Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/12/10

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Subject: Re: Vs: [Leica] digital experience(very long)
From: Borja Marcos <borjamar@sarenet.es>
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2000 21:03:54 +0100
References: <200012061826.eB6IQwY02550@sushi.toad.net> <3.0.6.32.20001210070302.007c5c30@127.0.0.1>

Dave Richards wrote:
> 
> This reminds me of the discussion surrounding the disappearance of vinyl
> when digital audio became available.

	I don't think this is the same ;-)

> Digital audio promised "perfect sound forever" and some folks actually
> believed them.  A great many people put aside their collections of vinyl
> recordings and their turntables.  That is, until they discovered that first
> generation CD's sounded lifeless and colorless.  The CD's themselves and
> the reproduction equipment weren't up to the promise of perfect sound.

	The first CDs were in many cases badly recorded, and the 
first CD players had poor D/A converters. 

	But, anyway, the vinyl disk has indeed noise problems, 
degrades each time you play it, etc. If you ask a sound
engineer about the analog/digital war, he/she will tell you
that comparing analog or digital multitrack recorders, they
are *different*, with *different* kinds of compromises.

	But, think about digital photography. Does it give
superior quality to chemical photography? I guess no. Of
course there are digital backs for professional cameras, but at
an astronomical cost.

	Moreover, the CCDs are subject to thermal noise problems. 
If I am right, many professional digital backs need to be
cooled.

	But the worst problem with digital cameras is obsolescency.
I've got a Leica IIIg (1958) and I can use the latest films in it.
Yesterday I was shooting with Ilford Delta 3200 rated at 6400!

	Think about the digital camera. You spend a lot of money,
and, which value will it keep if you want to sell it in the second
hand market? Think about computers. This is the same thing.

	And, to make things worse, bad practice in software design
is plaguing the market. Last month, a friend (professional 
photographer) had a problem with a Nikon D1 that suddenly "hanged"
like a computer. He sent it to Nikon for service, and they returned
it after cleaning the prism. He had the same problem again (which
had not shown up in the Nikon's service center) and had to send it
again. Two days later, someone from the shop phoned him saying that
suddenly Nikon had decided to give him a new unit. Why?

	My friend does some press photography, and the D1 can be
really convenient to send photos to the newspapers. For other
work he uses Hasselblad. But, if these cameras are subject to poor
software design, he will continue using his "old fashioned" cameras
which he can trust.

	Try yo to go a harsh place with a digital camera. ;-)

	I think digital cameras are good for certain applications,
but not for everybody, despite the efforts of the marketing departments
of the digital camera makers, who are dreaming about selling each
person a new camera each year, with virtually no second hand market.




	Borja.

In reply to: Message from "Steve LeHuray" <icommag@toad.net> (Re: Vs: [Leica] digital experience(very long))
Message from "Dave Richards" <dprichards@qwest.net> (Re: Vs: [Leica] digital experience(very long))