[Leica] more digital vs film, from BJP

[Jim Brick <jimbrick@photoaccess.com>]

This is from the current "British Journel of Photography" issue:

It is nearly 10 years since the first digital camera was 
unveiled, and quite frankly the jury is still out amongst 
professionals. Rapid progress has been made in the 
enthusiast market, and estate agents and loss adjusters are 
increasingly using mid-range cameras for business 
applications. But where are the professionals, apart from 
photojournalists and the odd commercial photographer 
shooting pack shots, who are utilising digital photography 
through every stage of the production process?

While many professionals are singing the praises of the 
Iris print, or putting images onto disk, or manipulating 
pictures using Photoshop or other available software 
programs, virtually no above-the-line advertising 
photographers, who are in a position actually to pay 
thousands of pounds for the digital backs and the rest of 
the accessories, are shooting digitally.Furthermore, many 
have no plans to do so for the foreseeable future. 
So what's the problem? Cost is, of course, a factor, 
particularly when they have already invested so much in 
traditional kit. Secondly, the image quality as yet is not 
as good as that of silver halide; "EVEN THE DIGITAL GURUS 
WHO PREACH THE ELECTRONIC GOSPEL ALMOST
INVARIABLY SHOOT ON  FILM WHICH IS THEN DIGITALLY
RECORDED." Good pictures can be obtained
digitally; for instance, still lives or portraits lend
themselves to this approach, but for moving objects it 
is another story and the faster the object the harder it is 
to record it faithfully by means of a digital camera. Press 
photographers will disagree, but for newspapers speed of 
delivery is often the overriding factor rather outstanding 
image quality, and it is here that digital comes into its 
own.

The rest of the profession will cross the floor when they 
are convinced that digital cameras can produce better 
results than anything else. The manufacturers argue that 
both the traditional and electronic systems can co-exist 
and work in conjunction... but they would say that. 
Realistically choices are going to have be made some time 
down the line, but when exactly? Over to the gurus on that 
one.

BJP