Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/09/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Folks, I hadn't really tried out a digital camera till yesterday. A friend needed some shots of jewelry to post on E**y. I took 52 photos in an hour or so with a Kodak El Cheepo, sucked them into the computer, cropped and had Photoshop generate a thumbnail gallery, and posted them on the web for her to copy off and use. It was all done by that evening, and cost nothing in materials. If I'd had to shoot two rolls and scan all those mothers? ...... The color and exposure were terrible, but I think that was pilot error. (Don't need no stinking manual.) So, it took more time Photoshopping. Still, she's very happy with them and I'm happy it's done. My old studio colleague does a lot of work on a digital SLR, both product shots and models. He says anything that's going to be a little picture in a catalog comes out just fine, and the cost advantage and speed of delivery is unbeatable. He said, however, if the client thinks they might want to use the shot in a bigger size than a little cut, he steers them to the traditional 120 or 4x5. It's a lot like the concert recordings I do. With digital tape, I can record two hours on a $10 DAT, suck that into the computer, edit and balance it in a visual waveform interface, and burn it to a CD, sometimes within a few hours of the performance. A huge reel to reel analog machine would sound better, but cost way more in tape, take longer to work with, require more maintenance and be much harder on my back. With the technology of that era the same job would take days, and I wouldn't have the amazing flexibility of computer editing. Argument for digital? Not really. Given the budget, I'd record in analog and digital, as is done in a lot of studios. If posterity wishes, they will have a high resolution source to use with their *finally* mature digital medium. (SACD) Photo-wise, the simplicity/efficiency of film as a storage medium outweighs it's cost for stuff that really matters. And, someday, when I have a scanner like Austin uses, the info will be there in the film to be retrieved. Carl - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html