I was having a camera audit a few days ago. I have too many, and I have to wait until the wife is out before I get them all out otherwise she will realise just how many there are. It's the annual 'what do I take on holiday' dilemma. I want to prepare for every eventuality, but it is a holiday after all, and the kids go mad when I produce the tripod. So the RB67 stays at home, but there is an F100 with Portra 400 for family shots, an F3 with Ilford 3200 for interiors, an FM3a with HP5 for general black and white and a few primes. But then I have the F4 with Velvia for landscapes and macro, and I really don't use that enough. Then I start to wonder if this is really too much? Perhaps just for once I should limit myself to one thing and I slowly reach for the D700 and 28-70mm. 'Just for colour' I tell myself, I will use digital for colour and stick to film for black and white, that's sensible yes?
I convince myself, I'm not selling out, the D700 is a very fine camera. I saw some finalists in the British Gas Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition that had prints up to 2 or 3 feet across taken on a D700 (and D300) and they were wonderful, full of detail. Then I stop and think. Why do I take photographs? I'm not that good, I don't sell them. I have a point and shoot digital I use for powerpoint slides for talks and websites when I need an image. And then I see what it is. I use digital when I need an image or when it's too difficult to use film, such as extreme macro or using attached to a microscope or telescope or when I do the school play, when I have to get results. But I don't enjoy it. I don't enjoy lightroom or photoshop or filing digital files or backup. I do enjoy squinting through the viewfinder, looking, developing the skill to see the image and the anticipation of getting the results back from the lab. Perhaps my images would look better taken on a D700, and because I can take hundreds of them, by chance, a few would be good, better than if I used film, but I don't care. I would rather be a slowly improving photographer working within the limitations of the medium than one who is boosted by the technology. The D700 can stay at home, I don't need it for the holiday, holidays should be about fun and doing things you enjoy.
I convince myself, I'm not selling out, the D700 is a very fine camera. I saw some finalists in the British Gas Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition that had prints up to 2 or 3 feet across taken on a D700 (and D300) and they were wonderful, full of detail. Then I stop and think. Why do I take photographs? I'm not that good, I don't sell them. I have a point and shoot digital I use for powerpoint slides for talks and websites when I need an image. And then I see what it is. I use digital when I need an image or when it's too difficult to use film, such as extreme macro or using attached to a microscope or telescope or when I do the school play, when I have to get results. But I don't enjoy it. I don't enjoy lightroom or photoshop or filing digital files or backup. I do enjoy squinting through the viewfinder, looking, developing the skill to see the image and the anticipation of getting the results back from the lab. Perhaps my images would look better taken on a D700, and because I can take hundreds of them, by chance, a few would be good, better than if I used film, but I don't care. I would rather be a slowly improving photographer working within the limitations of the medium than one who is boosted by the technology. The D700 can stay at home, I don't need it for the holiday, holidays should be about fun and doing things you enjoy.