RE: [Leica] Conflict of Interest

[eric@jphotog.com]

Don,

Quite right. Much of the photo press loves a trend. It can attract
advertisers. And the threerolls a year set are likely to stick with film for a long time to come.

But in the middle there, there are a lot of people who could benefit from
digital. I got a newprinter last week to go with my new Mac G5. I've been without a printer
for about fourmonths now. I got a new Epson that has the Picturebridge (or whatever it's
called, I'm 1,100miles away right now) technology. That's where you can hook your camera up
to the printervia USB, and it had slots for about four different kinds of media. If the
camear has thisPicturebridget tech.

I thought I'd test it out. So I stuck a CF card in and told it to make a
4x6 borderless print,from one of the photos. No Photoshop, no manipulation whatsoever. From the
fresh jpegimage I took earlier that day.

I have to say, I was blown away. It was remarkable. The print was better
than any 4x6 printI've gotten from any lab but a very expensie pro lab. The color was bright
and saturated.Tonal range was really good. And remember, I judge photos every day for
printing in booksthat educate jewelry and gem professionals about stones. I have to be very
precise in judgingcolor, tonal range, sharpness, etc. because our $1.5 million offset press
is really good. So Idon't just accept anything that gets printed. I expect quality.

For a $179 printer, this thing is amazing. I can see very soon a $99
printer and $99 camerasupplanting a lot of film cameras. Not all for sure, but a significant
amount. If you can makeonly the prints you want, not have to go to the photo store where they can
lose your film, orruin it, digital will start looking viable for even many of the most
casual snapshooters. Itmight even encourage them to bring out the camera more often.

> Getting back to cameras, all the media is singing the praises of
> digital as that is what is good for business.  Stores get to sell
> boxes,
>
> How does the above relate to conflict of interest you ask?  Well, how
> many stories have you read stating the obvious: if you already have a
> film camera that works, why would you spend hundreds of dollars to get
> a device that causes you to spend time and effort to do what you can do
> now by throwing a roll of film at some clerk and say you will be back
> in an hour and the flesh tones had better look good.  Digital has a
> strong place in the world, rabid photographers, news, catalog, media,
> military, business record keeping, etc.  But for family memory keeping,
> the kind of folks Karen was talking about who shoot a roll every two or
> three months, digital is nuts.




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