Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/10/27

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Just a thought
From: Paul Chefurka <Paul_Chefurka@pmc-sierra.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 05:16:22 -0700

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Mike Johnston [mailto:michaeljohnston@ameritech.net]
>Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2000 11:46 PM
>To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
>Subject: [Leica] Just a thought
>
>
>> Two months ago I'd have disagreed vehemently with this.  Today, after
>> reading Michael Reichmann's comparison of the output of a 
>Canon D30 to an
>> EOS shooting Provia 100F, I'm inclined to think it's going 
>to happen a lot
>> sooner than most of us think.
>
>
>Not to be discouraging, but do bear in mind that Michael's a 
>very rich guy.
>He's got lots of very nice equipment, and he can afford to buy 
>successive
>generations of new digital equipment without worrying about 
>the resale value
>of the stuff it's replacing. I'm not saying your conclusions 
>are wrong by
>any means, but a conventional darkroom for an 11-year-old 
>looks like pocket
>change compared to what Michael's invested.
>

No question about that at all, Mike.  Yes, I assumed Mr. Reichmann had a visit from the stock option fairy at some point.  My comments shouldn't be taken directly in relation to the subject under discussion - I know 10-year-olds are unlikely to have access to an Imacon.  Rather, they were a comment about the rapid progress of the state of the art.  We're on the knee of the digital imaging curve, and things are likely to get radically better and radically cheaper over the next couple of years.

As an audiophile I lived through and subscribed to the "LP's are better for music, they will never die, digital audio is the tool of the devil corporations" era.  We fought that rear-guard action for about seven years, and suddenly digital audio *was* better for music.  There are still die-hard audiophiles using high-end turntables and handcrafted moving-coil cartridges, but the war between the media has been over for years.  The same thing is happening right now in photography.

I predict that all the "inkjet prints just ain't art" arguments are going to look pretty quaint in about five years.

Paul

Replies: Reply from Mark Rabiner <mark@rabiner.cncoffice.com> (Re: [Leica] Just a thought)