[Leica] wet or digital..... world series thoughts

["Birkey, Duane" <dbirkey@hcjb.org.ec>]

As I watched the end of the World Series last night... I noticed only one
traditional film camera (might have been more... but I didn't see them) and
scads of digital EOS ones and a few Nikon D1's...

The fact that just about everything that gets published these days is
scanned and put into electronic format at some point anyways increasingly
narrows the practical distance between digital and film and the usage of
images is constantly changing as well.  I shoot on film... scan it and send
it to the graphic designer who sends the completed file to the printer.  I
look at images shot with the D30 on various web sites and I can see that in
many cases that image is better than what I get from traditional film
scanned with the LS-2000.  I have to be nuts to not consider using digital
for some work at least.

I went to a school yesterday morning that is extremely underfunded in a very
poor neighborhood... no phones... no real water system,  open sewers,
electricity that is stolen off of lines...   etc...  

We have a medical clinic up there and one of our missionaries encouraged her
school in England to raise funds to help kids get their school supplies, buy
chalk and markerboards, supplies, soccer and basketballs and a copier for
the school..

I shot images with my Leicas and her digital camera.  The digital images I
shot were already sent to England yesterday afternoon and the film won't be
back from the lab till Monday afternoon....   I know some of the film images
will be better as the digital camera has considerable lag time and I have
more lens options...  But she doesn't care as the images I shot are already
in England.  

If they publish something in their newsletter at their normal print size...
they will easily be able to use the digital files and they will look as good
if not better than what I shot technically.....  Although I think the film
images will be better content-wise due to less lag time and I shot more on
film.  But I won't know until Monday. 

Either way....  I'm finding myself pushed more towards digital every day...
While I enjoy making personal B&W prints in the darkroom, (something I only
do once in a blue moon) ..  I'm finding that most people don't want B&W
prints, in fact they don't really want prints... they want images they can
send over e-mail, stick on a website, a power point presentation, in a
inkjet printed report or sent to a commercial printer.  For all of those
uses... starting digital is better.... Only if the primary usage is a
display print or slide show does film really win out.  

So, before I buy a D30..... can somebody ask Leica at the NY Expo when they
are going to produce a Digital M or R camera????

Duane Birkey
HCJB World Radio
Quito Ecuador
Duane's Photographs of Ecuador
http://duane_birkey.tripod.com