Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/05/01

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Darkroom
From: "bdcolen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>
Date: Thu, 1 May 2003 16:35:45 -0400

Of course you're basically correct Steve, and it will surprise you to
hear that your response doesn't surprise me. ;-) I think the real
question is what people mean by "film is dead." Dead for what? Film is
dead for daily photojournalism. Film is dead for a number of other PJ
applications. Film is dead for some types of commercial photography. But
film is alive and well for many other kinds of photography.

B. D.

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Steve
LeHuray
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2003 4:21 PM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: [Leica] Darkroom


B.D.

You may be surprised to hear that I mostly agree with you, but, it will
also surprise you when I say, being the hothead that I am, I am tired of
people chiming in saying something like "....o'migod, the sky is
falling, I better get me a digicam before I have a nervous breakdown..."
I really do not care that many people are moving over to digicam. What I
wish is that they would just stop announcing that film is dead, because
it is not.

Not everybody wants to go along with what seems to many to make sense --
yes most people drive cars with automatic transmissions, but then there
are those people insist on a car with a nice 5-speed.

Regards,

sl



> Hi, Steve - The fact that you and many other people world-wide will 
> stick with film for sometime to come doesn't negate the validity of 
> Lew's statement - "the future is clearly digital."
>
> Most working pros are going to be forced, by the demands of customers 
> and economics, to switch to digital - if they haven't been so forced 
> already. (Keep in mind, btw, that many pros replace their equipment on

> a regular basis, so making the switch from film to digital simply 
> means replacing the current film camera with its digital counterpart.)
>
> As to the admittedly huge non-pro market, hobbyists of any kind often 
> want what they consider to be the "latest" and the "best" - and in 
> photo that is taken to mean digital. Very very very few hobbyists own 
> Leicas - hell, very, very, very few pros - comparatively - own Leicas.

> So it's not a matter of throwing away Leicas; it's much more a  matter

> of what to get junior for his birthday, what to get to record family 
> events, or what to get to replace the low-end Pentax SLR or the Canon 
> EOS Rebel. And the answer to those questions will, in very little 
> time, have nothing to do with film.
>
> Oh, right - obsolescence. We are at the point now with digital where 
> people can buy in at a number of price points and be happy for quite a

> few years to come with the results they get. Sure, digital will 
> continue to improve. But how many people will have to have the 
> improvements? Certainly not enough so that your concern about 
> "digicams" becoming obsolete every two years is relevant.
>
> Best,
>
> B. D.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Steve 
> LeHuray
> Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2003 1:42 PM
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Darkroom
>
>
>> Much as we may hate to admit it, the future is clearly digital. There

>> are too many pluses.
>
>> -Lew
>>
>
> ....I have no doubt that for many people that is true, but, is also 
> true that for many of us, we will continue to shoot film. Especially 
> when you consider that for many decades millions of film cameras have 
> been sold (somewhere I read that photography is the #1 hobby, 
> worldwide) annualy. it makes no sense to think that all those people 
> are getting ready to throw their Nikons, Hassleblads, Leicas or 
> whatever in the dumpster so they can shoot with digicams that become 
> obsolete about every year. I will be continueing to shoot film for 
> many years with simple Leica Ms because that simplicity to not having 
> to think about various program modes is liberating for me to be able 
> to think about the picture and NOT the mechanics of taking the 
> picture.
>
> sl
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