of market share of compact and ultra-compact digital cameras to cellphones forced manufacturers to discontinue such products and concentrate on higher-end offering. While the number of unit sales of digital cameras has been declining, the average price is going up to compensate for reduced revenue. This trend is expected to continue for a while.