Re: Digital Sucks - off topic

Dear Yves,

Well maybe both are just tools, but I do think film produces better
images than digital for a variety of reasons which I think I've stated
in this thread and previous posts. You are of course correct in
saying the choice between digital and film is just a choice of "tools"
(I prefer the term technologies because I feel it carries much more
meaning). I could, I suppose follow others and blow-up video raster
images to 30 x 40 too; but that's not my bent. I suppose it would be
all well and good if there were no "market place," just folks
producing and using tools. But, of course that is not the case - some
very large corporations who dominate the market are making it clear
which tools I SHOULD use rather than allowing me to choose. Besides -
the digital "tools" are not, as I have found out recently, very
resilient and thus are not a good choice for what I would like my
tools to do. It's very expensive to travel here (mainly by charted
plane) and when I get somewhere I want my equipment to work. My
recent experience with a digital camera that died on my living room
floor suggests that it's not a tool I would want to carry with me into
the "bush." Hence my use of the word "sucks;" because in fact the
digital tool has not, in fact, proved a reliable tool for my needs.

Best -greg

On Fri, 26 May 2006, Yves Gauvreau wrote:

> Greg,
>
> A camera is a tool and as such no one is "better" then the other but the
> person using this tool can make a huge difference on the result and of
> course some types of camera behave differently to different types of work.
> Yes, a tool can go bad and can break sometimes but to say digital cameras
> sucks when we all know some wonderful things have been done with them is
> hard to accept.
>
> I had a digital SLR camera myself and I sold it for a Bronica Etrsi and I'm
> very happy I did but you'll never ear me say I did this because digital is
> crap on the contrary, it was a fine camera and in the hands of someone who
> can get the most of it I'm sure beautiful images can be made with it, I just
> couldn't, at least not to my satisfaction. I'll try pinholes camera in a
> near future, maybe I'll find them to be just what I'm looking for, we never
> know until we try...
>
> Regards
> Yves
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Greg Schmitz" <gws1@columbia.edu>
> To: <alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca>
> Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 11:40 PM
> Subject: Re: Digital Sucks - off topic
>
>
>> On Thu, 25 May 2006, Ender100@aol.com wrote:
>>
>>> Have you found that you make the same living while continuing to shoot
> film
>>> as you have in the past? Clients don't mind? Do you scan the film
> then for
>>> clients?
>>
>> Mark, It's hard for me to say what clients want here as I'm new to the
>> Alaska market. In general, from what I've seen here and in NYC, digital
>> has reduced the demand for professional photographers -and- perhaps
>> reduced slightly what clients are willing to pay, at least in small local
>> markets. If I need scans I let my lab do it.
>>
>>> It sounds like you had a most unusually good experience with
> film/cameras in
>>> your career... and a bad one with digital. I'm not sure either is
>>> representative.
>>
>> I do think my experience is fairly representative. Since I'm using
>> cameras and lenses from many different manufacturers I would assume that
>> if mechanical equipment were prone to failure I would have experienced it
>> by now (I do have my equipment serviced on a regular basis). On the other
>> hand I've seen lots of electronic equipment, including my own, fail with
>> regularity.
>>
>>> Does the useless digital camera have a useless digital warantee?
>>
>> Unfortunately, the warranty has expired.
>>
>>> Clipped highlights with digital cameras is a common error people make,
> but
>>> easily avoided if you have tested your camera.
>>
>> Yes, but based on my observations I don't think digital handles highlights
>> (clipped or not) as well as film.
>>
>>> Best Wishes,
>>> Mark Nelson
>>> Precision Digital Negatives--The Book
>>> PDNPrint Forum at Yahoo Groups
>>> www.MarkINelsonPhoto.com
>>
>>
>> Best -greg
>
>
Received on 05/27/06-05:23:47 AM Z