Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/11/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Guy Bennett wrote: "I'm not a pro, and am not subject to pro constraints - I don't have to worry about which way the market is going, what newspapers and mags will no longer accept, what photo editors require, etc. I'm an amateur doing this for my own pleasure, and that for me means: manual camera, prime lenses, black and white film, liquid chemicals, wet darkroom, actual photographic paper, etc. The whole digital everything is totally uninteresting to me, since one of my motivations for making pictures in the first place is my desire to learn and work with traditional processes. I'm not against digital photography, realize it is quote the way of the future endquote, but like many of us on this list, I spend a major portion of my day working on a computer, and I appreciate turning off the machine and doing things that are *not* dependant on digital technology. Does this mean I will never go digital? Not necessarily. At some point, my photographic interests may go that way. What will I do if manufacturers stop producing analogue anything, to the point that we're wiping our butts ... I mean our rear elements ... with digital toilet paper? I'll deal with that when it happens. For now, I'll just follow the debate. As long as film, chemicals, paper, etc., are still being made (and I personally do not believe that they'll ever disappear completely, they'll just become less readily available and perhaps more expensive), I'll continue to use them. If and when that ever becomes impossible, well, I'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Well put. I think it's important to take everyone's contribution to this debate as their personal opinion, and not something they're trying to impose on the whole list membership. Some eschew digital in all its forms, and they have their own - entirely valid - reasons. Others - and I'm one of them - use digital cameras when appropriate, scan film when that's appropriate, and even print an image in the darkroom when that's appropriate. It's actually no big deal, you use the right tool for the job. Sometimes film's the right medium, in other situations digital is the only possible choice (the UK national press, for example, will no longer deal with film unless it's a *major* story). Whatever the limitations of the current digital SLRs, they are useful tools. Yes there are problems, but all tools have strengths and weaknesses, that's a major part of the *skill* of photography; knowing the right tool for the job. - -- David Morton dmorton@journalist.co.uk "The more opinions you have, the less you see." -- Wim Wenders. - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html