Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/08/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> A 5 mgp camera may enable the photographer to produce technically-competetive > images for a year or so but the digital bar keeps getting raised at a rapid > pace, making the entire camera technically obsolete. Unfortunately this agrument will always work as long as the technology improves. Which would mean that no one would every by a digital camera because at some point, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps five years from now, there would be a better camera. Which is silly. No one would buy a computer or a television if that were true because there will always be something faster/better/improved which will render their current purchase "obsolete." The question is: for your application is the current technology suitable for the purpose at hand and do you need the benefits of that technology for your application? If the answer is "yes" then you'd be a dolt not to employ it. If, on the other hand, it's merely "nice" to have then waiting for the next product generation will result in something better or the same thing at a cheaper price. If you have an old 50mm f2.0 Summicron should you upgrade to the new version? Perhaps you should. But is the old lens "obsolete"? I don't think so. It still makes fine images, not as good as the current lens - but if you aren't going to push the lens to its limit then you might never notice the difference. Digital is, at once, simple and complex: it eliminates the time consuming and potentially costly process of developing film and substitutes the time consuming and potentially costly process of looking through all the images you've shot, deciding what to archive and how to make that archive. But a 5 MP digital camera today will make the same image 10 years from now as it does now. So if you never ask more of it than what it can deliver you will be just as happy as if you were shooting film. Indeed you will probably be able to upgrade the firmware and improve your camera for a time. It's a different world...and the same. Adam Bridge - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html