The photon model of light has been known for decades to be self-inconsistent and controversial theory with numerous intrinsic conflicts. This paper revises the model and explores its applicability for description of classical electromagnetic fields. The revision discloses that the photon model fails for fields in current-containing domains, as well as for near fields in current-free regions. This drastically changes the hierarchy of optics theories and the entire landscape of physics. In particular, quantum optics appears to be not the most advanced theory, as it is commonly thought, but just an improved version of geometrical optics with limited applicability, while quantum electrodynamics turns out to provide a truncated description of electromagnetic interactions.
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