RE: [Leica] Leica and digital photography

["Austin Franklin" <darkroom@ix.netcom.com>]

> Come on, Austin - I'm not going to get in an argument with you, because I
> know I can't possibly win ;-)....But....I suppose we're assuming that one
> already has a computer...

That's not making for a very fair comparison.  Then why not assume that I
have a film processor and process the film my self...for merely the cost of
chemicals...or that daddy (or mommy) is a chief scientist at Kodak ;-)

> But let's see, film is how much per roll, assuming one is shooting color
> negative - or slide? And processing is how much per roll? And
> once one goes
> digital one presumably never again has to buy film or pay for processing?

Yes, true...but you do have to pay for the media, and it DOES fail.  I have
already had one card fail on me.  Flash is not infinitely re-usable, but it
is pretty good.

> I know that I pay about $2 per roll for gray market tri-x, and pay $8 per
> roll for processing....so if I shoot 25 rolls, that's $250  per job.

Yeah, but if you processed your own, it would be about $8...

> Which
> means that if I was shooting a job a week, which I'm not, in my
> first year I
> could set up a terrific digital darkroom, with all the redundency
> one could
> possibly want, and enough storage media to carry me for years to
> come....and
> then the next year I could start replacing digital
> equipment.....all out of
> my film and processing money....

Instead of all the time you spend putzing with PhotoShop (and printing,
which is SLOW), you could be out shooting, making more money ;-)

> Now, if only I can convince myself to sell my Leica equipment to
> finance the
> purchase of the digital equipment.....but so far my digital side hasn't
> managed to convince my analogue side...;-)

You know I use digital, and like it a lot...but unfortunately, people think
it's some panacea, and it's not.  It has many drawbacks, and many
advantages.  It's right for some, and not for others.  But, there is a LOT
of misunderstanding and misinformation that people, for some reason, are
willing to buy.

As I've said many times, when this subject comes up here...single shot
digital cameras basically don't have the resolution (or image quality) and
they don't have the film speed...two things the Leica excels at.  If you
don't need those two things, then why on earth are you using a Leica M in
the first place?  Also, you don't have the same lense choices.  Plain and
simple, why on earth would anyone be comparing ANY digital camera to a Leica
M?  That's like comparing a VW Bug to a Range Rover.

Austin

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